Enlightenment

(1700)
Results 1 - 16 of 16

The True-Life Horror that Inspired Moby-Dick

The whaler Essex was indeed sunk by a whale—and that's only the beginning
March 01, 2013 | By Gilbert King

Into the Cave of Chile’s Witches

Did members of a powerful society of warlocks actually murder their enemies and kidnap children?
February 19, 2013 | By Mike Dash

Antigua’s Disputed Slave Conspiracy of 1736

Does the evidence against these 44 slaves really stack up?
January 02, 2013 | By Mike Dash

White Gold: How Salt Made and Unmade the Turks and Caicos Islands

Turks and Caicos had one of the world's first, and largest, salt industries—which led, indirectly, to their becoming the only tropical jurisdiction to have a pair of igloos on their flag.
December 14, 2012 | By Mike Dash

The Day Henry Clay Refused to Compromise

The Great Pacificator was adept at getting congressmen to reach agreements over slavery. But he was less accommodating when one of his own slaves sued him
December 06, 2012 | By Gilbert King

Sophie Blanchard – The High Flying Frenchwoman Who Revealed the Thrill and Danger of Ballooning

Blanchard was said to be afraid of riding in a carriage, but she became one of the great promoters of human flight
October 18, 2012 | By Gilbert King

The Blazing Career and Mysterious Death of “The Swedish Meteor”

Can modern science determine who shot this 18th century Swedish king?
September 17, 2012 | By Mike Dash

The Neverending Hunt for Utopia

Through centuries of human suffering, one vision has sustained: a belief in a terrestrial arcadia that offered justice and plenty to any explorer capable of finding it
August 28, 2012 | By Mike Dash

Murder in Tibet’s High Places

The Dalai Lama is one of the world's most revered religious leaders, but that didn't prevent four holders of the office from dying under mysterious circumstances
April 10, 2012 | By Mike Dash

The Ottoman Empire’s Life-or-Death Race

Custom in the Ottoman Empire mandated that a condemned grand vizier could save his neck if he won a sprint against his executioner
March 22, 2012 | By Mike Dash

Naval Gazing: The Enigma of Étienne Bottineau

In 1782, an unknown French engineer offered an invention better than radar: the ability to detect ships hundreds of miles away
October 13, 2011 | By Mike Dash

Dahomey’s Women Warriors

For the better part of 200 years, thousands of female soldiers fought and died to expand the borders of their West African kingdom. Even their conquerors, the French, acknowledged their "prodigious bravery."
September 23, 2011 | By Mike Dash

If There’s a Man Among Ye: The Tale of Pirate Queens Anne Bonny and Mary Read

Renowned for their ruthlessness, these two female pirates challenged the sailors’ adage that a woman’s presence on shipboard invites bad luck
August 09, 2011 | By Karen Abbott

Charles Babbage

Booting Up a Computer Pioneer’s 200-Year-Old Design

Charles Babbage, the grandfather of the computer, envisioned a calculating machine that was never built, until now
April 02, 2009 | By Aleta George

The Madonnas dress was previously damaged by light

A Creche Reborn

In rural Connecticut, a 300-year-old nativity scene is brought back to life by the Metropolitan Museum of Art
December 08, 2008 | By Courtney Jordan

Doctor Feelgood

Stricken by "vile melancholy," the 18th-century critic and raconteur Samuel Johnson pioneered a modern therapy
January 2007 | By John Geirland


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