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History

Glamis Castle in the 18th century, shortly before its "mystery" began.

The Monster of Glamis

The secret of Glamis Castle—a concealed room, a hidden heir—was one of the great talking points of the 19th century. But will the mystery ever be resolved?

Top Ten Demonstrations of Love

The inventor, the celebrity and the royal highness couldn’t resist the draw of making a grand gesture to the love of their life

The woman of the year 2030, illustrated by Edward McKnight Kauffer in 1930

Lab-grown Babies in the Year 2030

A 1930 book argued that women’s “liberation from the dangers of childbirth” would be a crucial first step toward gender equality

Headline from the San Antonio Light, November 12, 1933

The Man Who Wouldn’t Die

The plot to kill Michael Malloy for life-insurance money seemed foolproof—until the conspirators actually tried it

Attila entertains–as imagined by a 19th- century artist.

Nice Things to Say About Attila the Hun

Jetpack pilot at Super Bowl I in 1967

The Super Bowl’s Love Affair With Jetpacks

Thankfully, this Super Bowl spectacle never had a wardrobe malfunction

The Venopolis Zoo

Hunting Dinosaurs on Venus

Why bother with cloning and time travel, when your dream safari awaits on a nearby planet?

William L. Shirer, who witnessed a 1934 Nazi rally in Nuremberg, would link the criminality of individuals to communal frenzy.

Revisiting The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Recently reissued, William L. Shirer’s seminal 1960 history of Nazi Germany is still important reading

Today, nearly 1,000 Fayum paintings exist in collections in Egypt and at the Louvre, the British and Petrie museums in London, the Metropolitan and Brooklyn museums, the Getty in California and elsewhere.

The Oldest Modernist Paintings

Two thousand years before Picasso, artists in Egypt painted some of the most arresting portraits in the history of art

2011 Grand Champion orchid: Cycnodes Taiwan Gold.

Objects Of Desire

Chronicling passions that change the world, for good and ill

The Four Horsemen of Notre Dame

The Game that Put the NFL’s Reputation on the Line

In 1930, many football fans believed the college game was better than the professional one

The last photo of Mawson's Far Eastern Party, taken when they left the Australasian Antarctic Party's base camp on November 10, 1912. By January 10, 1913, two of the three men would be dead, and expedition leader Douglas Mawson would find himself exhausted, ill and still more than 160 miles from the nearest human being.

The Most Terrible Polar Exploration Ever: Douglas Mawson’s Antarctic Journey

A century ago, Douglas Mawson saw his two companions die and found himself stranded in the midst of Antarctic blizzards

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Sunday Funnies Blast Off Into the Space Age

When Dr. Athelstan Spilhaus met President Kennedy in 1962, JFK told him, “The only science I ever learned was from your comic strip.”

Ben Hogan received a tickertape parade down Broadway in New York after winning the 1953 British Open and the "Hogan Slam."

Hit by a Bus, How Ben Hogan Hit Back

The champion golfer was critically injured in 1949—and went on to the most dominant phase of his career

An inventor from Philadelphia using his "wireless telephone" technology in 1920

The World’s First “Carphone”

Meet the 1920 radio enthusiast who had the foresight to invent the annoying habit of talking on the phone while in the car

Woman of the year 2000

In The Future, All Women Will Be Amazons

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History Writers to Watch in 2012

A rundown of historians, authors and bloggers to follow in the coming year

According to NOAA marine archaeologist Joe Hoyt, shown here, 50 to 60 Allied, Axis and merchant vessel wrecks rest off the North Carolina coast.

Diving for the Secrets of the Battle of the Atlantic

Off the coast of North Carolina lie dozens of shipwrecks, remainders of a forgotten theater of World War II

Title card from the 1922 short silent film "Eve's Wireless"

A Mobile Phone From 1922? Not Quite

History often plays linguistic tricks on us, especially when it comes to rapidly changing technologies

Artist rendition of Charles Guiteau's attack on President Garfield

The Stalking of the President

Charles J. Guiteau said he wanted to kill President James A. Garfield “in an American manner.”

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