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History

A nighttime German barrage on Allied trenches at Ypres

Fritz Haber’s Experiments in Life and Death

The German chemist helped feed the world. Then he developed the first chemical weapons used in battle

The automobile of 1973 as imagined in 1923 on the cover of Science and Invention magazine

1923 Envisions the Two-Wheeled Flying Car of 1973

As cars got larger in the 1920s, the “Helicar” was presented as the solution to congested city streets

A Bolivian donkey of the 1850s. From Herndon and Gibbon, Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon (1854).

Run Out of Town on an Ass

According to legend, Queen Victoria, informed of an early president’s angry insult to her ambassador, struck Bolivia off the map. But is it true?

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Great Moments in Chicken Culinary History

Where did these six poultry-based dishes (with one imposter) get their start?

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The War of 1812: 200 Years Later

What is there to remember about the battles long relegated to footnote status? More than you might think!

A diorama at the River Raisin visitor center depicts the war’s northern front.

The War of 1812’s Forgotten Battle Cry

Remember the Raisin? You probably don’t

Blood, Bones & Butter

Eat Here

Today’s special: Our first annual food issue

Chicken reigns in the 21st century.

How the Chicken Conquered the World

The epic begins 10,000 years ago in an Asian jungle and ends today in kitchens all over the world

Until she met her future husband, Julia Child had never given much thought to food. On her own she made do with frozen food.

Julia Child’s Recipe for a Thoroughly Modern Marriage

Food writer Ruth Reichl looks at the impact of the famous chef’s partnership with her husband Paul

Thomas Scott Baldwin's airship at the St. Louis Exposition

Don’t Let Your Money Fly Away: A 1909 Warning to Airship Investors

Flying aboard aircraft? Just a passing fad

A professor of the future gives a lecture via television (1935)

Predictions for Educational TV in the 1930s

Before it became known as the “idiot box,” television was seen as the best hope for bringing enlightenment to the American people

Etta Shiber

“I Was Looking Forward to a Quiet Old Age”

Instead, Etta Shiber, a widow and former Manhattan housewife, helped smuggle stranded Allied soldiers out of Nazi-occupied in Paris

Four-person helicopter of the future (1944)

Big Things Ahead… But Keep Your Shirt On

Americans in the 1940s had wondrous expectations about the post-war world. Meet one author who advised them to curb their enthusiasm

Indian soldiers in the service of the East India Company-who outnumbered British troops in India five to one–loading cartridges.

Pass it on: The Secret that Preceded the Indian Rebellion of 1857

British officials were alarmed at the rapid distribution of mysterious Indian breads across much of the Raj

A woman is made to smell her partner's body odors to see if they're suitable for marriage

Mechanical Matchmaking: The Science of Love in the 1920s

Four “scientific” tests to determine whether your marriage will succeed or fail

Hedy Lamarr in a 1942 publicity photo

Team Hollywood’s Secret Weapons System

1966-67 AAA map of New York

Maps of the Future

A 1989 prediction about portable GPS devices was right on the money

The original lifeboat, the James Caird, built in 1914, had an open top, exposing its inhabitants to the elements.

Reliving Shackleton’s Epic Endurance Expedition

Tim Jarvis’s Plan to Cross the Antarctic in an Exact Replica of the James Caird

A lithograph of the Battle of New Orleans, circa 1890

The 10 Things You Didn’t Know About the War of 1812

Why did the country really go to war against the British? Which American icon came out of the forgotten war?

1981 vision of future chemical warfare, causing soldiers to hallucinate

Tripping Through the Cold War: Drug Warfare in the Retrofuture

Was LSD the Soviet Union’s secret weapon?

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