The World's Fair used to be the Olympics of invention. These international expos debuted some of the most advanced technologies of their times, but the annual affairs have lost…
In retrospect, the American Civil War was inevitable. The conflict’s fundamental issue was human rights, and the basic cause was freedom. But these principles were made real by…
The history of the United States is complicated and often distressing. Public schools that ignore or gloss over the difficulties do a great disservice to the children who will…
The myth of Santa Claus began with a real-life monk named St. Nicholas, and evolved through the poetry and lore of Dutch immigrants, political propaganda during the American Civil…
A huge victory for American conservation came after magazine reporters witnessed the 1894 arrest of a notorious buffalo hunter in Yellowstone Park. Promoted ever since as a lucky…
Buried treasure, sword fights, and eyepatches – it’s easy to be enthralled by tales of pirates in books and film. But even without the fluff and fantasy of Hollywood’s version,…
The Mafia has terrorized Sicily for centuries. By 1900, immigrant mafiosi had the attention of New York City law enforcement. But the Palermo killing of a heroic police detective…
After the 1651 defeat of his royalist army, Charles Stuart, Prince of Wales, was a fugitive of Oliver Cromwell’s republican troops. With a few loyal subjects, the prince barely…
President-elect Abraham Lincoln made a 10-day train trip from Springfield, Ill. to Washington, D.C. His speeches on the way were intended to show a moderate policy toward the…
Born out of stonemasons’ leagues in the Middle Ages, Freemasons today are the subjects of Illuminati conspiracy theories and Hollywood films. But who are the secretive Masons,…
In 1666, after a two-year drought, a fire consumed London in three days, destroying most of the city. Measures taken afterwards made sure nothing like it happened again, lessons…
The day after the fall of Richmond, Abraham Lincoln made an astonishing open-air tour of the captured Rebel capital. At great risk to his life, the visit symbolized the…
Western New York was once young America’s Wild West. Its raucous settlement set in motion changes that swept across the continent. Energizing it all was the new Erie Canal,…
Trains have changed human history in countless ways, launching events like the Industrial Revolution and allowing millions of people to travel the world.
True crime entertainment is almost as old as printing. The first known play based on a real-life murder appeared in late 16th-century London. There’s good reason to think the…
Founding Father Alexander Hamilton was opposed to slavery, yet at times of his life he participated in the institution, and even suppressed his personal opinions in order to “form…
Libraries have been around for more than 2000 years. And so has the problem of organizing and searching written knowledge. While Google’s search is impressive, it owes much to the…
Calamity Jane is a legendary heroine of the Wild West. The stories of her gender-bending acts of courage and adventures with Wild Bill Hickok have stood the test of time. But were…
Mary Queen of Scots served as queen of multiple kingdoms before she was dethroned for her faith and the controversies that followed her in life. She was Catholic in the face of…
Popularized by the Disney film, the story of Pocahontas is a crown jewel of American folklore. But was any of it true, or was the tale invented by European colonizers like John…
Catherine the Great’s rise to power was marked by intrigue, betrayals, and other court chicanery. But from these roots arose a leader who reigned over three decades, ruling the…
Artifacts and relics have always been fascinating to the people who find or buy them. Many have tried to get their hands on relics since the Middle Ages. This demand creates the…
You might be familiar with the Salem Witch Trials or the witch hunts that overtook Europe in the Middle Ages, but witch hunts have ancient roots. They also share many root causes,…
The first known coffee drinkers were Sufi mystics in Yemen, who used coffee to stay awake during their long prayers. Since then, coffee has held a prominent position in Islam,…
Most of us associate the name Johannes Gutenberg with the invention of the printing press, but the first models appeared hundreds of years before, in China. Gutenberg improved…
The Homestead Act conjures images of the dusty plains and old west, but this couldn't be farther from the truth. The Homestead Act was a groundbreaking piece of progressive…
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart came to fame during the Age of Enlightenment, and his compositions were informed by this spirit. But in fact, whether we would even have some of his most…
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