l2910 In the spring of 1895, the most envied woman in New York walked into a lawyer’s office and made a choice that horrified her world. Alva Vanderbilt, wife of heir William Kissam Vanderbilt, filed for divorce—and in doing so, set in motion the most expensive and scandalous society split of the Gilded Age. Before she … Read more
On the morning of February 1, 1891, a young woman named Helen Potts died at Miss Comstock’s finishing school in New York City after complaining of strange dreams and telling her roommates she feared she might never wake up. Three doctors tried to save her, but their efforts failed. At first, her death was attributed … Read more
The theme song from The Dukes of Hazzard, “Good Ol’ Boys,” performed by Waylon Jennings, became one of the most recognizable TV theme songs of the 1980s. But behind its catchy sound, a single lyric caused noticeable concern among some international broadcasters. The song originally included the line “fighting the system like two modern-day Robin … Read more
In December 1809, the British brigantine Boyd anchored off the coast of New Zealand, carrying a young Māori man named Te Ara who had spent the previous year traveling on British ships. He was the son of a chief from the Ngāti Manu hapū, an influential people of the North Island, and had joined the … Read more
On November 21, 1922, an 87-year-old woman walked into the United States Senate chamber, took her place among the assembled men of power, and was sworn in as the first female senator in American history. Rebecca Latimer Felton did not ask permission. She held the seat for just 24 hours, but that single day broke … Read more
Joseph Dart’s grain elevator design in 1840s Buffalo transformed grain handling from a labor-intensive process of manual shoveling and sack-carrying into a continuous mechanical flow. Bucket-equipped belts descended into ship holds, lifted grain to the top of tall wooden structures, and then relied on gravity to distribute it into storage. By 1894, Buffalo had 36 … Read more
Born into America’s most powerful dynasty, Cornelia Vanderbilt was one of the world’s wealthiest women and was expected to live a conventional life of privilege. For a time, she did. But in the 1930s, she moved to Europe, divorced her husband, dyed her hair pink, and reinvented herself under a new name, shocking American high … Read more
In November 1944, on a rain-soaked sector of the German border where fighting had ground forward barely two miles in three weeks, a German company commander reviewing his morning intelligence summary noticed something he could not reconcile with his training. His men had taken prisoners the day before—soldiers from the same American division that had … Read more
In the spring of 2002, PepsiCo paid Britney Spears $7. 5 million to endorse a new blue-colored, berry-flavored cola called Pepsi Blue. It was the largest celebrity endorsement deal in the history of the cola industry, and the product launch was backed by an estimated $150 million marketing budget. By the summer of 2004, Pepsi … Read more
In 1905, a German immigrant named Friedrich Trump wrote a desperate letter to Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, begging to be allowed to remain in Germany with his pregnant wife. He had left the country twenty years earlier without completing his mandatory military service, and Bavaria considered him a deserter. The prince refused his request. Friedrich … Read more