PN1501 Born on Christmas Eve in 1809 near Richmond, Kentucky, Christopher “Kit” Houston Carson could have easily passed into obscurity. His father, Lindsey Carson, had ten children from a first marriage and five more with Kit’s mother, Rebecca Robinson. A Scots-Irish Presbyterian farmer and cabin builder, Lindsey was a veteran of America’s early conflicts, having lost … Read more
For fifty years, the most senior field marshal of the German army was the fixed point of a small family unit that would be utterly destroyed by the outcome of the war he served. Gerd von Rundstedt, a decorated officer whose career spanned the German Empire, the Weimar Republic, and the Third Reich, outlived both … Read more
On April 9, 1894, inside a chapel at Schloss Ehrenburg in the small German duchy of Coburg, 19-year-old Princess Victoria Melita stood beside a cousin she did not love and married him anyway. She did it because her grandmother asked her to. Her grandmother was Queen Victoria of England, and in the family she ruled, … Read more
On a September morning in 1988, a 40-acre field in rural Minnesota appeared to be nothing more than an ordinary cornfield. But hidden behind the outer rows, in tightly packed, disciplined lines, stood shoulder-high marijuana plants heavy with resin—enough to fill a semi-truck and enough to send the four men working there to federal prison … Read more
A family photograph taken in 1882 in the American South shows a Black family posed inside a photography studio. The father stands at the center in a dark suit and tie. The mother sits beside him in a high-collared blouse, her hands folded in her lap. Five children are arranged around them with care. At … Read more
Nastał wtorek i telefon dzwonił w próżnię. To był pierwszy sygnał, że coś jest nie tak, ale wtedy jeszcze tego nie wiedziałem. Mama zawsze odbierała. Nasze wtorkowe rozmowy były tak stałym elementem mojego tygodnia jak poranna kawa. A ona nie odbierała. Zadzwoniłem ponownie wieczorem, potem w środę rano. Cisza po drugiej stronie słuchawki zaczęła nabrzmiewać … Read more
Prince Philip is remembered by most people as the man who walked two steps behind the Queen for 73 years. The husband, the consort, the symbol of dependability. But behind that silent public figure was an entirely different life. A private men's club in a Soho oyster restaurant. A divorce that nearly broke the monarchy. … Read more
On the evening of Saturday, October 12, 1957, Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson was at home in his apartment on 150th Street in Harlem, reading Langston Hughes in his armchair. Four telephones sat on a table against the wall, one for each corner of his criminal empire. But between 7 and 8 p.m. on Saturdays, those phones … Read more
Anthony Joseph Accardo ran organized crime in Chicago for more than 40 years, longer than any boss in American mob history. He built an empire that stretched from the streets of Little Italy to the counting rooms of Las Vegas. On May 22, 1992, at the age of 86, he closed his eyes in his … Read more
Ancora oggi conservo quel documento. Il timbro del Segretario di Stato è ancora nitido, l’inchiostro blu ben leggibile sulla carta ingiallita. Primo contratto, 8. 400 dollari. Ho pianto in macchina, dopo aver riattaccato la cornetta, con la fronte appoggiata al volante e le mani che tremavano. Gerald Mercer era un venditore nato. Poteva vendere il … Read more