In June 1944, days after the Normandy landings, a German artillery observer hidden in a hedgerow south of the invasion beaches watched an ordinary wheat field through his binoculars. He had been monitoring it intermittently since the invasion began. Then the machines arrived. Yellow bulldozers, gray with dust, pushed the hedgerows flat at both ends. … Read more
When Howard Hughes’s body arrived at a Houston morgue in April 1976, staff could not confirm who he was. The richest man in America weighed barely 90 pounds. His hair fell past his shoulders and his fingernails had curled. The FBI was called in to match his fingerprints because nothing else about him was recognizable. … Read more
In the winter of 1807, as Napoleon’s army swept through Portugal, the royal court fled across the Atlantic to Brazil. For the Portuguese monarchy, it was a humiliating retreat. But for one ambitious princess, it was the opportunity of a lifetime. Described as a monster by critics, mocked for her appearance, and feared for her … Read more
When Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson lay dying on a serene Sunday in rural Virginia, roughly 27 miles from the bloody battlefield of Chancellorsville, the man who had terrorized Union forces for two years was momentarily peaceful. His final words were a poignant farewell, but the hours before had been far more characteristic of the man his … Read more
On December 8, 1941, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt stood before Congress to ask the nation to enter World War II. Photographs from that historic moment show a black cloth armband on his sleeve. Most Americans assumed it honored the sailors lost at Pearl Harbor the day before. It did not. Roosevelt was mourning someone who … Read more
When George Raft flipped a coin between his knuckles on the set of Scarface in 1931, the gesture became an instant trademark that followed him for the rest of his life. The tiny flip looked casual, but for the former dancer turned actor, it was a distillation of everything he had learned in New York’s … Read more
Burton Alvord built his reputation the hard way. He served as a deputy for John Slaughter, the Cochise County sheriff whose name alone could quiet an Arizona saloon, and Slaughter called him fearless. By January 1899, Alvord had taken the constable’s badge in Wilcox, a railroad town beneath the Dos Cabezas Mountains, and began deputizing … Read more
FBI files indicate that Bonanno crime family captain Dominic “Sonny Black” Napolitano allegedly ordered the murder of a Brooklyn bookmaker in 1980, a killing that left four innocent bystanders wounded. Napolitano, who was born in June 1930, became widely known through the classic mob film “Donnie Brasco,” where he was portrayed by actor Michael Madsen. … Read more
The defenders of the Alamo are remembered as heroes who made a final stand for Texas independence, but the events leading up to the siege reveal a far more complicated story. Long before the first shot was fired, a series of political missteps, broken promises, and poor decisions had already set the stage for disaster. … Read more
Less than an hour passed between the first shot fired at George Armstrong Custer’s battalion and the death of his last soldier. For nearly 150 years, the story told about that day was one of a heroic last stand—an officer with blond hair and raised sword, surrounded by a circle of fallen men and dying … Read more