By the spring of 1913, Silas Tanner had been drilling water wells in Iron County, Missouri, for eleven years, and he had never needed a permit to keep working after dark. That April, he was on the Rourke farm, a dry 160-acre spread two miles south of Ironton, where Otis Rourke had hired him to … Read more
On January 27, 1945, a prisoner in a Nazi maternity home gave birth to a daughter. The baby’s father had been dead for six months, executed the night his plot to kill Hitler failed. She was Konstanze, the fifth child of Claus von Stauffenberg. The regime had already decided what to do with his family. … Read more
For decades, one of the most scrutinized marriages in American public life was that of Ronald and Nancy Reagan. But the full story of how it began, what it cost, and what it was built on is far more complicated than the polished image presented to the public. Nancy Reagan was born Anne Frances Robbins … Read more
Rosario Dawson was 15 years old when she was discovered sitting on the stoop of a squatters’ building in New York’s Lower East Side. Larry Clark and Harmony Korine cast her in their controversial 1995 film Kids on the spot. The movie, a raw, documentary-style look at disaffected teenagers in New York during the AIDS … Read more
On the morning of December 10, 1936, a man who had spent his entire life avoiding attention sat down at a desk in Fort Belvedere and signed his name to a document that made him king. Edward VIII signed the instrument of abdication, and three witnesses signed below him. One of those witnesses was the … Read more
On a cold February morning in 1943, six members of the White Rose resistance group stood in a Munich courtroom, accused of treason. They had distributed leaflets urging Germans to recognize the cruelty of Hitler’s war. Instead of a fair trial, they faced a scripted show of power. The judge’s booming voice cut off any … Read more
In early 2015, Leonard Nimoy published what would become his final public message. He compared a life to a garden, writing that perfect moments could be experienced but preserved only in memory. He signed off with the initials of the Vulcan blessing he had made famous: Live Long and Prosper. Days later, on February 27, … Read more
James Burton, the guitarist Elvis Presley trusted most on stage, has shared his memories of the man behind the legend. For eight years, Burton stood beside Elvis, answering the king’s call whenever he shouted, “Play it, James. ” Now at 85, Burton has opened up about what Elvis was truly like away from the spotlight. … Read more
On the morning of February 3, 1945, Roland Freisler was conducting a session of the People’s Court in Berlin when American bombers attacked the city. A column collapsed inside the courthouse and crushed him. His body was found beneath the rubble, still clutching the files he had stayed behind to gather. Freisler was the president … Read more
Balmoral Castle has stood in the Scottish Highlands for more than 170 years as the British royal family’s private retreat, but the granite walls that have sheltered nineteen monarchs have also concealed secrets that threatened to reshape the institution itself. From a queen’s hidden love affair to a princess’s devastating breakdown, the castle has operated … Read more