The destruction of Baghdad in 1258 is often remembered as a sudden apocalypse: a horde of savages pouring into the richest city on Earth, burning its palaces, slaughtering its people, and throwing the accumulated learning of five centuries into the Tigris until the river ran black with ink. The fall of the Abbasid Caliphate is … Read more
On August 2, 1876, in Deadwood, Dakota Territory, the most famous gunfighter in America sat down at a poker table in Nuttall & Mann’s Saloon No. 10. James Butler Hickok, known almost universally as “Wild Bill,” had killed more men than he could count. He always sat with his back to the wall—every gunfighter who … Read more
The spring of 1945 found the war in Europe dying in great, grinding spasms. The Third Reich was shrinking with each passing day as Allied forces pushed deeper into its collapsing heartland. At the tip of the spear stood General George S. Patton Jr., commanding the United States Third Army with his trademark ivory-handled pistols … Read more
On March 18, 1964, nine-year-old Marise Ann Chiverella left her home in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, carrying a lunchbox for her teacher. She was walking to St. Joseph’s Parochial School, less than half a mile from her front door. It was the last time her family saw her alive. That afternoon, her body was found in an … Read more
On the afternoon of September 12, 1980, Virginia Uden drove her mother’s family car out of Riverton, Wyoming, with her two sons, Richard, 11, and Reagan, 10. They were on their way to meet her ex-husband for a bird hunting trip. A .22 caliber rifle was in the car. Virginia was 32 years old and … Read more
For more than seventy years, the world watched Prince Philip perform a single role with apparent perfection. He walked two steps behind his wife, the Queen, and never stepped out of place. The public saw a war hero, a reformer, and a model of royal duty. The cameras captured a man who knew his role … Read more
The discovery came on April 4th, 1945. The Fourth Armored Division was rolling through Germany, advancing toward what everyone knew was the final collapse of the Third Reich. Then the soldiers smelled something. Not the familiar stench of battlefield death. Something worse. Something that made hardened combat veterans gag and cover their faces. The smell … Read more
The noble knight in shining armor, armed with a gleaming sword and engaged in an elegant duel, is one of the most enduring images of the Middle Ages. Historical evidence, however, paints a radically different picture. On the battlefields of 14th- and 15th-century Europe, the sword was not the weapon that won fights. It was … Read more
On the evening of December 5, 1975, Lindy Sue Biechler returned to her apartment in the Spring Manor complex in Manor Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. She was 19 years old, newly married, and had just stopped to deposit a paycheck before bringing home groceries. Between 6:45 and 9:00 p.m., someone attacked her inside her living … Read more
The air in the Allied courtroom had barely cleared before the first cracks appeared in the foundations of their existence. On August 20th, 1947, when the judges read the death sentences for the Nazi doctors, the world focused on the men in the dock. But in the gallery, a quieter, more insidious verdict was being … Read more