When Vivien Leigh died in 1967, thousands of fans lined the streets of London to mourn the passing of Scarlett O'Hara. Inside the church, camera flashes lit the pews as the elite of British theatre grieved their queen. But amid all the noise, the most tragic figure in the room was the one nobody noticed. … Read more
AUGUSTA, Ga. — One of the most consequential inheritance battles in 19th-century American history ended with a formerly enslaved woman of mixed race taking possession of a vast Georgia fortune, a legal victory that stunned the post-Civil War South and made Amanda America Dickson one of the wealthiest African American women of her era. Dickson, … Read more
Im April 1945, in Süddeutschland, stand General George S. Patton auf dem Gelände eines Kriegsgefangenenlagers, das zwei Tage zuvor befreit worden war. Um ihn herum befanden sich etwa 300 amerikanische Soldaten, befreite Gefangene, endlich in Sicherheit. Doch sie sahen nicht mehr wie Soldaten aus. Sie glichen Skeletten. Eingefallene Augen, hohle Wangen, Rippen, die durch zerrissene … Read more
In the spring of 1945, as the Third Reich collapsed under the weight of Soviet artillery from the east and American armor from the west, a captured SS colonel stood before commanders of the United States Third Army and refused to move. His black leather trench coat was immaculate. His chin was raised in defiance. … Read more
Hans Goebbels lived most of his life in the shadow of a brother whose name became synonymous with Nazi propaganda. Born in 1895, he was two years older than Joseph Goebbels, the future Reich minister who sold Nazism to the German people from the movement's wilderness years through its 12 years in power. The two … Read more
Roger Staubach was the best quarterback available in the 1964 NFL Draft, and every team in the league knew exactly why he fell to the tenth round. He wasn’t injured. He wasn’t a bust. He was on his way to Vietnam. For four straight years while he served his country on the other side of … Read more
On April 20, 1933, Adolf Hitler had been chancellor of Germany for less than four months. He was weeks away from his 44th birthday, and as was his custom he came out of his Bavarian residence near Berchtesgaden to greet the well-wishers and admirers gathered at the security gates. The house would be rebuilt two … Read more
Ruth Sylvia Gill entered the world on October 2, 1908, at Delhi House in Bieldside, just outside Aberdeen. Her father, Colonel William Smith Gill, owned Scottish land and wore a military uniform, which in that world amounted to roughly the same badge of status. Her mother, also named Ruth, came from the Littlejohn family, a … Read more
In July of 1962, Marilyn Monroe was photographed on a beach, barefoot in the sand, wrapped in a white blanket, laughing as the wind moved her hair. She was still working, still talking about what might come next. Three weeks later, she was dead. Most people believe they know the story of August 4, 1962. … Read more
Dorothy Kilgallen was found dead on the morning of November 8, 1965, in a third-floor bedroom of her Manhattan townhouse. A hairdresser with a standing appointment let himself in and discovered her in a bed she famously hated, in a room she had not slept in for years. She was cold and stiff. She was … Read more