On December 4, 1972, Ali MacGraw knelt on the damp concrete of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre forecourt and pressed her bare hands into it. Hers was imprint number 158, an honor she received after starring in only three films. Photographers gathered in a semicircle around her. On Hollywood Boulevard, a small procession of protesters walked slowly, … Read more
In January 1953, Dwight D. Eisenhower finished the oath of office, turned, and kissed his wife. He was the first president to do it. America decided on the spot that they were the perfect couple. The buttons said "I like Ike." The ones the women wore said, "but I love Mamie." What the buttons left … Read more
On December 17, 1944, Battery B of the 285th Field Artillery Observation Battalion was moving south through the Ardennes toward Ligneuville, Belgium. The unit consisted of 113 men, traveling by jeep, truck, and weapons carrier. They were not frontline troops. They were artillery observers, trained to spot enemy gun positions and radio coordinates back to … Read more
In 2019, historian Dr. Rebecca Thormond was digitizing a batch of photographs donated by a descendant of a Massachusetts family when she paused at an image that seemed, at first glance, entirely unremarkable. Two men stood side by side in what appeared to be a photography studio. The photograph was dated 1873. The taller man … Read more
Berlin, Ende 1940. Hinter den verschlossenen Türen der Reichskanzlei entbrannte in den kalten Wintermonaten ein Konflikt, der das Schicksal von Millionen besiegeln sollte. Noch bevor die ersten Befehle für die Operation „Barbarossa“ unterzeichnet waren, wagte es ausgerechnet Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel, Hitlers Vision eines schnellen Sieges über die Sowjetunion in Frage zu stellen. Es war ein … Read more
In the summer of 1861, more than 1,800 miles from the Confederate capital in Richmond, a 61-year-old frontier scout tore a shredded American flag from the hands of Southern sympathizers in the sunbaked plaza of Taos, New Mexico. With the help of townspeople, Christopher “Kit” Carson nailed the flag to a cottonwood pole and demanded … Read more
On November 22, 1963, Harry Truman was 79 years old and living in retirement in Independence, Missouri. It was the same town where he had been born, and the same house on Delaware Street where he had lived with his wife Bess for most of their marriage. He had been out of the White House … Read more
Am 14. Juli 1944, um 4:32 Uhr, wischte Unteroffizier Hermann Brückner einen Fleck getrockneten Flussschlamms von der Optik seines Rundblickfernrohrs SF14Z. Er prüfte das Glas gegen das fahle Licht, das durch die Planken über ihm sickerte. Es war nicht sauber, aber es würde reichen. Unter ihm, unter den Ketten und der gesamten Stahlwanne des Sturmgeschützes … 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
In 1883, two of the wealthiest families in America went to war—not with weapons, but with marble, gold leaf, and chandeliers the size of carriages. On one side stood the Astors, whose fortune came from fur pelts and Manhattan real estate, and who had ruled New York society for half a century. On the other … Read more