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Emma Goldman: The Radical Crusader for Freedom and Justice
Emma Goldman was never one to shy away from controversy. A fierce advocate for women’s rights, free speech, and anarchism, she dedicated...
388

Peter Freuchen: The Most Ridiculous, Badass Explorer You’ve Never Heard Of
In the grand tradition of over-the-top adventurers who defied both death and common sense, few figures stand as tall—literally and...
3,819

Corporal Wojtek: The Beer-Drinking, Cigarette-Eating, Ammunition-Carrying Bear of World War II
It is often said that war brings out the best and worst in humanity. But in the case of Corporal Wojtek, it also brought out the best in...
154

My Good Friend Roosevelt: The Time Young Fidel Castro Wrote to the U.S. President (and Asked for a Tenner)
It is an amusing yet historically revealing episode that, in 1940, a young Fidel Castro—yes, that Fidel Castro—decided to write a letter...
89

The Heir to the Coors Brewing Company, His Kidnap, and His Murder.
Adolph Coors III was a low-key and well-liked beer executive. His father, Adolph Coors Jr., was a hard taskmaster, who ultimately gave...
665

Rich Allen: Capturing the Grit and Gangs of 1970s New York
New York City in the 1970s was a city on the edge—financially broke, crime-ridden, and in many ways, abandoned to its own chaos. Entire...
1,729

Artists And Their Brilliant Studios
An artist's studio is a crucial space. Our creative studios may sometimes appear cluttered or chaotic, yet this is where remarkable...
263

Executed By The Nazis At Age 17, Lepa Radić Was Tougher Than All Of Us.
Lepa Radic stands still as a German official prepares the noose around her neck just before her execution in Bosanska Krupa, Bosnia on...
8,290

Liberace v The Daily Mirror: The Libel Trial That Kept a Secret Hidden
In the late 1950s, Władziu Valentino Liberace, the flamboyant American pianist and entertainer known simply as “Liberace,” was at the...
499

The Lynching of Laura and L. D. Nelson: A Crime Without Justice
On the night of 24 May 1911, in Okfuskee County, Oklahoma, Laura Nelson and her teenage son, L. D. Nelson, were dragged from their jail...
34,665

The Munich Air Disaster: A Tragedy That Shook Football
On 6 February 1958, the world of football was left in mourning as British European Airways Flight 609 crashed on its third take-off...
468

Scaling the Pyramids: When Tourists Climbed Egypt’s Ancient Monuments
Tourists take tea atop the Great Pyramid. 1938. By the mid-19th century, Egypt had become one of the world’s most fascinating...
992

The 1979 Hot Air Balloon Escape from East Germany
It was a cold, clear night on 16 September 1979, when two East German families—the Strelzyks and the Wetzels—stood in a secluded forest...
4,050

Griselda Blanco: The Godmother of Cocaine and the Queen of Retribution
There are few figures in organised crime as infamous, feared, and mythologised as Griselda Blanco. Depending on who you ask, she was...
2,503

"I Hope Your Ol' Plane Crashes" - The Death Of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. Richardson
Waylon Jennings (left) in the last photo of Buddy Holly. The 1950s had been a golden era for rock and roll, filled with energetic...
5,296

Ämari Pilots’ Cemetery: A Tribute to Estonia’s Soviet Airmen
Tucked away in a quiet, wooded area near Estonia’s Ämari Air Base, the Ämari Pilots’ Cemetery is an unusual and haunting memorial. Unlike...
146

Bloody Sunday: The Tragedy That Changed Northern Ireland Forever
On the cold afternoon of 30 January 1972, the streets of the Bogside area of Derry became the backdrop for one of the darkest days in...
753

Brenda Ann Spencer: The Girl Who Didn’t Like Mondays
On the morning of January 29, 1979, the school day at Grover Cleveland Elementary in San Diego, California, had barely begun when shots...
19,410

Pregnancy Dolls of Edo: Curiosity, Education, and Spectacle
In the bustling streets of Edo (present-day Tokyo) during the 18th and 19th centuries, entertainment took many forms, from kabuki theatre...
1,205

Danzig Baldaev and the Art of Russian Criminal Tattoos
Danzig Baldaev, born in 1925 in Ulan-Ude, Buryatiya, Russia, led a life immersed in the dark complexities of Soviet repression and the...
4,115

Ernst Haeckel’s Sublime Drawings of Flora and Fauna: A Meeting of Art and Science
If you’ve ever come across the tension between scientists and philosophers , you might be forgiven for assuming the two fields have...
135

Northern Soul: How Rare Records and All-Night Dancing Defined a Generation
Picture this: it’s 3 a.m. in a dimly lit dance hall in Wigan. The floorboards thud under the weight of dozens of dancers, their moves a...
746

The Ingenious and Often Quirky World of Vintage Cigarette Dispensers
Ah, cigarette dispensers—those ingenious little gadgets that somehow made the act of inhaling smoke a touch more refined, or at least a...
647

The Abernathy Brothers: The Wildly True Adventures of America’s Youngest Trailblazers
Picture this: two young boys, aged just 10 and 6, embarking on an audacious journey across the vast expanse of early 20th-century...
9,335
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