How Swiss Guards And Sacred Geese Saved Rome
Maybe you've heard of the sack of Rome? Not a paper or cloth bag, but more in the way a quarterback experiences it — attacked and plundered.On May 6, 1527, mutinous troops of Charles V, head of the...
View ArticleFollow The Money: On The Trail Of Watergate Lore
"Follow the money"– a phrase that's now part of our national lexicon — was supposedly whispered to reporter Bob Woodward by Deep Throat as a way to cut through the lies and deceptions and find the...
View ArticleLive Pigeon Shooting And Other Odd Olympic Games
The 1900 Olympic Games in Paris hosted what was surely the weirdest and most bizarre Olympic event of all time: live pigeon shooting.The winner was Leon de Lunden of Belgium, who bagged 21 of the 300...
View ArticleFeathers And Rubber Bands: A Golf Ball Story
If you're Tiger Woods or Rory McIlroy teeing off in the final rounds of the 2012 PGA Championship this weekend, you're probably not thinking about the fascinating history of the golf ball. But those of...
View ArticleAntietam 'Death Studies' Changed How We Saw War
In mid-September 1862, the Civil War was only a year and a half old, and many Americans in the North and the South still clung to the view that this war was a noble, glorious, even romantic...
View ArticleThe Strangely True Tale Of Johnny Appleseed
Apples — right off the tree, baked in a pie, pressed into cider or mashed into sauce — are a basic element of American culture. October is the month to celebrate them, thanks, in part, to Johnny...
View ArticleShe Was The Only Woman To Get The Medal Of Honor
In all of American history, only one woman has been awarded the Medal of Honor — and Congress tried to take it back.Her name was Mary Edwards Walker, and she was a doctor at a time when female...
View ArticleClose The Year Out With Some Best-Selling Last Words
People often make lists of the greatest opening lines in fiction, but closing lines really appeal to me. They're your final moments with a book and can help you remember and treasure it forever.The...
View ArticleIn The Royal Baby Guessing Game, What's The Surname?
Plantagenets, Tudors, Stuarts, Hanovers and now what?There's been plenty of speculation about what name will be chosen for the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (better known as Will and...
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