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Depiction of the fighting near Dunker Church by Thure de Thulstrup. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. Should anyone consider “civil war” over the outcome, one way or the other, of the presidential election that is six weeks from now, let’s look at the Battle of Antietam. It took place 162 years ago this month and […]
Trial of a sow and pigs at Lavegny. The Rationale Behind the Madness The notion of arraigning a barn swallow or bovine may seem utterly ludicrous today, but to medieval minds steeped in religious doctrine and folklore, it was a perfectly reasonable concept. The theological underpinning was that animals, having been granted a place in […]
MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images/Getty Images Hezbollah is a Lebanese paramilitary organization and political party that’s directly supported by the Islamic Republic of Iran. In the wake of the October 7, 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, and Israel’s invasion of Gaza, there have been escalating attacks between Hezbollah and […]
Hiero of Syracuse calls Archimedes to fortify the city. By Sebastiano Ricci. The Context of the Siege By 213 BCE, the Second Punic War was raging, and Rome was embroiled in a life-or-death struggle with the Carthaginian general Hannibal, who had invaded Italy. Syracuse, a wealthy and strategically important city-state, had been a Roman ally […]
Florence Kelley’s father, William, taught his daughter to read in 1866 using books that chronicled child labor. When she was seven, he had her studying “a terrible little book with woodcuts of children no older than myself, balancing with their arms heavy loads of wet clay on their heads, in brickyards.” And she didn’t just […]
Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, in 1862. “When the dogmas of a sectional party…threatened to destroy the sovereign rights of the States, six of those States, withdrawing from the Union, confederated together to exercise the right and perform the duty of instituting a Government which would better secure the liberties for the preservation […]
A Place to Hide is my ninth novel and the seventh set during World War II. As it frequently happens, research in support of one novel uncovers suggestions for a new and different novel. Thus, research on Denmark in preparation for Defending Britta Stein introduced me to factual scenarios unique to the Netherlands. Although these […]
Kid Curry, born as Harvey Logan. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons. It might be hard for some of you to believe that the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, with Paul Newman and Robert Redford in the title roles, premiered 55 years ago this week. I bring this up because my book Bandit Heaven — […]
Othniel Charles Marsh & Edward Drinker Cope. Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope: From friends to enemies The participants in this unusual conflict came from very different backgrounds and had many differences. Othniel Charles Marsh was born on October 29, 1831, near Lockport, New York. He was the third child of Mary Gaines Peabody […]
From public radio producer, Nate DiMeo, comes The Memory Palace, a finalist for the 2016 Peabody Award and one of iTunes Best Podcast of 2015. Short, surprising stories of the past, sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes hysterical, often a little bit of both. “The most potent pieces of audio being produced today.” – The AvClub thememorypalace.us The […]