There was a time when bestselling authors were actual celebrities, and their names alone could sell millions of books. But ask someone born after 2000 who they are, and expect some blank stares. How many of these authors do you remember? More than five?
Discover the historical scams and hoaxes that fooled thousands by exploiting greed, grief, curiosity, and wishful thinking, from Ponzi schemes and fake fossils to forged diaries and supernatural frauds worldwide.
Joey Bishop was the Rat Pack’s last surviving member, but he carried a dark bitterness in his heart. He had been exiled and forgotten.
From theatre fires to collapsing bridges, these forgotten public disasters exposed everyday dangers and helped create safety rules we now barely notice.
From mercury and arsenic tonics to heroin cough syrup, radioactive water, and lobotomies, discover popular historical medicines and treatments that often caused more harm than the illnesses they were supposed to cure.
Humanity has spent thousands of years pushing past limits that once seemed impossible. But there is a theoretical point on the civilization scale that, if humans ever reached it, well...the consequences would go far beyond better technology.
When “Do It Yourself” Meant Something DifferentOrdinary life once involved handing routine tasks to somebody behind a counter, inside a booth, or on a telephone line. Technology did not erase all those jobs, but it...
Discover the forgotten people behind history’s most famous victories, inventions, discoveries, and breakthroughs, from Alfred Russel Wallace and Rosalind Franklin to Ub Iwerks, Frank Worsley, and Branch Rickey across history.
The Hoaxers Behind The HeadlinesHistory is full of supposedly impossible discoveries that turned out to have very ordinary people hiding behind them. Fake fossils fooled scientists, forged diaries embarrassed historians, and paper fairies convinced famous...
Long before children can explain what they believe, their minds are already trying to explain the world. Scientists wanted to know what happens during that mysterious period—and the deeper they looked, the harder one very simple question became to answer.
From Caligula and Abraham Lincoln to Al Capone and Richard Nixon, these famous historical figures were stuck with nicknames they disliked, mocked, resisted, or simply could never escape.
Waiting used to be built into ordinary life. Information traveled on paper, entertainment followed schedules, photos hid inside undeveloped film, and even getting online could occupy the household telephone. These experiences did not disappear overnight, but for Americans born in the late 1990s or later, many were already becoming optional during childhood.
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