Within the cockpit of her Yakovlev Yak-1, it’s possible that most of Lydia Litvyak’s enemies had little idea that it was a woman that would be their downfall. In a men-dominated field, Lydia Litvyak was as deadly a fighter pilot as any. Her career was short but bright, and even after her death, she would […]
Lydia Litvyak: The daring female Soviet fighter ace Read More »
From the sprawling fields of Rohan to the white spires of Minas Tirith, Middle Earth is so familiar, and so fully formed, that sometimes it’s hard to comprehend that it isn’t real. J.R.R Tolkien set out to write just a simple children’s book about a little Hobbit going on an adventure, and in the process,
JRR Tolkien and the creation of Middle Earth Read More »
One child can be a handful, and each additional one adds more responsibility and even stress on even the most even-keeled of parents. Families can come in all sorts of sizes, but eventually, a lot of parents ask themselves “How many kids are too many?”. For the Vassilyev family, the answer was quite unique. For
Feodor Vassilyev: The man who fathered 69 children Read More »
Shipwrecks–there’s something infinitely fascinating about them. Whether it be a wreck as famous as the Titanic or the lesser-known shipwrecks of the Great Lakes, every single one of them is interesting. These shipwrecks have spawned books, movies, and even songs like Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald”. Maritime history is full to the
The most famous shipwrecks in history Read More »
In the world of medieval Europe, there were many kingdoms that rose and fell, shaping the course of history both in their existence and in their destruction. In this time of kings and queens, some figures rose above the rest. One such figure is Clovis I, a king of France who is regarded as the
Clovis I: The king who united the Franks Read More »
During sunny, warm beach days, kids could be found on the shores of Brittany, France, dipping their feet in the water, building sandcastles, looking for seashells… And finding bright orange Garfield heads, buried in the sand among a graveyard of phone cords, receivers, and numerical buttons. You see, the beaches in Brittany didn’t just provide
Garfield phones have been washing ashore in France for years Read More »
Few civilizations have had as much of an impact on the modern world as ancient Greece. Once a collection of city-states, Greece was a haven for art, intellectualism, and education. But like so many other mighty civilizations of the time, Greece’s meteoric rise could only be ended by an equally intense fall. The decline of
Why did ancient Greece decline? Read More »
There is something about the execution of a monarch that sticks in people’s minds for hundreds of years. To go from the highest position in society to the guillotine seems almost unreal, but this was the fate of French queen Marie Antoinette. The French Revolution swept through the country like an unavoidable tide, taking the
How and why did Marie Antoinette die? Read More »
Ancient Rome was full of huge personalities. Just like in modern times, there are people in power who do their job and aren’t really all that entertaining, while others are so bold and inflammatory that we can’t stop talking about them. It was the same for Rome–maybe even more so. Rulers came and went, but
Untangling the life of Emperor Nero Read More »
Among the horrors of something like World War II, it can be hard to remember that there were heroes who rose up to help others. Because of the secretive nature that was required to help the Jewish people during WWII, a lot of these heroes were never identified and have faded into history, unnamed. Adolfo
Adolfo Kaminsky: The forger who saved thousands of Jews Read More »
