Viking King Magnus Barefoot: Empire in the Atlantic

History knows many rulers who built their power through decades of careful politics. Magnus III Olavsson…

Willem Ragut: The Unlikely Target of Dutch Rebels

The history of World War II is full of figures who defy simple moral classification. Willem…

Heroic Stand: McKinney’s 1945 Luzon Defense

In the annals of wartime heroism, there are episodes so unbelievable that, if they appeared in…

Irving Finkel: Keeper of Ancient Tablets

When a young graduate from the University of Birmingham first entered the British Museum in the…

Alfred the Great: The King Who Resisted the Vikings

In the spring of 878, when Alfred wandered the Somerset marshes with a handful of loyal…

Dan Daly: Legendary Marine Hero

When he was left alone on the walls of the besieged embassy in Beijing in 1900,…

Howie Winter: The Loyal Boston Gangster

When FBI agents placed documents promising freedom in front of him, the 64-year-old gangster looked them…

Sigurd I: The Viking King’s Crusade to Jerusalem

At the turn of the 11th and 12th centuries, Norway was just joining the ranks of…

Le Chambon: France’s Village of WWII Rescue

In December 1940, on the remote Vivarais plateau, one of the most extraordinary rescue operations of…

Solomon Guggenheim: How a Millionaire Changed Art

While American millionaires in the 1930s decorated their mansions with classical portraits and landscapes, Solomon Guggenheim…