All Articles — Page 5
Every story we've published, newest first
Elizabeth Holmes and the Theranos Fraud
Elizabeth Holmes turned a blood-testing device that barely worked into a $9 billion company, then went to federal prison for the fraud behind it.
Abraham Lincoln's Last Day: The Final Hours at Ford's Theatre
Abraham Lincoln's last day: he almost skipped the play, his lone guard wasn't at the door when it mattered, and the president died across the street by dawn.
The Final Hours of Anne Boleyn
An hour-by-hour account of the Anne Boleyn execution: her arrest, trial, and death by a specially summoned swordsman inside the Tower of London on 19 May 1536.
The Final Hours of Cleopatra
Antony was already dead, Octavian's legions held Alexandria, and Egypt's last pharaoh had days left. What the record says really happened.
The Final Hours of Julius Caesar
A wife's nightmare, a soothsayer's warning, and the senate meeting he nearly skipped: the last hours before the Julius Caesar assassination and its 23 stab wounds.
The Final Hours of Marie Antoinette
The final hours before Marie Antoinette's execution: a letter to her sister-in-law, her hair cropped short, and a cart ride through a jeering Paris to the guillotine.
The Final Hours of Napoleon on Saint Helena
Napoleon spent nearly six years in exile before a slow death, and a hair test decades later reignited an old poisoning theory.
The Great Train Robbery of 1963
In the Great Train Robbery 1963, a gang stole millions from a Royal Mail train. Ronnie Biggs's escape and years hiding in Brazil made it Britain's most famous heist.
If Shaka Zulu Lived Today: The Founder Who Rebuilt the Org Chart in Blood
If Shaka Zulu lived today, the Zulu king who replaced clan loyalty with iron discipline would be the founder everyone studies and no one wants to work for.
John Snow and the Broad Street Pump: The Map That Ended a Cholera Epidemic
In 1854 Soho, a doctor ignored miasma theory, mapped cholera deaths by hand, and traced an epidemic to one water pump. Epidemiology was born.
Inside the Plague Doctor Costume: Why 17th Century Physicians Wore Bird Masks
A French court physician's fix for 'miasma' produced the plague doctor costume: the beaked mask, waxed coat, and cane behind medicine's most iconic image.
The Radium Girls: The Factory Workers Who Glowed in the Dark and Paid for It
The Radium Girls hand-painted radium onto watch dials, pointing their brushes with their lips. Their employer knew the danger and let them die anyway.
Muhammad Ali vs. Joe Frazier: Boxing's Bitterest Trilogy
Ali vs Frazier was three fights and one shattered friendship: how Ali's cruelty toward Frazier turned a boxing rivalry into the sport's deepest wound.
Elizabeth I vs. Mary Queen of Scots: The Rival Queens Who Never Met
One throne, two queens, a rivalry fought entirely by letter: Elizabeth I vs Mary Queen of Scots, and how they destroyed each other without ever meeting.
Alexander Hamilton vs. Aaron Burr: The Duel That Ended a Founding Father
Two brilliant New York lawyers, one grudge over a decade in the making, and a pistol duel at Weehawken that killed a Founding Father and ruined a Vice President.
Michelangelo vs. Leonardo da Vinci: Florence's Bitter Rivalry
In 1504, Florence pitted Michelangelo vs. Leonardo da Vinci on facing walls in the same room. Neither finished. Here is how the rivalry played out, and who won.
Scott vs. Amundsen: The Race to the South Pole
In the Scott vs. Amundsen race to the South Pole, Amundsen's Norwegians won and came home in 1911. Scott's British party arrived a month late and never returned.
Tesla vs. Edison: The War of the Currents
In the Tesla vs. Edison War of the Currents, Edison's Pearl Street DC lit New York first, but Tesla's AC, bankrolled by George Westinghouse, won in the end.
Catherine Howard: The Teenage Queen Henry VIII Executed
Henry VIII's fifth wife was barely a teenager when scandal caught her. Six the Musical made her famous again - here is what the record shows.
The Death of Crown Prince Sado: A Korean King Who Locked His Son in a Rice Chest
A Korean king sealed his own heir, Crown Prince Sado, inside a wooden rice chest in 1762. Here is what the court record actually says happened, and why.
The Affair of the Diamond Necklace: The Con That Helped Doom Marie Antoinette
The Affair of the Diamond Necklace: a forged signature, a fake midnight meeting, and a necklace she never touched. The con that convinced France its queen was guilty.
The Edward VIII Abdication: The King Who Gave Up a Throne for Wallis Simpson
The Edward VIII abdication was sparked by a king's love for a twice-divorced American commoner, a constitutional crisis that cost him the throne within a year.
The Mayerling Incident: Crown Prince Rudolf's Murder-Suicide Mystery
The Mayerling incident of 1889 saw Austria's heir die with his teenage mistress at a hunting lodge. The Habsburgs called it heart failure; the record differs.
Rasputin and the Romanovs: What He Actually Did at Court
Rasputin held no government post. Here is what the record shows he actually did at the Romanov court, and where the mad monk legend takes over.