Joseph A. Williams
Writer
The Berners Street Hoax, History's Most Audacious Prank
January 7, 2020
A caricature of the Berners Street Hoax. Source: (Wikimedia Commons) In...
The Rise Of Shaka And The Zulu Empire
January 5, 2020
A statue of Shaka Zulu. Source: (Getty Images) In the southeast corner of Africa, the war...
Some of History's Most Notorious Hoaxes
January 3, 2020
A model of the Loch Ness Monster. Source: (Wikimedia Commons) Napoleon Bonaparte once s...
The Origin Of The Tour de France
January 2, 2020
Tour de France 2016. Source: (Photo by Tim de Waele/Corbis via Getty Images) While there are m...
The Power And Mystery Of The Runes
December 31, 2019
Franks casket. Source: (Wikimedia Commons) J.R.R. Tolkien readers are familiar with runes, t...
The First Tsar: Ivan The Terrible
December 28, 2019
Ivan the Terrible killing his son; painting by Ilya Repin. Source: (Wikimedia Commons) In ter...
Capoeira: The Dance Of Death
December 27, 2019
Source: (YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images) Two capoeiristas square off in a circle called a ro...
The Story Of The Lost City Of Pompeii
December 21, 2019
John Martin's painting The Destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Source: (Wikimedia Commo...
How The U.S. Government Poisoned Hooch During Prohibiti...
December 20, 2019
Deputies dumping illegal alcohol in Orange County California in 1932. ...
Making Music With Mozart
December 19, 2019
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with his sister Maria Anna and father Leopold, on the wall a portrait of his dea...
Who Shall Be Shōgun?
December 15, 2019
The Battle of Sekigahara. Source: (Wikimedia Commons) Japan since its earliest recorded histories had bee...
Of Gods And Blood: Aztec Religion And Human Sacrifice
December 12, 2019
An Aztec Temple. Source: (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) The Aztec...
The Sámi Of The North
December 11, 2019
The Sámi collecting reindeer. Source: (Wikimedia Commons) The Sámi people of the shores of the Arctic Oc...
The Mad King And His Fairy Tale Castle: Neuschwanstein
December 9, 2019
Neuschwanstein Castle. Source: (Photo by DEA / M.SANTINI/De Agostini via G...
Why Was Suleiman So Magnificent?
December 7, 2019
Suleiman the Magnificent receiving Sigismund, Prince of Transylvania and son of King John Zapoly...
By Hammer And Hand All Arts Do Stand: The Medieval Guil...
December 4, 2019
A smith at work. Source: (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images) Labor an...
Behold The Book Of Kells
November 27, 2019
From the Book of Kells. Source: (Hulton Archive/Getty Images) One of history's greatest pieces of art ...
Operation Anthropoid: The Assassination Of The Final So...
November 26, 2019
Source: (Wikimedia Commons) Arguably, Reinhard Heydrich was the vile...
Meet Mansa Musa, The Richest Person In History
November 25, 2019
A map showing Mansa Musa of the Empire of Mali. Source: (Wikimedia Commons) In t...
Jim Corbett And The Champawat Tiger
November 21, 2019
Source: (gettyimages.com) Tigers and their status as an endangered species have made them, ...
The Scourge Of Scurvy
November 20, 2019
Corpses of Dutch scurvy victims in 1634, drawing by V Foulquier, Spitsbergen, Norway, from Il Giro del mond...
Captain William Kidd And The Legend Of The Lost Treasur...
November 13, 2019
Captain Kidd in New York Harbor, in a c. 1920 painting by Jean Leon Ge...
How Harry Houdini Debunked Fake Mediums And Got Cursed ...
November 12, 2019
Harry Houdini. Source: (Wikimedia Commons) The famous magician Harry...
Leonardo Da Vinci's Incredible Inventions
November 10, 2019
Multi-barrelled gun, sketch by Leonardo da Vinci. Source: (Photo by SSPL/Getty Images) ...
Forecasting the Future With the Oracle Of Delphi
November 9, 2019
Consulting the Delphic Oracle. Source: (Universal History Archive/Getty Images) ...
What Made Alexander The Great So Great?
November 4, 2019
Alexander Mosaic (detail), House of the Faun, Pompeii. Source: (Wikimedia Commons) Alex...
Beware the Red Baron, Imperial Germany's World War I Fl...
November 3, 2019
A modern replica of a World War I-era German Fokker Dr.1 triplane (lef...
The Source Of The Nile
November 2, 2019
Blue Nile Falls in Ethiopia. Source: (Wikimedia Commons) To Europeans of the 19th century, one of the gr...
The Way Of Ancient Sparta
October 28, 2019
Greek hoplite reenactment. Source: (Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images) When most people think of the h...
Who Were The Samurai?
October 22, 2019
Source: (The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images) The samurai of premodern Japan is one of histo...
