Best History Articles & Videos on the internet • Discoverology

History

Read the best history articles from around the internet, or watch the most insightful history videos from platforms like Youtube, Vimeo or leading history publishers like The New York Times, The Atlantic, Vanity Fair, New Yorker and many more.

Revisiting An American Town Where Black People Weren’t Welcome After Dark

Revisiting An American Town Where Black People Weren’t Welcome After Dark

History, Life, Long Reads

Anna is a city of a little more than 4,000 people located in the middle of Union County, where soybean fields and flatlands to the north give way to the forests and sandstone canyons of southern Illinois. Most people I met, wish the racist lore behind the city’s name would go away. So why hasn’t it?

The Secret History Of A Cold War Mastermind

The Secret History Of A Cold War Mastermind

History, Long Reads

The legend of Gus Weiss, hero of the Cold War, ends 11 stories below the balcony of his condo at the Watergate complex in Washington, DC, on November 25, 2003. A broken corpse on the sidewalk. He was a shrewd intelligence insider, pulled off an audacious tech hack against the Soviets in the last century. Or did he?

The Sexual Assault Case That Shook Ancient Rome

The Sexual Assault Case That Shook Ancient Rome

Crime, History

It was more than 2,000 years before the #MeToo movement, but a scene similar to the ones we’ve witnessed so often lately was already playing out. A prominent politician was on trial for corruption and bribery, charges bolstered by dirt his enemies had dug up from his past: the violent sexual assault of a young girl.

The My Generation: An Oral History Of Myspace Music

The My Generation: An Oral History Of Myspace Music

History, Long Reads, Media

At Myspace’s height, the website changed the way artists and fans found each other and how record labels and buzz-seeking blogs found fresh meat. Artists like Panic! At The Disco, Arctic Monkeys, Soulja Boy, Lily Allen, and Colbie Caillat would become pop stars in part because of their presence on the site.

The Man Who Walked Backward

The Man Who Walked Backward

History, Long Reads, World

When the Great Depression put Plennie Wingo’s bustling Abilene, Texas, cafe out of business, he tried to find fame, fortune, and a sense of meaning the only way he knew how: by embarking on an audacious trip around the world on foot. In reverse.

Bashir Sultani

Inspiration
Bashir Sultani
The Secret History Of Facial Recognition

The Secret History Of Facial Recognition

History, Long Reads, Tech

Sixty years ago, a sharecropper’s son invented a technology to identify faces. Then the record of his role all but vanished. He died on October 4, 1995. His obituary in the Austin American-Statesman made no mention of his work on facial recognition. Who was Woody Bledsoe, and who was he working for?

In A Disaster, Humans Can Behave… Pretty Well, Actually

In A Disaster, Humans Can Behave… Pretty Well, Actually

History, Life

In his new book, Jon Mooallem tells the story of the Great Alaska Earthquake and Genie Chance, the woman whose voice on the radio held everyone together. It’s a beautiful exploration of how people tell stories on the radio, on stage, in books, and generally to each other.

How Adorable R360 Coupe Shaped Mazda's Design DNA

How Adorable R360 Coupe Shaped Mazda's Design DNA

Design, History

The Japanese brand might be celebrating their 100 year anniversary in 2020 but it was 60 years ago that one model, in particular, set the benchmark for Mazda and microcars at large. priced at just 300,000 ¥ (around $830 USD), the small, adorable Mazda R360 coupe was more than a city car.

The Long-Forgotten Flight That Sent Boeing Off Course

The Long-Forgotten Flight That Sent Boeing Off Course

Business, History

It was May 2001. And Boeing’s leaders, CEO Phil Condit and President Harry Stonecipher, had decided it was time to put some distance between themselves and the people actually making the company’s planes. How much distance? This flight—a PR stunt to end the two-month contest for Boeing’s new headquarters—would reveal the answer.

The Oldest Tattooing Family In The World

The Oldest Tattooing Family In The World

Art, History, Videos

Wasim Razzouk is a tattoo artist in Jerusalem’s Old City. Ink runs deep in his family. The Razzouks have been tattooing visitors to the Holy Land for 500 years (and in Egypt for 200 years before that). Christian pilgrims flock to Razzouk Tattoo to get a cross tattoo based on one of the designs on wooden stamps that have been in the Razzouk family for generations.

How One American Citizen Was Forcibly Drafted Into The South Korean Army

How One American Citizen Was Forcibly Drafted Into The South Korean Army

History, Politics

Illinois-born Young Chun thought a stint teaching English in Korea would be a quick and easy way to pay off his mounting post-college debt. He could not have been more wrong. Chun became a victim of a collision between unforgiving bureaucracy and the meddling of an unknown family member thousands of miles away.

Germany's First Postwar Army

Germany's First Postwar Army

History, Videos

In 1951 Germany’s first postwar armed forces unit was formed – the Bundesgrenzschutz or Federal Border Guard. Until the formation of the Bundeswehr in 1955, it was effectively Germany’s army. Armed and equipped from the old wartime Wehrmacht, the BGS guarded the inner German border between East and West Germany.

Nikolay Schegolev

Inspiration
Nikolay Schegolev
'The Intelligence Coup Of The Century'

'The Intelligence Coup Of The Century'

Crime, History, Long Reads

For more than half a century, governments all over the world trusted a single company, Crypto AG, to keep the communications of their spies, soldiers and diplomats secret. But what none of its customers ever knew was that Crypto AG was secretly owned by the CIA.

The Bizarre Social History Of Beds

The Bizarre Social History Of Beds

History

Groucho Marx once joked, “Anything that can’t be done in bed isn’t worth doing at all.” You might think he was referring to sleeping and sex. But humans, at one time or another, have done just about everything in bed. And yet, they’re more of an afterthought.

A Dictator's Birthday Present To Himself

A Dictator's Birthday Present To Himself

History, Videos, World

In 1968, Albanian Communist dictator Enver Hoxha did what any leader espousing equality among all people would naturally do. He demanded his name be written into a mountain. It was a birthday present that he was giving himself.

Muslims Of Early America

Muslims Of Early America

History, Long Reads

Muslims came to America more than a century before Protestants, and in great numbers. How was their history forgotten? Not just the language of Islam, but the religion itself likely arrived in America in 1492, more than 20 years before Martin Luther nailed his theses to the door, igniting the Protestant reformation.

Is An Island Off Cuba The Last Surviving Piece Of East Germany?

Is An Island Off Cuba The Last Surviving Piece Of East Germany?

History, World

The Unification Treaty signed in August 1990 re-Germanied the Germanies, and that West Germany (now known as “Germany”) inherited East Germany’s territories. But there may have been a tiny oversight. Turns out, there could still be a sliver of the Deutsche Demokratische Republik remaining in the Caribbean, just west of Cuba’s Bay of Pigs.

Michael Crichton

Inspiration
Michael Crichton
"Balloonfest", The Spectacle That Became A Tragedy

"Balloonfest", The Spectacle That Became A Tragedy

History, Videos

In September 1986, the city of Cleveland attempted to set a special record: the simultaneous launch of 1.5 million balloons. But fate intervened, and the result was both crazier and more tragic than anyone could have imagined.

A Secret Cupid Is Emerging From A 17th-Century Vermeer

A Secret Cupid Is Emerging From A 17th-Century Vermeer

Art, History

During a routine round of conservation on Johannes Vermeer’s 17th-century Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window, art detectives realized that a section of the canvas had been painted over after the Dutch artist’s death in 1675, concealing a cupid figure.

The Lost Neighborhood Under New York's Central Park

The Lost Neighborhood Under New York's Central Park

Cities, History, Videos

A story that goes back to the 1820s, when that part of New York was largely open countryside. Among them was a predominantly black community. It became known as Seneca Village. And when Irish and German immigrants moved in, it became a rare example at the time of an integrated neighborhood.

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