HISTORY

Zoë Chao (‘The Afterparty,’ ‘Creature Commandos’) listens in as Arturo spins a seafaring yarn of death defying escapes from Violet Jessop, a.k.a. Miss Unsinkable.

Ninety years ago, the Black Sunday dust storm blasted the Great Plains with millions of tons of topsoil scoured from the once-rich prairies. The Dust Bowl had arrived.

The U.S. Constitution doesn't specify how many Supreme Court justices are necessary—and there weren’t always nine on the bench.

From a now-regretted counter-counterculture anthem to an oft-misunderstood ’80s hit to the song that allegedly got its singer followed by the CIA.

The group was founded during World War I to defend Americans’ First Amendment freedoms. Over the years, that mission has taken some unexpected turns.

Delve into the history of Khutulun, the 13th-century Mongolian princess—and descendant of Genghis Khan—who challenged marriage suitors to wrestling matches.

Discover how King Henry VIII and other members of the Tudor nobility handled going to the bathroom in the mid-1500s. (Spoiler: There was velvet involved, but it still wasn’t pretty.)

There’s no accounting for taste when it comes to critics’ misguided impressions of cultural classics, from mini-skirts to ‘Moby-Dick.’

From a bag of human hands to LEGO bricks and rubber duckies, some very weird things have washed up on the world's beaches.

From "scrabbling games" to hunting hares, these old Easter traditions have fallen out of fashion.

Potential recruits had to answer questions like ‘Is genuine happiness a priceless treasure?,’ ‘Are avenues usually paved with oxygen?,’ and ‘Do you cordially recommend forgery?’

The typo in a 1928 opinion may have inadvertently influenced an unknown number of decisions to follow.