Lewis and Clark: William Clark for Expedition Co-Captain
Thomas Jefferson was leaning on Lewis to find a second in command for the expedition. Lewis went a step further than naming a second: He wrote to William Clark in June of 1803 and offered him co-command [more…]
SAT II U.S. History: Taking a Look at Format and Content
The SAT II U.S. History exam usually contains about 90 questions that you have to answer in one hour. The questions tend to get harder as you move through the test [more…]
Rushing for Gold and Statehood in California
On the chilly morning of Jan. 24, 1848, a man looked down into a sawmill ditch off the American River, about 40 miles east of Sacramento, California, (or 120 miles east of Yerba Buena, which soon became [more…]
Finding a Voice during the Harlem Renaissance
No period of African American literary history receives as much attention as the Harlem Renaissance, which ranged roughly from the beginning of World War I to the Great Depression. For the first time, [more…]
Figuring Out How Roman Mythology Got So Darned Mixed Up
Roman religion and, therefore, Roman mythology, was a long, drawn-out process of bringing together the gods, stories, and rituals of various cultures and making them Roman. People who study religion or [more…]
Barbarian Invasions: Lightening Up the Dark Ages
Everyone talks about the barbarian invasions during the Dark Ages, but barbarian is rather unfair. These "barbarians" had a well-developed culture, with their own laws and forms of art and codes of ethics [more…]
Napoleon: Being a Hero in a Troubled Nation
After military successes in Egypt, Napoleon was treated as a returning hero of mythic proportions in 1799. To the French people, he was Caesar and Alexander rolled into one. The streets were full of his [more…]
Escalating the Vietnam War: The Tet Offensives of 1968
The Tet holiday is revered in Vietnamese society as a series of days to visit with and enjoy family and friends. It has also been a time of great victories over previous foreign invaders in Vietnam. Almost [more…]
Enter a War Hero: President Ulysses Simpson Grant
Ulysses Grant's two terms as president are usually considered the most corrupt of any of the presidencies in U.S. history. Why did an honest man suffer such horrible terms in office? For one reason, Grant [more…]
Battles in the Sky: Nostradamus Predicts World War I
Oh, the irony of naming things. World War I was originally called The Great War because no one imagined that all the nations would fight at once — never mind the idea they'd do it again later. No one imagined [more…]
Armageddon and the Book of Revelation
The events written in the biblical Book of Revelation go by a number of names — Armaggedon, Apocalypse, The End Times — and for thousands of years, people have been seeing the signs of Armaggedon in the [more…]
Revising the Code of Canon Law (1983)
For Roman Catholics, canon law is another term for Church or ecclesiastical law. The word canon comes from the Greek word kanon, which is a "measuring reed. [more…]
Examining the Life of Malcolm X
Although best known for slogans such as "By Any Means Necessary" as well as posters depicting him with a gun, Malcolm X was a very complex man. An ex-convict, Malcolm X's strength, charisma, and intelligence [more…]
Setting the Stage for the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan
Throughout history, foreign armies who happened to be in the neighborhood of Central Asia often stopped by Afghanistan for an invasion or two. The Greeks and Persians in ancient times and the Arabs and [more…]
Examining the (Re)Birth of the Renaissance
A 19th-century Swiss historian named Jacob Burckhardt coined the term Renaissance (rebirth) for the big changes in thinking and the arts that took place in Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries. The rebirth [more…]
Running Hot and Cold Following World War II
The years after World War II weren't peaceful. But they didn't erupt into World War III either (cross your fingers). For much of the time after World War II, the major world powers were preoccupied with [more…]
Scrutinizing Naval Warfare during the Civil War: The Ironclad
In April 1861, after Fort Sumter, Union navy personnel hurriedly attempted to destroy its most important facility in Norfolk, Virginia, to prevent it from falling into the hands of the newly seceded state [more…]
Unlocking the Secrets of Symbolism in Nostradamus's Writings
People around the world have always searched for signs and omens that tell what the future brings, and they've looked just about everywhere. Since 1555 or so, people have looked to Nostradamus's writings [more…]
Remembering What a Buck Could Buy in the 1960s
A dollar really went far in the 1960s — much farther than it does today. Before you get too nostalgic, remember that the median household income in 1967 was [more…]
Princess Diana's Death: Accident or Conspiracy?
On August 31, 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales, died after a high-speed car accident in the Pont d'Alma tunnel in Paris. Princess Diana was traveling with Dodi Al-Fayed [more…]
Viewing the Vietnam War in Three Ways
The Vietnam War is one of the most controversial and traumatic events in American history. In the 21st century, Americans still bitterly argue about the war. For instance, in the 2004 presidential election [more…]
Midway: Naval Aviation's Finest Moment in World War II
The admirals in both the American and Japanese navies had grown up believing that the decisive naval action in the Pacific would be one straight out of the age of sail — two big battle fleets fighting [more…]
Nostradamus and His Methods: Breaking Down the Predictions
Nostradamus didn't start out with the intention to write a book of poetry. Instead, he spent his nights in the attic in his home in Salon, France. This attic became the retreat where he studied his favorite [more…]
Placing Lewis and Clark in History
One of the ways that the Lewis and Clark journey stands out among all the other explorations of the Americas is the over one million words that Lewis and Clark wrote in their journals. Clark was the most [more…]
Americanizing the War in Vietnam
Because U.S. President Lyndon Johnson continued to expand U.S. support to South Vietnam, the U.S. military presence continued and took a more aggressive posture in 1964. The American advisory effort remained [more…]
