Chris Klein

Christopher Klein

Christopher Klein is the author of four books, including When the Irish Invaded Canada: The Incredible True Story of the Civil War Veterans Who Fought for Ireland’s Freedom and Strong Boy: The Life and Times of John L. Sullivan. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including The Boston Globe, The New York Times, and National Geographic Traveler. Follow Chris at @historyauthor.

Latest from this author

Ship Bell from the Shipwrecked Edmund Fitzgerald

The cause of the 1975 sinking remains shrouded in mystery.

Christmas under the Commonwealth, A Puritan rebuking children for the iddotry of picking holly. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

They banned the public celebration of Christmas for an entire generation.

Christmas Traditions: Eggnog

Think the office holiday party got out of control? That was nothing compared to an alcohol-fueled Christmas celebration at West Point.

Look back at the moment when the holiday spirit sparked impromptu ceasefires along World War I’s Western Front.

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A towering, iconic arch stands prominently in the foreground, overlooking a sprawling cityscape of skyscrapers and high-rise buildings in the background.

Sixty years after the Gateway Arch’s completion, see the drastically different ideas that were considered for the St. Louis monument.

Scene from the trial of Charles Julius Guiteau, known for the assassination of the U.S. President James A. Garfield.

Charles Guiteau claimed God ordered him to do it.

Woodrow & Edith Wilson

Concealed from the public, Woodrow Wilson's medical crisis sparked constitutional questions that still reverberate.

The surprising maritime origins of New Year’s Eve’s biggest party.

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A little-known chamber concealed behind the head of Abraham Lincoln was intended to contain a shrine to America.

Yosemite National Park

10 surprising facts about the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Gorgeous sunset in Toronto on a lovely day in November. The characteristic Toronto skyline with the famous CN tower grace the horizon. As seen from Riverdale Park East, Broadview.

The idea has nothing to do with farmers, for one thing.

The History of Food Stamps in the United States

The program had its largest expansion under a Republican president.

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10 Things You May Not Know About the Nuremberg Trials

The post-World War II trials marked the first-ever prosecutions for genocide and crimes against humanity.

The Premature Burial, 1854, by Antoine Wiertz.

Inventors rushed to patent escapable 'safety coffins.'

Death of George Washington, Dec. 14, 1799, by N. Currier.

A day after George Washington’s death, a doctor arrived at Mount Vernon and proposed a procedure to resurrect America’s first president.

Junior Johnson in the Pontiac #55 car and Charlie Cregar in the Chevrolet #505 car race as fans watch the action at Daytona Beach, 1956. NASCAR has grown from moonshine runners escaping federal agents to one of the most popular sports in the country. (Credit: Hy Peskin/Getty Images)

It wasn’t gasoline—but moonshine—that fueled the growth of stock car racing in Appalachia and led to the rise of NASCAR.

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hith reali life jaws Shark fin above ocean water

It wasn’t safe to go back in the water of the Jersey Shore in 1916, as a series of deadly shark attacks forever changed Americans’ attitudes toward the sea creatures.

When Thomas Edison demonstrated the first practical incandescent light bulb on New Year’s Eve 1879, it marked the dawn of the electric age.

WAVE cheerleaders at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station during World War 2. Sept. 13, 1943. - (BSLOC 2014 17 174) - Image ID: F2B5F7 (RM)

'Bear' Bryant, who became a legend at Alabama, and future Pro Football Hall of Famers were among the all-star collection of talent.

Tailgating 1940s style in Chicago, ca. 1944Tailgating 1940s style in Chicago, ca. 1944 (Photo by Kirn Vintage Stock/Corbis via Getty Images)

The ritual grew as ownership of automobiles and then mass production of portable grills and plastic coolers soared.

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Josephine Baker's Double Life as a World War II Spy

Using fame as a cover, the glamorous entertainer spied for the French Resistance against the Nazis.

Tippi Hedren

Two years before Alfred Hitchcock’s ‘The Birds’ debuted, frenzied seabirds swarmed a California beach town frequented by the director.

America’s bloodiest day changed the course of the Civil War—and the country itself—forever.

A scene from the Bayeux Tapestry, depicting the Norman Invasion of 1066.

Find out how the Battle of Hastings forever changed England—and the English language.

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Pints of Guinness at Gravity Bar at Guinness Storehouse.

The dark, foamy stout wasn't the first beer they produced.

Captain Dwight Eisenhower, Camp Meade, Maryland, 1919

Dwight Eisenhower’s grueling, 62-day cross-country road trip in 1919 planted the seeds for the creation of the Interstate Highway System.

MLB Photos Archive

The first Latino Hall of Famer made charity work a priority.

Family portrait of Franklin Delano Roosevelt with wife Eleanor and their young children, with parents sitting and children standing

Franklin Roosevelt’s children offered physical, emotional and political support throughout his presidency.

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Find out about the accusations and trials that rattled Hartford, Connecticut, in 1662.

Montacute House, Somerset, England.

Much of England's elite lost land, power and privilege.

WWI Inventions

These World War I inventions made life easier during—and after—the war.

Still photo from HISTORY® Channel's series 'Jesus: His Life'

Some argue that Jesus wasn't an actual man, but within a few decades of his lifetime, he was mentioned by Jewish and Roman historians.

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Attack of François d?Orléans, prince de Joinville in Veracruz on December 5, 1838. Artist: Blanchard, Henri Pierre Léon Pharamond (1805-1873)

An unpaid bakery debt launched the 'Pastry War' between France and Mexico.

The Bayeux Tapestry, listed as World Heritage by UNESCO, tells the story of England's invasion by William the Conqueror and the Battle of Hastings.

This 230-foot embroidery tells the story of the Norman Conquest.

Close up, color image of a vintage football helmet and football, sitting on wood. Some desaturation and grain added for vintage feel.

Look back at the NFL’s strange first championship game, played indoors on a 60-yard field squeezed into a hockey rink.

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General Chiang Kai-shek addresses the troops in China during World War II, circa 1943.

China was a vital, but often forgotten, member of the Allies battling Japan—two years before the official start of World War II.

These classic works of literature ran afoul of government censors.

A woman with curly red hair and a purple hat adorned with flowers gazes directly at the viewer against a green background.

Widely acclaimed as the first movie star, Florence Lawrence was the first film actress whose name was used to promote her films.

Little House on the Prairie

Laura Ingalls Wilder had a secret collaborator with Libertarian Party connections.

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What Countries Made Up the Soviet Union?

At its height, the USSR comprised of more than a dozen republics stretching across Europe and Asia. After the collapse, each forged a different path.

Ida May Fuller

Over her lifetime, the first Social Security recipient received nearly 1,000 times what she paid into the system.

Sandy Koufax's Winning Form

Was it born from baseball or the boxing ring?

Why Did the Pilgrims Come to America?

They were less religious refugees than economic migrants.

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Andrew Carnegie

The magnate with humble roots claimed to be pro-union, but his actions didn’t match his rhetoric.

The launch of NASA's Apollo 17 spacecraft from Pad A, Launch Complex 39 of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, 7th December 1972.

The Apollo program’s sixth human landing on the moon ended an epic chapter in space exploration.

While the advent of train travel altered previously held concepts of time and distance, learn about 10 railways and train journeys that also changed the course of history.

PEPSI VAN ON MOSCOW STREET

The cola wars' strangest twist birthed the 'Pepski generation.'

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Orson Welles' 1938 program is the most famous—and dramatic—broadcast in radio history.

Hiram Clough (driving Jeep), Lance Corporal Joe Wilkenson and Kenneth Brierley (seated at the back of the Jeep) of the 716 (Airborne) Light Composite Company RASC (Royal Army Service Corps), British 6th Airborne Division in a Willys Jeep and trailer with glider pilots and other members of the unit following their landing from the damaged wooden Airspeed AS51 Horsa glider on a supply run on D-Day, 6th June 1944 at a landing ground near Ranville in Normandy, France.

The sophisticated hoax fooled the Nazis and laid the groundwork for the Normandy invasion.

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