Jesse Greenspan

Bones, water, sand, incense, candles and stone monuments were among the items people used to track time.

The scourge of mariners from antiquity to the modern era, wood-boring shipworms were purportedly more feared than pirates.

In 1934, wind gusts of 231 miles per hour roared over the top of Mount Washington, rattling the weathermen who managed to record it.

The famously secretive papal conclave, with its ceremonies and traditions, is informed by hundreds of years of history.

From the Maya to Greenland’s Vikings, these six civilizations seemingly disappeared without a trace.

The 1978 Camp David Accords secured a lasting peace between two longtime enemies in the Middle East.

Hitler’s failed 1923 coup and his short term in prison ended up helping the future dictator reset and find his path to power.

Tens of millions of Americans have served in the armed forces since the country’s founding. Read quotes by and about U.S. servicemembers.

How eight countries got bogged down in the Vietnam War's Cold War proxy battle.

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster was made worse when Soviet authorities initially denied the event and then acted slowly to contain it.

For centuries—and especially since World War II—countries have attempted to define the rules of war and determine punishment for violators.

Sugar barons and businessmen ousted Hawaii’s longstanding monarchy, setting the stage for US annexation.

For high-status Vikings, a ship burial offered an extravagant path to the afterlife.

Ukraine has long endured battles, with Russia’s 2022 invasion only the latest in a series of wars, rebellions, raids and pogroms to take place there.

The United States’ invasion of Canada 200 years ago went awry from the start.

Explore eight illuminating facts about the first Roman emperor.

President John F. Kennedy was just one of a handful of people hit in downtown Dallas on November 22, 1963.

An overheard conversation between three Choctaw Indian soldiers serving in World War I led to a code strategy that confounded enemy forces.

Billie Jean King’s straight-set victory over self-proclaimed male chauvinist Bobby Riggs reverberated far beyond the world of tennis.

President Lincoln was not the only high-ranking government official that John Wilkes Booth slated for assassination.

Explore seven fascinating facts about this bloody prelude to World War II.

Though it only aired once, the so-called “Daisy” ad played on fears of nuclear war in the race between Lyndon B. Johnson and Barry Goldwater.

President John F. Kennedy thrilled a huge West Berlin crowd by declaring, 'Ich bin ein Berliner.'

With a few clicks of the mouse, it’s now possible to view thousands of the civil rights icon’s papers and photographs.

Take a look back at the landmark school desegregation ruling.

The 1839 mutiny, led by an African rice farmer known as Cinqué, galvanized the abolitionist movement.

Get the facts on the actor who epitomized coolness and youthful angst.

Explore some illuminating facts about the so-called Queen of Crime.

Active volcanoes abound in Hawaii, Alaska and the western United States, including several that have erupted in recent times.

These eight abolitionists helped enslaved people escape to freedom.

On Christmas Eve 1968, Apollo 8’s astronauts captivated the world with a live broadcast from lunar orbit.

America’s earliest founding document survived war, fire, mistreatment, insects and the ravages of time prior to landing at its current home in the National Archives.

From his challenging childhood to his stolen coffin, the silent film star's story was anything but ordinary.

Check out seven surprising facts about the prolific and influential artist.

Check out six sinister themes in his work you likely wouldn’t find in a modern-day children’s story.

Explore eight surprising facts about the Man of Steel.

The Dust Bowl’s worst storm blotted out the sun and terrified the Great Plains’ already struggling population.

Find out what happened to the key players in the siege of the Branch Davidian cult compound on February 28, 1993.

From the Dust Bowl to the BP oil spill, explore some of the most notorious environmental disasters of the last century.

Check out some facts about the raucous annual affair.

World War II veteran Richard Overton enjoyed his whiskey and cigars until the end.

Get the facts on the last Whig president.

Get the facts on America’s longest-serving president.

Take a closer look at the world’s first communist head of state.

The legacy of America's 39th president extends far beyond his four years in the White House.

Check out eight facts about how the Lunar New Year is celebrated in China.

Explore nine things you may not know about “Il Duce” and his 21 years in power.

These athletes didn’t let a disability deter them from going for gold.

Even as millions of Nazi troops massed on his border, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin remained convinced that Adolf Hitler wouldn’t betray him.

Many consider it history’s most celebrated cavalry charge. And one of history's biggest military blunders.

Cold War America scored a major PR coup when the only daughter of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin defected to the United States.

A former president, a current president, a future president and a Socialist Party candidate all sought the White House 100 years ago.

As Mexico celebrates Revolution Day (Día de la Revolución) today, get the facts on one of history’s most convoluted conflicts.

Get the facts on this perpetually overshadowed Cold War clash.

Four centuries after Pocahontas’ death, unlearn everything you thought you knew about this Native American icon.

Get the facts on the legendary Shawnee war chief, who took part in the worst defeat ever inflicted by Native Americans on U.S. forces.

On Bastille Day, look back at the jailbreak that kick-started the French Revolution.

On the anniversary of his death, get the facts on the so-called Sun King.

Find out how the Spanish explorer's name became inextricably linked with the Fountain of Youth.

Look back at the deadliest earthquake ever to strike the United States.

As the War of 1812 neared its conclusion, British forces torched the White House, the Capitol and nearly every other public building in Washington.

In 1962, Marilyn Monroe serenaded President Kennedy with a sultry version of "Happy Birthday."

Get the facts on Upton Sinclair’s muckraking masterpiece.

The pan-African holiday is celebrated by millions around the world.

A look behind the scenes of the historic real-estate deal.

Get the facts on five D-Day beaches—code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword—that the Allies invaded.

Look back at George Washington’s road to the presidency.

A one-term president, Bush focused largely on foreign policy during his time in office.

Battling pernicious racial stereotypes about their fitness for combat, the Tuskegee Airmen more than proved their skill and valor in World War II.

By winning re-election in 1864 against his former top general, Lincoln dashed any hopes of a negotiated peace with the Confederacy.

President Warren G. Harding died of apparent heart failure while in the midst of a cross-country tour.

The seafaring Scandinavian warriors suffered from painful cavities and tooth abscesses. Still, their dental health was in some ways better than ours.

Though far from the main fighting, California made an outsized contribution to the Union victory, mostly in the form of gold and troops.

Mammoths, mastodons, saber-toothed cats, lions and other gargantuan mammals all disappeared from North America at the end of the last Ice Age. Who, or what, was responsible?

Get the facts on the civil rights activist and Black nationalist.

Get the facts on America’s most famous long-distance footpath.

The Mariana Trench remained undiscovered until a crew from the HMS Challenger unsuspectingly lowered a weighted rope into its immense depths.

The annual Mexican holiday marks the anniversary of the Battle of Puebla.

Despite the best efforts of amateur and professional archeologists, the ancient world has retained many of its secrets.  

From a 19th-century president who killed a man in a duel, to a 20th-century leader who once worked as a lifeguard, learn surprising facts about each U.S. president.

For millennia, ancient Egyptian doctors were trailblazers—and evidence detected on skulls suggests its doctors may have even attempted to treat cancer.

The 2,100-year-old Antikythera Mechanism was pulled from a shipwreck and shocked researchers with its sophisticated capabilities.

These discoveries tie biblical stories to the history of the ancient world.

Genetic analysis of the composer's hair reveals a likely cause of death.

In 1896, Ethiopia fended off an invading Italian army and secured its independence.

Organized warfare appears to have started in the Neolithic Age and then ramped up during the Bronze Age.

Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon all deepened U.S. involvement in the decades-long conflict.

How Hershel 'Woody' Williams used his flamethrowing prowess to become an American hero.

On the 450th anniversary of its founding, get the facts on the oldest U.S. city.

Discover how the Stars and Stripes came into existence.

These pioneering writers authored some of the earliest works of history.

More U.S. civilians died in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland than in any other terrorist attack except 9/11.

Inked-up mummies reveal that, far from a modern phenomenon, humans have been getting tattoos for thousands of years.

During the Roaring Twenties, Prohibition seemed here to stay. Then the economy collapsed, and the “noble experiment” crumbled along with it.

The presidential Cabinet has come a long way since Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson used to duke it out during the Washington administration.

From ancient Egypt and Maya to the Dust Bowl, take a look back at some of history’s most devastating droughts.

Explore some surprising facts about the iconic span.

The Polynesians were expert sailors—and research suggests they landed in the Americas centuries before Columbus.

Get the facts on the only Dutch colony in mainland North America, which included present-day New York City.

On the 70th anniversary of his death get the facts on the famed “Desert Fox.”