When war broke out, black Americans fought in segregated units to serve their country. The breath of freedom they experienced in Europe flamed the fight for equality when they returned home.
Actor Robert Conrad has died of heart failure. He was a fist-fighting TV star in his day, in the 1960s hit The Wild Wild West (which spent decades in reruns) and …..
Former NBA superstar Kobe Bryant has died in a helicopter crash outside of Los Angeles, according to TMZ, ESPN and other sources. His 13-year-old daughter, Gianna Bryant (known as GiGi), …..
Here they come: the big, big birthdays of 2020. Who turns 50 this year? Who turns 100? What about 1400? (And would you be surprised to learn that Spongebob Squarepants is …..
Our new Baby Yoda biography is now live. It’s a stretch to call it a biography, of course, since the world knows so few facts about the li’l guy who …..
So Prince Andrew is leaving public life “for the foreseeable future,” thanks to his ghastly judgment in befriending pedophile millionaire Jeffrey Epstein and his ghastly judgment in talking about it with …..
Martin Luther gets the credit, but Erasmus set the stage, including his emphasis on using the new technology of the printing press.
How much talent can one woman have? Joni Mitchell made her name with catchy singles like “Big Yellow Taxi” (1970) and confessional albums like Blue (1971). But while she was …..
The first African-American child who won court approval to attend a whites-only school was Susan Clark in Muscatine, Iowa in 1868.
Blustery September Saturdays mean it’s time to dig out F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s masterpiece The Bowl again for an annual reading. This is not The Cut-Glass Bowl, Fitzgerald’s more famous (and gloomier) …..
Here they are: the three brave humans who flew to the moon 50 years ago. Two of them walked on its surface. The three are: Commander Neil Armstrong, command module pilot Michael Collins, …..
Our biography of once (and future?) convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein is now live. Jeffrey Epstein is the mysteriously wealthy money manager who was convicted 13 years ago of the …..
Apropos of nothing: here’s a wonderful episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood in which the visitor is actress Margaret Hamilton, better known as the Wicked Witch of the West in the …..
Actress, singer and eternal nice girl Doris Day has died of pneumonia at age 97. (She fudged her age for years, but biographer David Kaufman finally pegged her birth year as …..
Our new biography of Pete Buttigieg is now live. Pete Buttigieg, as has been widely reported, has unusual credentials for a modern presidential candidate. He is: Under 40 years of …..
It was the waning days of 2017, and Andrews McMeel was looking to make a change. The venerable comic “Nancy” had been around for eight decades, and the syndicate was …..
Guest post by Valerie Hill-Jackson, Texas A&M University/The Conversation Jessie Dean Gipson Simmons was full of optimism when she and her family moved from an apartment in a troubled area …..
The great Michael Caine drops a quip about Jaws: The Revenge (in which he played “carefree airplane pilot” Hoagie Newcombe): He’s the best. The quote was prompted by a comment from Ricky …..
Alex Trebek, the host of Jeopardy! since 1984, announced this week that he has been diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. In a video released by the show (above), he …..
Rev. Walker worked closely with Rev. King and would be the one to bring King’s Letter from Birmingham Jail to public attention – because he was the only one who could decipher King’s handwriting.