HISTORY

In the Middle Ages, stealing a book was more like stealing someone’s car today. Now, we have car alarms; then, they had chains, chests … and curses.

Everyone liked “Y.M.C.A.”—except the actual organization.

By the age of 34, Lorraine Hansberry was already the author of two plays that had appeared on Broadway. She should have been on course for a long and successful career—but tragically, that wouldn't happen. Still, her legacy has endured.

Whether an entire town can’t stop dancing or people suddenly start worrying about minor marks on their windshields, these seemingly unbelievable events have had some surprising (and sometimes devastating) effects.

When news of Christine Jorgensen’s gender-affirming surgery made headlines, she decided to use the exposure to help people.

In the latest episode of Misconceptions, host Justin Dodd debunks some commonly held beliefs about social media, from who owns what you post to what happens to your data. 

Here, in no particular order, are just a few of history’s most influential tomes—and how they made humanity look at things in a new light.

No, spies aren't all focused on national security. Yes, the CIA did deploy a mission called Operation Acoustic Kitty.

Nineteen-year-old Delaney Irving was unconscious when she crossed the finish line of Gloucester's 2023 cheese-rolling contest.

The years-in-the-making Oxford Dictionary of African American English will offer proper attribution to words and phrases that originated in Black culture.

Machines called “Readies” were writer Bob Brown’s answer to “talkies” in the 1930s.

Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" is one of the most admired, most studied, and most reproduced paintings the world has ever known—and it has inspired some wild theories.