How the Beanie Baby Craze Came to a Crashing EndIn the 1990s, hysteria over Ty Inc’s $5 plush toys fed a wave of theft, fraud and market manipulation. Values soared—then plummeted.Read more
Why Stalin Tried to Stamp Out Religion in the Soviet UnionJoseph Stalin led a uniquely brutal campaign against religion and religious leaders.Read more
As the Allies Closed in on Hitler, They Jockeyed for Future World DominanceOne prize in the Allies’ race to take Berlin: the German scientists working to develop the atomic bomb.Read more
Why Hitler Secretly Met With a Japanese General During WWIITomoyuki Yamashita and the Führer had their own separate agendas. Later, they would share a mutual interest in gold.Read more
Quarantined for Life: The Tragic History of US Leprosy ColoniesStripped of their most basic human rights, patients nonetheless built lives and communities.Read more
Did George Washington Believe in God?Religion was a topic America’s first president remained extremely cagey about.Read more
Horrors of Auschwitz: The Numbers Behind WWII’s Deadliest Concentration CampHow many were killed, how many children were sent to the site and the numbers of people who attempted to escape are among the facts that reveal the scale of crimes committed at Auschwitz.Read more
Amid the Holocaust’s Horrors, Many Jews Found Ways to Mark HanukkahFrom carving menorahs on stolen blocks of wood to creating makeshift wicks from scraps of fat and used loose threads, concentration camp inmates devised covert ways to celebrate the holiday.Read more
When President Carter Pardoned Draft Dodgers, Only Half Came BackCarter’s executive order left many people furious, while others saw it as a bold show of compassion.Read more
The Failed Soviet Rival to the Flapper DressThe Soviet masses did not respond well to ‘prozodezhda,’ a 1920s experiment that sought to revolutionize dress.Read more
The Death‑Defying Challenges of Military Logistics in IraqA.J. Luna worked in security and convoy communications. The threat of being hit by a bomb or a sniper was constant.Read more
When Dozens of Korean War GIs Claimed a UFO Made Them SickTheories range from high‑tech Soviet death rays to extraterrestrials studying human combat to combat‑stress‑induced hallucinations.Read more