In 1884 Freud published a research paper, "On Cocaine," "a song of praise to this magical substance," and would give the substance to friends and colleagues as a gift -- speaking for himself, he found it aided his digestion and improved his spirits.
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Not only was Cleopatra an astute politician and savvy diplomat, she was a nightly partier who would rove the streets of Alexandria after-hours with her boyfriend, the Roman general Mark Antony, and play pranks on commoners after getting trashed at their elite "feasts and wine-binges" club.
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For centuries, keeping track of time didn't come naturally. Ancient Rome's road to the Julian calendar was especially rocky, and due to the craziness, their effort to reform the calendar ended up resulting in the longest year in human history. This is why 46 B.C. was the longest year ever.
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During the 20th century, Jesse Jackson became a prominent civil rights activist, political figure, and Baptist minister. Known for working alongside Martin Luther King Jr., Jesse Jackson went on to run for president twice and launched the social justice program Rainbow/PUSH Coalition.
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It's a bird! It's a plane! Oh, no. It's both! Such might be the reaction of a time traveler visiting Argentina some six million years ago upon first catching sight of the largest bird that ever existed: Argentavis magnificens.
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Even today, historians and archaeologists can't quite agree on who the Phoenicians were. What is clear, however, is that they were mighty. They established cities described in the Bible, created impressive artworks, and maybe even sailed as far as the British Isles.
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When John F. Kennedy returned to the White House from his trip to Europe, a project came with him, lodged in his mind along with the memories of all the estate gardens he saw in England and France. The modern Rose Garden was born.
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Edmund Hillary made history in 1953 when he scaled Everest for the first time with Nepali climber Tenzing Norgay, but that was hardly his only achievement. Here's a look inside Sir Edmund Hillary's fascinating life of adventure.
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The written word is a powerful thing. You never know when something as simple as a letter is going to spark an idea, a feeling, or a determination to do something that's going to change the world, and literally? That can happen at any time. These are letters that changed the course of history.
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Everyone loves Dolly Parton. She's an icon for a reason and everyone basically agrees she's the best. But even she has a complicated history with some people. Case in point -- Porter Wagoner.
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Yes, the Wild West was awesome, but that's not to say it was as awesome as video games, television, and film make it out to be.
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For BMW reviewer Nico DeMattia, BMW's M235i Gran Coupe introduced a much needed feature: the ability to reduce the car's "artificial engine noises.
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It's not uncommon to assume that there is a scientific basis for the biblical version of Adam and Eve. After all, humans had to start somewhere. Often, that assumption is taken out of context, for one reason or another.
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Larry King was simply an American institution, known for his tough, direct, and fair interviews with just about anyone. Here's the real story of Larry King.
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Breaking Bad is an unusual story. No TV show, past or since, has successfully woven such terrifying ruthlessness around a protagonist who wears grandpa underpants.
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On November 30th the Winter War was on (formally known as the Russo-Finnish War), a conflict that would last until March, the following year.
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Auschwitz. There are few places that conjure up more images of death and horror than the Nazi's most infamous concentration camp. But it was worse than you ever learned, because there are some places history classes just won't go. Here's what your history class didn't teach you about Auschwitz.
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For those who may be worried that The Last Kingdom is a simple rehash of Vikings, don't. Rather, view it instead as a spin-off that transforms into a sequel told from the perspective of the Saxons whose lands the Vikings invaded.
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Both series depict the conflict between Nordic people and their Saxon victims. Characters overlap as well. At a glance, The Last Kingdom is merely retreading ground covered in Vikings, but from a Saxon perspective.
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The Sistine Chapel is a major tourist attraction that's also packed with over five centuries of art history, most notably works by Michelangelo, who may have left more than a few subtle clues in his art. Here are the mysteries of the Sistine Chapel revealed.
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You can actually learn something from Drunk History, be it a about forgotten war hero or how one shouldn't mix tequila with wine. This is the untold truth of Drunk History.
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Not everyone believed that Paul Williams's death was a suicide, however. Unexplained circumstances surrounding his death caused his family to suspect some kind of foul play.
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In its heyday, Hampton Court Palace was a favorite of King Henry VIII, and subsequent monarchs would continue their own touches to it over the years, amounting to a princely sum of treasure spent on its construction.
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North America certainly wasn't the only place on the planet that traded in accusations of sorcery. Twenty-four years earlier, Sweden experienced what's known as The Great Noise -- an eight-year witch hunt, 1668-1676, with trials and executions stretching from the west coast to the east.
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Kano was a serious man. He also cast a long shadow. From his birth in 1860 to his death in 1938, Kano would master a martial art, modernize it, and then unleash it on a global audience.
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Very few figures in Russian history has fascinated people more than the enigmatic Grigori Rasputin, the mysterious healer to Russian Czar's family. So much of his life has been documented, but you don't hear much about his family. Rasputin's daughter Maria was equally as enigmatic as her father.
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Over the centuries, Vikings have been subjected to more stereotypes than you can shake an axe at. One example of this stereotyping in action? The Viking diet.
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