Belarus has reportedly banned the sale of the book “Nineteen Eighty-Four,” effective May 19. But why would a book about a chronically depressed, chain-smoking bureaucrat in a fictional country strike such fear into totalitarian governments? And how did such a novel come about in the wake of the Spanish Civil War and World War II? … Lire la suite

On a baby-blue sky fall afternoon, Richard Clem and I stand among the remains of cornstalks in a field on the old Otho J. Smith Farm near the Antietam battleground. The South Mountain range stretches across the horizon to the east; roughly 350 yards away stand large, modern farm buildings. A hint of cow manure … Lire la suite

In 1966, the Airborne Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, or ARVN, was formed with 12,000 troops. An elite unit, it conducted airborne assaults and airmobile operations throughout the war. Known for their distinctive red beret, called “Mu Do” in Vietnamese, the South Vietnamese airborne troops were assisted by U.S. advisers with … Lire la suite

Are we alone? Are we living in a real “Twilight Zone?”   Up until recently, UFO chasers and alien enthusiasts may have received a polite nod from their fellow man followed by a swift shuffle away.  However, ufologists suddenly enjoyed newfound legitimacy in 2017 when news broke about the existence of a secret Pentagon program to … Lire la suite

On March 26, 1351, in the Duchy of Brittany in western France, two teams of knights, squires and men-at-arms faced off across a field midway between Josselin and Ploërmel castles. Though it was springtime and far from the dog days of summer, sweat streamed down the faces of those assembled. From either side men clad … Lire la suite

In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the leaders of Finland and Sweden announced their official move to apply to join NATO. The Sunday announcement “changes decades of Finnish policy toward the Cold War-era military alliance and it upends more than two centuries of Swedish policy,” according to NPR. For decades, Finland — which shares … Lire la suite

The end of the 1967 Six-Day War left Israeli forces on the east side of the Suez Canal and Egyptian forces on the west side, but there was no peace agreement, only an informal ceasefire. On March 8, 1969, a frustrated Egyptian Presi-dent Gamal Abdel Nasser declared an end to the ceasefire and started the “War … Lire la suite

AS CHRISTMAS APPROACHED in 1942, a young cryptographer named Leo Marks sat in an office on Baker Street in London, trying to understand what was bothering him. Marks worked for the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the clandestine outfit Prime Minister Winston Churchill had ordered to “set Europe ablaze” with sabotage operations. His job was to … Lire la suite

It was one minute before high noon on Oct. 27, 1962, the day that later became known as “Black Saturday.” More than 100,000 American troops were preparing to invade Cuba to topple Fidel Castro’s communist regime and destroy dozens of Soviet intermediate- and medium-range ballistic missiles thought to be aimed at targets in the United … Lire la suite

Thousands of men enforced the law on the Western frontier as constables, sheriffs, policemen, marshals and detectives. Most of their work involved routine duties—e.g., collecting taxes, seeing licenses were up to date, arresting wife-beaters, keeping a lid on the illegal sale of booze, checking store doors at night and generally ensuring things were under control … Lire la suite