What makes trash collection so attractive to mobsters?

The Romans’ obsession with cleanliness is legendary, but it might have backfired.

London used to really stink—but cleaning it up made a world of difference in public health.

In 1900, cocaine wasn’t just a drug – it was the drug that could cure anything that ailed a patient. Here’s how it came to be Americans’ medicine of choice in the first decade of the 20th century.

The treatments prescribed by Simon Forman and Richard Napier were weird, ineffective, and often dangerous. Now you can read hundreds of their case notes online.

Even as medicine was rapidly improving, these downright scary or dangerous treatments were still lingering.

bankrupt investor Walter Thornton attempts to sell his luxury Chrysler Imperial 75 Roadster for $100 on the streets of NYC, October 29, 1929.

“Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one.”

In the old days, all a kid needed to have a good time was imagination, some throwing knives, and a couple of belts tied round his neck.

How a chicken farmer, a pair of princesses, and 27 imaginary spies helped the allies win World War II.