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Strep Throat Likely Killed Mozart

'Minor epidemic' hit Vienna

(Newser) - Some have speculated Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died of eating undercooked pork; others have said he was poisoned. Now researchers believe he may have died of strep throat, Reuters reports. There was a “minor epidemic” of strep in Vienna when Mozart died, and findings suggest “Mozart was one of...

Tomb May Hold Key to Shakespeare

Sarcophagus may hold manuscripts tying Bard to another writer

(Newser) - A 17th-century tomb might hold the key to the enduring mystery of William Shakespeare's identity, the Daily Telegraph reports, and researchers are hoping to take a peek inside. A scan found that the ornate sarcophagus, built at an English church by Shakespeare contemporary and fellow scribe Fulke Greville, contains three...

Hitler Sent Troops to Russia's Frozen Hell
 Hitler Sent Troops 
 to Russia's Frozen Hell 
book excerpt
Jul 26, 2009 1:10 PM CDT

Hitler Sent Troops to Russia's Frozen Hell

Unprepared troops suffered 'horrific' consequences

(Newser) - When Adolf Hitler sent his troops to invade Russia, he gave little thought to their warmth—leaving them in “desperate need” of millions of hats, gloves, and coats, writes historian Andrew Roberts in a Daily Telegraph book excerpt. “One can't put any trust in the meteorological forecasts,”...

Database Takes Scholars to Medieval Battlefields

Free searchable database includes facts on salary, health, knighthood

(Newser) - British researchers have posted records of some 250,000 medieval soldiers in a searchable online database, the BBC reports. Now, interested parties can easily learn about the lives of fighters in the Hundred Years’ War, including salary, health, and knighthood information—for free. The “remarkable” records, says one researcher,...

Vatican Warms to Wilde
 Vatican 
 Warms 
 to Wilde 
OPINION
Jul 17, 2009 9:38 AM CDT

Vatican Warms to Wilde

Paper praises writer's 'lucid' analysis of his world

(Newser) - The Vatican long regarded Oscar Wilde as a “dissolute homosexual,” but things have changed, writes Richard Owen in the Times of London. A review in the Vatican newspaper of a study on the Irish writer celebrates him as “one of the personalities of the 19th century who...

Top 10 Moments in Life, Career
 Top 10 Moments 
 in Life, Career 
jackson's legacy
Jun 26, 2009 1:31 PM CDT

Top 10 Moments in Life, Career

(Newser) - As legions mourn the King of Pop, Time rounds up the 10 defining moments of his life and career:
  • The Jackson 5 bursts onto the scene in 1968, and its first single, “I Want You Back,” makes it to No. 1.
  • The release of Thriller in 1982 makes
...

Obama Needs Shorter To-Do List: Noonan
Obama Needs Shorter To-Do List: Noonan
OPINION
Jun 26, 2009 7:22 AM CDT

Obama Needs Shorter To-Do List: Noonan

Prez must fix the economy and keep us safe—and that's it

(Newser) - Confidence in Barack Obama is fading fast for many reasons, but above all it’s because he's not tending to "The Sentence,” writes Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal. Clare Boothe Luce once said that all great leaders are summed up by a sentence. “He preserved...

Decades of US Immigration History Comes to Light

National Archives receives documents of 21 million

(Newser) - The US is sending the files on some 21 million immigrants to the National Archives, revealing volumes of early 20th-century history, USA Today reports. The documents tell the stories of celebrities like Salvador Dali as well as the successes and tribulations of ordinary people, from refugees to “enemy aliens....

Nazis Ran a Staggering 20K Concentration Camps

Decade-long study could change scholars' 'mental universe'

(Newser) - A year's work on a new Holocaust encyclopedia pointed researchers to some 15,000 concentration camps they hadn’t known about, a finding that could shift the public's perception of the Holocaust, the Washington Post reports. “Instead of thinking of main death camps, people are going to understand that...

How China Rewrote Tiananmen History
 How China Rewrote 
 Tiananmen History 
OPINION
May 27, 2009 2:59 PM CDT

How China Rewrote Tiananmen History

Recalling Tiananmen 20 years later

(Newser) - The Tiananmen Square massacre isn’t something the Chinese government wants the world to remember, and it's doing a good job keeping the matter quiet, writes Terrence Cheng in the Chronicle of Higher Education. In China, “those who dare to speak about it are swiftly silenced,” he writes....

'Candid' Laura Bush Tells Her Story

Met with historians to discuss her little-known legacy

(Newser) - Shortly before the election last November, Laura Bush sought to shape her somewhat hazy legacy. The former first lady spoke to historians, reporters, and other DC insiders in a 3-hour “legacy lunch,” at which she was called “candid,” “funny,” and “open” as she...

10 Odd Facts About World War II
 10 Odd Facts 
 About World War II 
memorial day weekend
May 23, 2009 4:35 PM CDT

10 Odd Facts About World War II

(Newser) - With Memorial Day and the 65th anniversary of Normandy coming up, it's time for a World War II history review. The Chicago Tribune has dug up ten strange facts:
  • Elsie Mitchell and five children died in Gearhart Mountain, Ore., in May 1945, by touching a Japanese "balloon bomb" 
...

It Was Gauguin Who Cut Off van Gogh's Ear

Historians say Dutch painter loss his ear in a fight

(Newser) - Vincent van Gogh's fame derives not only from his paintings, but from the legendary story that he sliced off his own ear and presented it to a prostitute. But two art historians now say that the Dutch painter didn't mutilate himself. After a decade of research, they argue that Paul...

London Library Yields Lost Ben Franklin Letters

Missives document his attempt to help Brits fight the French

(Newser) - More than two centuries after his death, Benjamin Franklin has more stories to tell, CNN reports. An American professor conducting research in London unearthed facsimiles of 47 letters the Founding Father wrote and received when he lived there 250 years ago. “I just about shot through the ceiling I...

Time to Stop Fighting the Civil War in History Class

Obama means 'honest' discourse on race

(Newser) - Ask a Northerner what caused the Civil War and he'll say slavery, while Southerners are likely to say states’ rights, or economic differences. That self-justifying shorthand is reflected in what's taught in schools, too. But with the election of Barack Obama, historians say new ground has been broken in the...

Don't Believe the Hype: Afghanistan's Fixable

US position in the country far different from previous foreign powers'

(Newser) - We hear plenty of doom and gloom about Afghanistan, the so-called “graveyard of empires” that defeated the Brits way back when and kicked out the Soviets in 1989. But the naysayers are forgetting all that’s working in favor of the US, writes Peter Bergen in the New York ...

In Classroom, Twitter Trumps the Queen

Proposed UK curriculum focuses on learning skills, flexibility

(Newser) - Why learn about World War II or Queen Victoria in elementary school when you can always look them up on Wikipedia? That seems to be the rationale behind a new proposed overhaul of the British school system. Because secondary schools teach plenty of history, the reasoning goes, early schooling should...

Poor Folk Disliked Hood Too: Expert

(Newser) - The rich and poor alike may have despised Robin Hood in his day, the BBC reports. A note written by a monk in a medieval manuscript describes the famous thief—and giver to the needy—as having “infested” the countryside “with his accomplices.” The find also pinpoints...

Photo May Be Last Taken of Lincoln

Grant descendant found pic in private album of Ulysses S.

(Newser) - A photograph from a private album of Ulysses S. Grant may show Abraham Lincoln in front of the White House and could be the last image taken of him before he was assassinated, a collector believes. If it is indeed Lincoln, it would be the only known photo of the...

Lifetime Portrait of Bard Found

Work is only living painting of the Bard

(Newser) - A family heirloom is thought to be the only surviving portrait of William Shakespeare painted during his life, the Telegraph reports. Art restorer Alex Cobbe noticed that a portrait of the Bard in the Folger Shakespeare library in Washington—known to be a posthumous copy of another work—bore an...

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