This week, we feature a marvelous slew of new Miss Marple mysteries and a comprehensive journey through the history of space exploration and navigation. Fiction Agatha Christie’s Marple Returns ‘Marple: Twelve New Mysteries’ By Various Authors Miss Marple fans will be thrilled—with 12 thrills, to be exact. Twelve authors have created new cases for the…
The Oft-Forgotten Founding Father: How John Jay’s Many Contributions Helped to Safeguard the Foundations of Our Republic
September 16, 2022
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American EssenceAmerican RevolutionArts & CultureBrightConstitutiondemocracydiplomatFederalist papersHistoryJohn Jay
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In 1782, John Jay traveled to Paris with Benjamin Franklin and John Adams to discuss peace terms with the British. He, in particular, fought for British recognition of the United States and for all of the land east of the Mississippi, doubling the size of the nation. But doubling the nation was only a fraction…
How a Sea Captain Won a Dramatic Battle in the Revolutionary War and Became the Father of the American Navy
Four ships of the Continental Navy slowly coasted along the eastern seaboard of England. Led by John Paul Jones’s Bonhomme Richard, the Alliance, Pallas, and Vengeance moved with the slight south-westerly wind. Jones and his small squadron had been hunting British ships for months with middling success, capturing a few prizes, including the sloop HMS…
The Untold Story of Love and Loss Behind the Beautiful Poems of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s popularity among average Americans of his day is something contemporary poets dream about. An international celebrity, he dispensed pre-signed autographs to the many fans who visited his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, hoping to meet the author of “Paul Revere’s Ride” and “The Song of Hiawatha.” His work is famous for his placid…
Steadfast in the Face of Challenges, First Lady Julia Dent Grant Was an Anchor for Our 18th President
September 16, 2022
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American EssenceArts & CultureBrightFirst LadyHistoryJulia GrantUlysses S. GrantWashingtonWhite House
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Slavery, distance, family animosity, and a war conspired against Julia Dent’s courtship and then marriage to Ulysses S. Grant, but she soldiered on steadfastly. Julia Dent Grant traveled to be with her husband, Ulysses, more than 10,000 miles during the four years of the Civil War—4,000 of those during the first year alone. Carriages, ferries,…
The Story of Nellie Bly, the Brave 19th-Century Journalist Who Went Undercover to Expose Abuses at an Insane Asylum
In 1887, Nellie Bly boarded the boat with the other patients bound for Blackwell’s Island, now known as Roosevelt Island. Their stay in the filthy cabin was mercifully short, and soon they crossed the East River and disembarked. After an ambulance ride, Bly and the others found themselves ushered into the stone buildings of the…
The Story of Nellie Bly, the Brave 19th-Century Journalist Who Went Undercover to Exposes Abuses at an Insane Asylum
In 1887, Nellie Bly boarded the boat with the other patients bound for Blackwell’s Island, now known as Roosevelt Island. Their stay in the filthy cabin was mercifully short, and soon they crossed the East River and disembarked. After an ambulance ride, Bly and the others found themselves ushered into the stone buildings of the…
How American Servicemen Creatively Repurposed Plows to Defeat Germans During the Allowed the Normandy Invasion
By the evening of June 6, 1944, American, Canadian, and British forces had carved a toehold on the beaches of Normandy in northern France—the beginning of the end of Nazi domination of Europe. Yet as the Allied soldiers scrambled up the shingle beach and burst over the cliffs and bluffs overlooking the five landing beaches,…
Remembering Kiffin Rockwell, the Courageous Aviator Who Shot Down America’s First Enemy Plane in WWI
September 16, 2022
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American EssenceArts & CultureaviationBrightHistoryKiffin RockwellLafayette EscadrilleThe Great WarWorld War I
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On September 23, 1916, the young American pilot flying a French Nieuport 17 above Verdun spotted a German two-seater Aviatik and raced, as he so often had, to engage the enemy in combat. As he dove from 10,000 feet on the German aircraft, an explosive bullet fired by the Aviatik’s tail gunner tore into his…
Book Recommender: “Valor,” an Astonishing Tale of Defiance and Triumph During the Pacific War
Lt. William Frederick “Bill” Harris was an officer with the China Marine, the elite 4th Marine Regiment stationed in Shanghai, China, prior to World War II to protect American citizens. In the summer of 1941, with war clouds gathering, Harris and the 4th Marine were withdrawn from China to the presumably safer Philippines. “Valor: The…
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