The Deadly Irish Epidemic That Helped Bring Dracula to Life from Atlas Obscura. Forget Vlad the Impaler. A 19th-century cholera outbreak in Sligo may have been Bram Stoker’s chief inspiration. AN AFTERNOON WIND FUNNELS DOWN deserted Old Market Street, past shuttered shops and darkened restaurants. The rowdy Irish student town of Read more…
Hear Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales in Original 14th-Century English One of the many reasons Geoffrey Chaucer’s 14th-century magnum opus The Canterbury Tales is considered a groundbreaking collection of stories is because he chose to write it not in a highbrow language like Latin or French, but in the common tongue of the Read more…
Until the very last minute, the place of invasion – Normandy- was the most heavily guarded secret on the planet. Even the units conducting the initial assaults did not know the locations of their landings. Surprise was crucial since Germany had 55 divisions in France – the Allies could transport Read more…