Major occurrences documented by contemporary accounts.
Drawing on newspapers, letters, speeches, and official records, this article reconstructs how people experienced the collapse of colonial empires—from the hopes of independence leaders to the anxieties of settlers and the calculations of Cold War powers.
Drawing on oral histories, newspaper reports, and veterans’ own memoirs, this article reconstructs the 1932 Bonus Army march on Washington, revealing how it was experienced and understood by those who witnessed it.
Drawing on the Washington Post and New York Times reporting from 1972–1974, this article reconstructs how the Watergate scandal unfolded in real time, from the initial break-in to the cover-up, as seen through the eyes of journalists and the public.
In 1963, the Mona Lisa traveled to the United States for the first time, drawing over 1.5 million visitors in Washington and New York. This article reconstructs the event through contemporary reports, official records, and eyewitness accounts, revealing how a single painting became a diplomatic and cultural phenomenon.
Drawing on the first bulletins from April 15, 1912, the wireless operator’s harrowing testimony, and the earliest survivor letters, this article reconstructs how the world learned of the Titanic’s loss—and how the truth was distorted by initial errors.
Drawing on contemporary newspaper reports and eyewitness accounts, this article reconstructs the Zanzibar Revolution of January 1964, the violent overthrow of the Sultan, and the surprising union with Tanganyika that followed in April—a year that reshaped East Africa.
Using the diaries, letters, and memoirs of besieged Leningraders, this article reconstructs the 900-day ordeal of starvation, cold, and defiance, revealing how ordinary people documented their struggle against both the enemy and the famine.
Drawing on the St. Petersburg workers’ petition, the October Manifesto, diplomatic dispatches, and memoirs by Sergei Witte and Leon Trotsky, this article reconstructs how Russians experienced the 1905 revolution—from the strike wave to the promise of a Duma.
On November 1, 1963, a U-2 spy plane flown by Taiwanese pilot Yeh Changti was shot down over mainland China, marking the second loss of a U-2 in two years. Drawing on TIME magazine’s contemporary report and the pilot’s biography, this article reconstructs a forgotten Cold War incident that shattered the U-2’s aura of invincibility and changed a pilot’s life forever.
Drawing on declassified documents, personal memoirs, and official records, this article reconstructs the Cuban Missile Crisis as it was lived, reported, and feared by contemporaries—from the first U-2 photographs to Khrushchev’s secret letters.