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in History (16 stories)
history

Switzerland to open secret files on Auschwitz 'Angel of Death' Mengele

Switzerland Opens Its Mengele Files. History Prefers the Light.

What Happened

Switzerland has announced it will declassify previously secret government files related to Josef Mengele, the Nazi SS physician who conducted lethal experiments on prisoners at Auschwitz during World War II. Mengele evaded capture after the war, living in several countries including Switzerland, ...

What's In Your Control

Whether you follow this story as the files are released. Whether you take it as an opportunity to read primary Holocaust history rather than secondhand summaries. Whether you support organisations ...

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history

Archaeologists Find Egyptian Mummy Buried With the ‘Iliad’

An Egyptian Was Buried With Homer. Two Thousand Years Later, We're Still Reading the Same Book.

What Happened

Archaeologists have discovered an Egyptian mummy buried with a copy of Homer's Iliad. The text, written in Greek, was found alongside the mummified remains, suggesting the deceased — likely from the Greco-Roman period of Egypt — valued the epic poem enough to carry it into the afterlife.

What's In Your Control

Whether you take five minutes today to read a passage of the Iliad. It has survived 2,700 years. It will survive your busy schedule.

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history

Portrait looted by Nazis found in home of Dutch SS leader's descendants

A Stolen Portrait, 80 Years Hidden, Returns to the Light. Justice Is Slow. It Arrives.

What Happened

A portrait looted by the Nazis during World War II has been discovered in the home of descendants of a Dutch SS leader. The artwork, taken from its original owners — almost certainly a Jewish family — survived decades of concealment before being identified and recovered. The discovery is part of ...

What's In Your Control

Whether you learn about the Washington Principles and the ongoing work of art restitution organizations. Whether you support museums and institutions that actively audit their own collections for l...

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politics

Families of IRA men shot dead reach settlements for damages

Decades After the Troubles, Courts Still Settling Accounts. Justice Moves Slowly. It Moves.

What Happened

The families of IRA members killed by British security forces have reached legal settlements for damages. The cases relate to killings that occurred during the Troubles in Northern Ireland — a conflict that claimed over 3,500 lives between the late 1960s and the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. The se...

What's In Your Control

Whether you engage with the ongoing political debate around Troubles legacy legislation — the UK's 2023 Legacy Act, which controversially limited prosecutions, is directly relevant here. If you hav...

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economy via NPR, NY Times

Surging Gas Prices Shake Americans, and How Ted Turner Unleashed 24-Hour News

Gas Prices Rise. Americans Have Survived Every Previous Spike. Here's the Scale.

What Happened

Gas prices in the United States have risen sharply, causing financial stress for many American households. The NY Times pairs this with a historical reflection on Ted Turner's founding of CNN in 1980 — the network that pioneered 24-hour news coverage, fundamentally changing how Americans consume ...

What's In Your Control

Whether you drive less, carpool, or adjust discretionary spending temporarily. Whether you call your representatives if you believe policy change is warranted. Whether you check gas prices obsessiv...

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media

Ted Turner, media mogul who revolutionised TV news by launching CNN, dies at 87

Ted Turner, 87, Is Gone. He Invented 24-Hour News. You Are Currently Reading News.

What Happened

Ted Turner, the American media entrepreneur who founded CNN in 1980 — the world's first 24-hour television news network — has died at the age of 87. Turner also founded TBS, TNT, and the Cartoon Network, and was once the largest private landowner in the United States. He was a prominent philanthr...

What's In Your Control

Whether you take a moment to reflect on how one person's stubborn, ridiculed idea in 1980 now shapes how billions of people understand the world — for better and worse.

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media

Ted Turner, Creator of CNN and the 24-Hour News Cycle, Dies at 87

Ted Turner, Who Taught the World to Watch the News Forever, Is Gone at 87

What Happened

Ted Turner, the American media mogul who founded CNN in 1980, died at age 87. He is credited with creating the first 24-hour cable news network, fundamentally transforming how the world consumes information. Turner was also known for founding TBS, owning the Atlanta Braves, and his landmark $1 bi...

What's In Your Control

Whether you spend the next hour doom-scrolling the very news cycle he built as a tribute to his memory — or step outside instead.

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world

Leo XIV Is the First Pope From the U.S. He’s Making That an Asset.

America Produces Its First Pope. 1.4 Billion Catholics Carry On.

What Happened

Robert Francis Prevost, an American-born cardinal, was elected Pope Leo XIV, becoming the first U.S.-born pope in the history of the Catholic Church. Early signals suggest he is leaning into his American identity as a source of diplomatic and cultural influence rather than distancing himself from...

What's In Your Control

Whether you engage with his early statements and actions rather than the novelty of his nationality. Whether you form opinions based on what he actually does, not where he was born.

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world

Lionel Rosenblatt Dies at 82; Led Daring Rescue of Vietnamese Refugees

He Defied Orders to Save Strangers. Lionel Rosenblatt, 82, Lived a Life Worth Remembering.

What Happened

Lionel Rosenblatt, a U.S. diplomat and humanitarian, has died at age 82. He is remembered for a remarkable act of moral courage: defying official orders during the fall of Saigon in 1975 to personally rescue Vietnamese refugees who faced abandonment and likely persecution. He later co-founded Ref...

What's In Your Control

Whether you learn more about Rosenblatt's life and the 1975 evacuation. Whether his example prompts you to consider your own threshold for moral courage when rules and conscience conflict. Whether ...

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world

A Lost Tribe in India Makes Its Exodus to Israel

After 2,700 Years, the Bnei Menashe Come Home. Identity Waits Patiently.

What Happened

A group of people from northeastern India known as the Bnei Menashe — who claim descent from the ancient Israelite tribe of Manasseh, exiled by the Assyrian Empire around 722 BCE — are emigrating to Israel. The Israeli government, through the Law of Return and recognition by the Sephardi Chief Ra...

What's In Your Control

Whether you take a moment to reflect on what identity, belonging, and home mean to you personally. Whether you read deeper into the history of the Lost Tribes — it's genuinely fascinating. Whether ...

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science

Desmond Morris, whose book The Naked Ape inspired and scandalised, dies aged 98

Desmond Morris, Who Held a Mirror Up to Humanity, Dies at 98. We Saw Ourselves. We Were Uncomfortable. He Was Right.

What Happened

Desmond Morris, the British zoologist and author, has died at the age of 98. His 1967 book The Naked Ape applied zoological observation to human behaviour, selling tens of millions of copies worldwide. It was controversial on publication, challenged by both religious institutions and academic pee...

What's In Your Control

Whether you read The Naked Ape — or re-read it. Whether you remember that a life combining rigorous science and fine art, stretching nearly a century, is an instructive model for a life well constr...

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obituary

Jim Whittaker, the first American to summit Mount Everest, dies at 97

Jim Whittaker, 97, Climbed Everest First Among Americans. The Mountain Remains.

What Happened

Jim Whittaker, who became the first American to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 1963, has died at age 97. He was part of the first successful American expedition to the world's highest peak and later became a prominent mountaineer and outdoor equipment company executive.

What's In Your Control

Whether you remember his achievement as inspiration for your own challenges, large or small. Whether you use this as a reminder that physical pursuits and time in nature matter. Whether you researc...

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politics

Government Cuts Gut the Memory of Argentina’s Dirty War

Argentina Cuts Funding for Dirty War Memory Sites. History Survives Budget Cycles.

What Happened

Argentina's government under President Javier Milei has reduced funding for museums, memorials, and educational programs dedicated to preserving the memory of the military dictatorship's "Dirty War" (1976-1983), during which an estimated 30,000 people were disappeared or killed. Budget cuts have ...

What's In Your Control

Whether you support organizations that preserve historical memory through donations or volunteering. Educating yourself and others about historical patterns of repression and memory politics. Engag...

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world

'Our children paid the ultimate price': The school shooting that changed Britain

Dunblane, 28 Years Later: When Horror Led to Action

What Happened

On March 13, 1996, a gunman killed 16 children and one teacher at Dunblane Primary School in Scotland before taking his own life. The massacre led to the UK implementing some of the world's strictest gun laws, effectively banning handguns for private ownership. The anniversary continues to be mar...

What's In Your Control

Whether you engage with anniversary coverage (which often resurfaces trauma). If you're a parent, having age-appropriate conversations about safety without creating anxiety. Supporting evidence-bas...

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science

First writing may be 40,000 years earlier than thought

Humans Were Making Marks 80,000 Years Ago. The Urge to Record Never Changes.

What Happened

Researchers have discovered evidence suggesting that early humans were creating systematic marks or proto-writing as early as 80,000 years ago, pushing back the timeline for human symbolic communication by approximately 40,000 years from previous estimates.

What's In Your Control

Whether you find this fascinating enough to read the full study (probably worth it). Whether you update your mental timeline of human development (harmless and interesting). Whether you share this ...

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politics

Jesse Jackson, Charismatic Champion of Civil Rights, Dies at 84

Jesse Jackson Dies at 84. He Changed How America Sees Itself.

What Happened

Jesse Jackson, the civil rights leader who ran for president twice and spent decades advocating for social justice, has died at age 84. Jackson was a key figure in the civil rights movement, working alongside Martin Luther King Jr., and later became the first serious African American presidential...

What's In Your Control

Whether to learn more about his specific contributions to civil rights. How you honor the legacy of those who expanded freedom—through your own actions toward justice and equality in daily life.

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