Happy New Year everyone!
I’m back at my desk after lots of holiday revels, research trips, and long hours of book revisions. While in DC last weekend I went to the National Gallery in DC. It’s a pretty incredible place… Read More
On July 14, 1789, a mob stormed the Bastille, marking the beginning of the French Revolution. At his palace at Versailles, King Louis XVI’s diary entry for that day was: “14 juillet: rien.”… Read More
In most card games, the king was once the highest card in a suit. But after the French Revolution, the ace was introduced as an act of civil defiance, as the power of nobility declined.
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Source: Mental Floss March/April… Read More
Up to a quarter of women who gave birth in hospitals in Europe and America in the 17th through the 19th centuries died of puerperal fever. It's an infection that could most likely have been prevented by doctors and nurses washing their hands.