Transportation looked different at the start of the 20th century. Around 200 000 cars drove on American roads in 1908 (when the USA’s population stood at around 88 million people) and women made up only about 5% of these drivers.

Women taking the wheel became a potent symbolic act, representing female empowerment in a climate of economic, political, and social change. Maxwell-Briscoe was one company that noticed these shifting dynamics and tailored its advertising to them.

A Daring Proposal

At 1908’s Point Montauk’s 200-mile endurance race, a variety of drivers, marques, and clubs were competing to earn fame. Alice Huyler Ramsey, one of…

Certain cases have so many factors that line up that the adage of truth is stranger than fiction rings true. Called the “crime of the century”, the murder of Sir Harry Oakes, believed to have been one of the richest people in the British Empire, was one such mystery that would have looked at home between the pages of a detective novel (LeGrand 2010: 92). These events affected actual people though, in the Caribbean location of the Bahamas, as the Second World War was still raging in various locations around the globe.

The lucky millionaire

On 23 December 1874, Harry Oakes was born…

Loneliness has been one of the universal features of being human. In a survey by health insurer Cigna in 2019, about three out of five American stated they felt lonely (Alleyne 2020). Meaningful relationships, or even interactions, have become rare in many people’s lives, causing it to become a personal and a societal problem. The tech industry now seeks to fill that void through AI friends.

A legacy of interaction

Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer scientist Joseph Weizenbaum would create an early version of a chatbot in the mid-1960s, called ELIZA. He programmed this creation to respond to users in the manner of a…

The U.S. stock market crash in 1929 threw the world into economic darkness, forcing many people to navigate the difficult circumstances in various ways. Cooking was one aspect in society that would adapt, with a renewed focus on hearty, simple recipes that gave people nutrition despite the dearth of cheap ingredients. Not all these dishes have remained popular, but they kept many stomachs full during challenging times.

A staple food

One of the most popular options during the 1930s was canned beans. Cooks added sweetness to a bean dish with honey and molasses, which was also a favorite option in Boston. The flexibility…

Games that focus on law and justice aren’t a dime a dozen. One of the most famous games in this genre is the Ace Attorney series. The courtroom drama/detective visual novel has inspired a slew of popular memes, the iconic “Objection!” pose from Phoenix Wright, and the creation of a Reddit bot that turns online arguments into scenes from the game. There’s no doubt that Ace Attorney is iconic. However, its development was less than certain with many turnabouts that could have led to a different outcome.

Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen and Cora Crippen, his actress wife, seemed to have the ideal life at the start of 1910. Cora was an active member of the Music Hall Ladies’ Guild, and the medical man’s stable income allowed them to entertain friends at their home at 39 Hilldrop Crescent in London. All looked pleasant. Underneath the surface, there were more complicated developments: double lives, love affairs, and searing tensions.

A couple’s journey

In January 1892, Charlotte Crippen née Bell, passed away from apoplexy in Salt Lake City, leaving behind her husband Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen and a young son, Otto. Single fatherhood…

Physical improvement was an obsession for many American men by the late 19th century. This fascination ran deeper than changing one’s body; there was a belief that, by becoming a more muscular man, a person underwent a transformation, becoming more able to compete in the so-called Darwinian societal competition, and thus nurturing character traits that could lead to success. Popular figures such as the strongman Eugen Sandow encouraged men to build their bodies. …

The printed page remains a fertile source for film and screen stories. Not all books make the leap though, perhaps because of narrative complexity, a supposed absence of an audience, or a prior unsuccessful reworking that made studios wary, etc. Whatever the case may be, certain novels cry out for a screen version, handled by creatives who are passionate about the text.

1. The Monkeewrench Series by P.J. Tracy

There are crime thrillers, and then there are knuckle clenching crime thrillers. The Monkeewrench series is of the latter variety, with a cast of eccentric geniuses and humane detectives always at the ready to solve hair raising mysteries…