Jessica Pearce Rotondi

Mass sociogenic illness—also known as mass hysteria, epidemic hysteria or hysterical contagion—occurs when symptoms without a clear medical cause spread among members of a community. “Think of it as the placebo effect in reverse,” says Dr. Robert Bartholomew, an honorary senior ...read more

As advisor to President John F. Kennedy, then national security advisor (1969-75) and secretary of state (1973-77) to President Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger was responsible for making major decisions related to the Vietnam War. He kept the U.S. bombing of Cambodia a secret from ...read more

When Wally Amos founded Famous Amos cookies in 1975, the brand became one of the most unlikely success stories in food history. And the rise and fall of Wally Amos became one of its most infamous cautionary tales. Here’s how a man who broke the color barrier in the talent ...read more

The meeting of Aztec king Montezuma and Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés on November 8, 1519, is one of the most consequential in history, affecting the welfare, beliefs and culture of millions of people living in the Western hemisphere. Yet for centuries, historians have ...read more

The Gilded Age dawned at the end of the Civil War. As railroads raced to connect the country, robber barons amassed fortunes in unregulated industries like oil and steel. Mark Twain coined the term “Gilded Age” in a novel satirizing the corruption that lay behind America’s new ...read more

The Tacoma Riot of 1885 and Seattle Riot of 1886 drew national attention to the burgeoning coastal cities in Washington territory for their forced expulsion of their Chinese populations by angry—and largely white—mobs. The actions were part of a brutal wave of anti-Chinese ...read more

The Korean War (1950-1953) was the first military action of the Cold War. It was sparked by the June 25, 1950 invasion of South Korea by 75,000 members of the North Korean People’s Army. The line they crossed, the 38th parallel, was created in 1945 to separate the ...read more

When Seal Team Six carried out a raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan on May 2, 2011, they not only killed the al Qaeda leader but swept up a treasure trove of his personal belongings. The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has since made a large portion of ...read more

Chicken nuggets are a quintessentially American food: easily mass-produced and a quick, convenient protein source that can be eaten on the go. A staple of fast food restaurants and grocery freezer aisles for decades, they weren’t always on America’s dinner plates and children’s ...read more

The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 is often seen as the first major law to restrict immigration in the United States. But there is an earlier law that was used to effectively prevent Chinese women from immigrating to the United States: The Page Act of 1875. Chinese Immigration in ...read more

British royal history proves that with great power comes great responsibility… and a great deal of rules. While the role of the Crown in contemporary society is largely symbolic, vestiges of traditions passed down during the monarchy’s thousand-year reign are potent reminders of ...read more

Massive cultural shifts during and after World War I helped free women from confining roles—and the confining corsets that bound them to the previous age. The evolution of the bra re-shaped the image of what a woman could be, whether she was serving in the war effort, fighting ...read more

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. When it was signed into law by President Lyndon B. Johnson on July 2, 1964, it was a major victory for the civil rights movement in its battle against unjust Jim ...read more

Candy bars may seem quintessentially American, but they have origins in the World War I chocolate rations given to European soldiers. The American military followed suit, helping its doughboys develop a sweet tooth they would bring home after the war. Throughout the 1920s, ...read more

Freemason secrets allegedly lurk behind everything from the planning of our nation’s capital to murder. Members of the enigmatic Masonic brotherhood include prominent politicians, Founding Fathers and titans of business. In modern times, Masons are known for donating millions to ...read more

The royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981 was watched by 750 million people around the world. Nicknamed “the wedding of the century” for its extravagance, it broke new records and set global fashion trends—while also ...read more

Swing states, also known as battleground states or purple states, are highly competitive states that have historically swung between voting for different parties in presidential elections. While most states consistently vote along party lines—from 2000 to 2016, 38 states voted ...read more

Illness can impact a president’s ability to conduct the duties of office, but for most of U.S. history, protocol for what happens when a president got sick was minimal. The Founding Fathers anticipated the need for a line of succession, and the Constitution says the vice ...read more

Voting by mail can trace its roots to soldiers voting far from home during the Civil War and World War II. By the late 1800s, some states were extending absentee ballots to civilian voters under certain conditions, but it wasn’t until 2000 that Oregon became the first state to ...read more

Throughout history, fires have led to drastic changes in population patterns, infrastructure, and the course of world events. Here are seven fires that changed history. 1. The Burning of the Great Library of Alexandria The Library of Alexandria was part of The Mouseion (“Temple ...read more

The Vietnam War (1955-1975) was fought between communist North Vietnam, backed by the Soviet Union and China, and South Vietnam, supported by the United States. The bloody conflict had its roots in French colonial rule and an independence movement driven by communist leader Ho ...read more

Humankind is resilient. While global pandemics like the Bubonic Plague and 1918 pandemic wreaked havoc on populations through the centuries, societies honed critical survival strategies. Here are five ways people adapted to life amid disease outbreaks. 1. Quarantine The first ...read more

“MIA” stands for missing in action, a term used to refer to members of the armed forces who have not returned from military service and whose whereabouts are unknown. Since ancient times, soldiers have gone to war and never returned, their fate unknown. In the wake of the Vietnam ...read more

You’ve heard of the Vietnam War, but what about the “secret war” in Laos? Over 16 million members of the Greatest Generation fought in World War II, but what about the 5.8 million Americans who served in the “Forgotten War?” History is full of conflicts that have become footnotes ...read more

When President Richard Nixon ordered U.S. ground troops to invade Cambodia on April 28, 1970, he waited two days to announce on national television the Cambodian incursion had begun. With resentment already building in the country over the conflict in Vietnam, the incursion felt ...read more

Sultan Murad IV decreed death to coffee drinkers in the Ottoman Empire. King Charles II dispatched spies to infiltrate London’s coffeehouses, which he saw as the original source of “false news.” During the Enlightenment, Voltaire, Rousseau and Isaac Newton could all be found ...read more

Secret societies have flourished throughout history and count Founding Fathers and royals among their ranks. Members (most often men) have been tapped to join The Knights Templar, the Freemasons, the Bavarian Illuminati, Skull and Bones and Bilderberg. The allure of secret ...read more

The U.S. bombing of Laos (1964-1973) was part of a covert attempt by the CIA to wrest power from the communist Pathet Lao, a group allied with North Vietnam and the Soviet Union during the Vietnam War.  The officially neutral country became a battleground in the Cold War between ...read more

The crown can be a heavy burden to bear, and the 1960s and 70s were challenging decades for Queen Elizabeth. From tabloid coverage of Princess Margaret’s affair to Prince Charles’s affair with Camilla Parker Bowles, the royal family entered the spotlight like never before. When ...read more

During the Great Depression, millions of Americans lost their jobs in the wake of the 1929 Stock Market Crash. But for one group of people, employment rates actually went up: women. From 1930 to 1940, the number of employed women in the United States rose 24 percent from 10.5 ...read more