Interiors: Entry hall of Haas-Lilienthal House, San Francisco.
This beautiful mansion, built in 1886, managed to survive the great earthquake and fire of 20 years later.
Latest
Hitler’s American deejay: The strange story of Mildred “Axis Sally” Gillars.
Four minutes of enlightening darkness: The great solar eclipse of May 1715.
More concept art for “Faraway Star” is out!
Historic Photo: Panorama of San Francisco, 1878.
![Moses’s great boondoggle: The 1964-65 New York World’s Fair [Part II].](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cc/38/cc38d485-3f83-4ed4-95ed-586b53e0b5c5/content/images/size/w720/2026/04/worlds-fair-1964-2-unisphere.jpg)
Moses’s great boondoggle: The 1964-65 New York World’s Fair [Part II].
![Moses’s great boondoggle: The 1964-65 New York World’s Fair [Part I].](https://storage.ghost.io/c/cc/38/cc38d485-3f83-4ed4-95ed-586b53e0b5c5/content/images/size/w720/2026/04/unisphere-wf-1964.jpeg)
Moses’s great boondoggle: The 1964-65 New York World’s Fair [Part I].
The Verge
Hitler’s American deejay: The strange story of Mildred “Axis Sally” Gillars.
How a frustrated American actress became a notorious traitor--and paid the price.
Four minutes of enlightening darkness: The great solar eclipse of May 1715.
Historic Photo: Panorama of San Francisco, 1878.
Moses’s great boondoggle: The 1964-65 New York World’s Fair [Part II].
A bird out of hand: My reminiscences on the rise and fall of Twitter.
The death of Hu Yaobang: The first chapter of a story that changed the world.
The forgotten victim of the Lincoln assassination plot: The attack on William Seward.
The Outer Garden
Interiors: Entry hall of Haas-Lilienthal House, San Francisco.
This beautiful mansion, built in 1886, managed to survive the great earthquake and fire of 20 years later.
More concept art for “Faraway Star” is out!
Moses’s great boondoggle: The 1964-65 New York World’s Fair [Part I].
Toward a theory on the death of the Democratic Party.
The first concept art for “Faraway Star” is out!
My history with a tragedy: How TWA Flight 800 taught me about critical thinking.
Photo: A beautiful dawn on an ordinary winter day.
The Inner Garden
Behind the Scenes: Millard Fillmore, The Conspiracy Theorist President.
My latest video profiles the strange life and odd beliefs of the 13th U.S. President.
Behind the Scenes: TWA, The Rise & Fall.
It’s Not Love, Actually: Watch me do an about-face on the world’s worst Christmas movie.
Behind the Scenes: China’s Long Revolution, 1900-1950.
Behind the Scenes: Brazil in the World Wars.
Searching for a story: A look at my chaotic writing process.
