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Japanese forces wreaked havoc on US naval vessels and on US aircraft on the island’s airfield. In all, 2,403 Americans, including 68 civilians, died in the attack. In comparison, Japan suffered relatively light causalities—it lost only 29 aircraft and a few mini-submarines. The American people were shocked, bewildered, surprised, and angered by the attack. On December 8, President Roosevelt addressed a joint session of Congress in the Capitol, his words broadcast on radio to the nation: “Yesterday, December 7, 1941—a date which will live in infamy—the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan”....

For women in the ’80s, big hair wasn’t just a trend—it was a cultural phenomenon that symbolized confidence, individuality, and a whole lot of attitude. This decade was the golden age of music videos, and stars like Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, and the glam metal bands of the time had a massive impact on fashion and beauty trends. These pop culture icons were larger than life, and so was their hair....

It creates lower pressure around the thorax and this expands the rib cage and draws air into the lungs. Polio makes the body lose muscle control, including the diaphragm. Since the diaphragm uses pressure to regulate the oxygen intake (by expanding and decreasing pressure in the lungs, causing air to flow in), this machine regulates the pressure increasing it and decreasing artificially in order to make breathing possible. Paulo Henrique Machado, a Brazilian man, who has been in hospital for 45 years after he was struck down by polio when he was a child: Forced to live in what was called a ‘torpedo’ – effectively a body-encasing iron lung – during his early years, he was forced to create his own ‘universe’ inside the confines of his hospital prison....

It’s interesting how they’ve placed him at the corner of the building rather than against the stereotypical flat wall. It must make ricochet injuries to the firing squad members much less likely. Of course, this was a mock execution, but most likely they used the same site for real executions. Georges Blind was eventually forwarded to a concentration camp, where he was selected for termination on arrival, dying sometime in late November 1944....

They’re probably reciting their final prayers as this picture was being taken. It’s very morbid if you think about it. The vast majority of Indian soldiers captured when Singapore fell belonged to Sikh community. These photographs were found among Japanese records when British troops retook Singapore. If you examine carefully the second picture you’ll note a marker hanging over the heart of each prisoner and the stakes in front bear of the rifle....

However, the landscape changed in 1985 with the appointment of Mikhail Gorbachev who became the youngest General Secretary of the Communist Party. His appointment ushered in a new era of social freedom for the citizens of the USSR – including the removal of the ban on beauty pageants. Three years later the first official USSR beauty contest ‘Moscow Beauty 1988’ was held in the Luzhniki Palace of Sports in Soviet Moscow and became a real sensation for the world community....

Saarinen himself described this intriguing building as one “in which the architecture itself would express the drama and excitement of travel…shapes deliberately chosen in order to emphasize an upward-soaring quality of line.” Initially known as the Trans World Flight Center, the TWA Airport Terminal rose as one of several stand-alone terminals that made up the original Idlewild Airport (now JFK International) in Queens, a borough of New York City. The TWA Terminal, by Eero Saarinen and Associates, became the culminating work in Saarinen’s search for the dynamix sculptural expression in reinforced-concrete constructions....

At that point, most ethnic Croats fled the city. The tank in the background also points to this fact since the JNA was far better armed than the budding Croatian army. The Battle of Vukovar was an 87-day siege of Vukovar in eastern Croatia by the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA), supported by various paramilitary forces from Serbia, between August and November 1991. Before the Croatian War of Independence, the Baroque town was a prosperous, mixed community of Croats, Serbs, and other ethnic groups....

It is not certain who invented the football helmet. In 1896 Lafayette College halfback George “Rose” Barclay began to use straps and earpieces to protect his ears. His headgear soon became known as a “head harness”. It had three thick leather straps forming a close fit around his head, made by a harness maker. Some other sources say that helmets come to life when an Annapolis shoemaker created the first helmet for Admiral Joseph Mason Reeves, who had been advised by a Navy doctor that he would be risking death or “instant insanity” if he took another kick to the head....

For example, on the worst day of the 1929 crash, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost about 38 points, an insignificant move in modern markets. But on that day, the Dow had opened at just under 300 points, so that 38-point drop represented an unprecedented 12.8 percent decline. That record stood until the Black Monday crash of 1987. On that historic autumn Monday of 1987, it seemed possible that the entire American financial system would crack apart....

One of the best-known superwomen was Katie Brumbach called the “Great Sandwina”. Hailing from Vienna, Brumbach’s parents were also circus performers and it would appear that she was the combination of her father (who stood 6’ 6”) and her mother (who was herself a strong woman of sorts, sporting biceps that measured 15 inches around). She not only inherited her parent’s physical prowess and she performed with them, as well as many of her fourteen siblings....

In 1784, he designed an airship that had an elongated envelope, propellers, and a rudder, unlike today’s blimp. Although he documented his idea with extensive drawings, Meusnier’s airship was never built. In 1852, another Frenchman, an engineer named Henri Giffard, built the first practical airship. Filled with hydrogen gas, it was driven by a 3 hp steam engine weighing 350 lb (160 kg), and it flew at 6 mi/hr (9 km/hr)....

In early 1942, the Roosevelt administration was pressured to remove persons of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast by farmers seeking to eliminate Japanese competition, a public fearing sabotage, politicians hoping to gain by standing against an unpopular group, and military authorities. On February 19, 1942, Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which forced all Japanese-Americans, regardless of loyalty or citizenship, to evacuate the West Coast. No comparable order applied to Hawaii, one-third of whose population was Japanese-American, or to Americans of German and Italian ancestry....

The woman is dressed in a colonial print apron evoking 20th-century rural Americana while the man is adorned in overalls covered by a suit jacket and carries a pitchfork. The plants on the porch of the house are mother-in-law’s tongue and beefsteak begonia It’s one of the most famous U.S. paintings of its generation and the models who posed were Nan Wood Graham, the painter’s sister, and Dr. Byron McKeeby, a dentist....

The scale of the death and destruction, coming so late in the war, along with significant questions about the legitimacy of the targets destroyed have led to years of debate about whether the attack was justified, or whether it should be labeled a war crime. The bombing of Dresden has become one of the most controversial decisions made in the European theater. Before World War II, Dresden was called “the Florence of the Elbe” and was regarded as one the world’s most beautiful cities for its architecture and museums, it had numerous beautiful baroque and rococo-style buildings, palaces, and cathedrals....

Watched by Soviet troops and East German police, workmen began breaking up roads, footpaths, and other structures, before laying thousands of meters of temporary but impassable fencing, barricades, and barbed wire. They worked for several days, completely surrounding the western zones of Berlin and cutting them off from the city’s eastern sectors. Berliners were in shock. “A concentration camp barrier” has been stretched through the center of Berlin, said then mayor – and later chancellor – Willy Brandt a few hours later in front of the city’s parliament....

These pictures of ghastly spirits were created by the London Stereoscopic Company and sold as stereographic cards which, when viewed through a special viewer, became three-dimensional images. The ghostly figures were achieved using double exposures and other photographic trickery. The first ghosts in photographs were the result of accidents. During a long exposure, such as those required in photography’s infancy, a person who stood still would register as clearly as a building....

Although a visiting head of state, De Gaulle did not arrive in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, as would be conventional protocol. Instead, he took the time to sail on the French navy’s Mediterranean flagship, the cruiser Colbert, so that he could arrive in Quebec City, the capital city of the province of Quebec. There, de Gaulle was cheered enthusiastically, while the new governor-general, Roland Michener, was booed by the same crowd when “God Save the Queen” was played at his arrival....

The Ministry of Food did not want to risk the lives of sailors for food that would be wasted, and reducing imports also saved money for armaments. Surprisingly, 60 percent of Britons told government pollsters that they wanted rationing to be introduced, with many believing that it would guarantee everyone a fair share of food. Every citizen was issued with a booklet, which he took to a registered shopkeeper to receive supplies....

The event was scheduled on the day before President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration to “march in a spirit of protest against the present political organization of society, from which women are excluded,” as the official program stated. The march and the attention that it attracted were monumental in advancing women’s suffrage in the United States. The event was organized by Alice Paul, who was born in New Jersey and earned an M....