Wandering Warriors: The Legacy of Knight-Errants
Gawain unwittingly fights Yvain in the Garrett MS. No. 125 manuscript of Chrétien’s “Knight of the Lion” (c. 1295). The concept of the knight-errant is one of the most romanticized…
The Power of Literature: How the CIA Leveraged “Doctor Zhivago” Against the Soviets
The book “Doctor Zhivago” distributed throughout the Soviet Union by the CIA. Photo: Central Intelligence Agency. The story of the CIA’s involvement with Boris Pasternak’s novel, Doctor Zhivago, is a…
The Tuskegee Airmen: Pioneers of the Sky
Tuskegee Airmen – Circa May 1942 to Aug 1943 Location unknown, likely Southern Italy or North Africa. The Tuskegee Airmen were a pioneering group of African American military pilots who…
Dmitri Polyakov: The Soviet General Turned Double Agent
Video frame from footage of Dmitri Polyakov’s arrest by the KGB. Dmitri Fyodorovich Polyakov was a Major General in the Soviet GRU (Main Intelligence Directorate) who became one of the…
Operation FAREWELL: How the CIA Duped the Soviets
President Ronald Reagan with French President Mitterrand at wreath-laying ceremony at the American cemetery at Omaha Beach in 1984. Department of Defense photo by SPC 5 James Cavalier. During the…
Shaolin Kung Fu: The Ancient Art of Martial Mastery
The two Grand Masters of the Shaolin Temple, Shi DeRu (Shawn Xiangyang Liu) and Shi DeYang (Shi WanFeng), who are descendant disciples of the late Great Grand Master of the…
Mezcal: The Artisanal Spirit of Mexico
Pexels photo by Los Crew. Cropped. Mezcal, often overshadowed by its more famous cousin tequila, is a distilled alcoholic beverage made from the heart of the agave plant, known as…
Spies in the City: The CIA’s Cold War Operations in Berlin
Image of the Berlin Wall taken in 1986 from West Berlin side by Thierry Noir at Bethaniendamm in Berlin-Kreuzberg. The Wall’s infamous “death strip”, on the east side of the…
Breaking the Code: How the VENONA Project Exposed Soviet Spies
National Security Agency headquarters at Fort Meade circa 1950s.National Security Agency photo. The VENONA Project was a top-secret counterintelligence initiative launched by the United States during World War II. Its…
Operation Mount Hope III: A Bold Military Heist
The Libyan Mi-25 taken in Chad by the US Army in 1988 during Operation Mount Hope III. On display at the Southern Museum of Flight, Birmingham Alabama. The Mi-25 is…