Lights, Camera, Espionage: Hollywood and the OSS
Alan Ladd on cover of “Modern Screen”, April 1946. Cropped. Throughout the course of the Second World War, a significant number of Hollywood’s finest chose to serve their nation by…
The Samurai: Japan’s Elite Feudal Warriors
16th century illustration of samurai raiding the house of Minamoto no Yoshitsune. The only reason a warrior is alive is to fight, and the only reason a warrior fights is…
James Bond: A Mirror of His Times
Bronze bust of the author Ian Fleming by the British sculptor Anthony Smith. Commissioned by the Fleming family to commemorate the centenary of Ian Fleming’s birth in 2008. Photo by…
Somerset Maugham: Celebrated British Writer and Spy
Photo of Maugham by Carl Van Vechten, 1934. Photo cropped. Library of Congress. William Somerset Maugham, known as Somerset Maugham, was born on January 25, 1874, in Paris, France. He…
Celtic Warriors: Fearless Fighters of Ancient Europe
“Vercingetorix Throws Down His Arms at the Feet of Julius Caesar” by Lionel Noel Royer, 1899. A famous painting depicting surrender of Gallic Chieftain Vercingetorix to Julius Caesar following the…
The Hashshashin: Assassins of Persia
Remains of the Alamut Castle in Qazvin, Iran. Photo by Alireza Javaheri / CC BY 3.0 Copped/DEED. Cropped. The Hashshashin, also known as the Assassins, were a religious sect of…
Viking Warfare: Battle Tactics of the Norse Warriors
A Viking Age depiction from the Tjängvide image stone, on Gotland. Photo by Berig / CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED. The Viking Age (793–1066 CE) was a significant period during the…
PSYOPS: Influencing Minds for a Strategic Impact
Soldiers from the U.S. Army’s 350th Tactical Psychological Operations, 10th Mountain Division, drop leaflets over a village near Hawijah in Kirkuk province, Iraq, on March 6, 2008. The leaflets are…
The British Commandos: Elite Warriors of World War II
Commandos of 1st Special Service Brigade in Osnabruck, 4 April 1945. Georger Laws, No 5 Army Film & Photographic Unit. Imperial War Museum. The British Commandos played a crucial role…
Blood and Sand: The Lives of Ancient Roman Gladiators
Pollice Verso (“With a Turned Thumb”), an 1872 painting by Jean-Léon Gérôme. In the grand amphitheaters of ancient Rome, where the sun beat down upon the sand-strewn arena, the gladiators…