Did you know that the patron saint of Ireland wasn’t Irish? Indeed, St. Patrick grew up in present-day Wales and was kidnapped int o slavery in Ireland. At least, that’s St. Patrick’s version of the story that he penned in his short autobiography, the Confessio. One historian, however, says that it’s more likely that St.…

Engaged in a furious race against time as cancer attacked his body, Ulysses S. Grant wrote his memoirs with military efficiency, churning out as many as 10,000 words in a single day. (Take it from me–that’s an insane level of output.) Grant was desperate to finish his memoirs, which Mark Twain would publish, before dying…