CHRISTOPHER KLEIN

Did Benjamin Franklin come up with the idea of Daylight Saving Time? No. While Franklin was an envoy in Paris in 1784, he was unpleasantly awakened one morning at 6 AM by the summer sun. He then penned a satirical essay in which he calculated that Parisians, simply by waking up at dawn, could save…

On April 15, 1865, a shroud of grief descended upon Boston as the city awoke to learn of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. The bells of Boston’s churches tolled for an hour at the news of the president’s murder, and the assassin’s older brother heard every peal of anguish as he stared at his cold breakfast. For…

Boston’s Fort Warren housed Confederate POWs during the Civil War, but it was no Andersonville. Only 13 Confederate prisoners out of the more than 2,000 rebels who were imprisoned within its walls died during the Civil War — or just over half of 1 percent, compared to the 12 percent mortality rate for Confederates in…

Forget about Christopher Columbus. Let’s talk about another European explorer who’s being commemorated this weekend–Leif Erikson. Did he lead the first European expedition to North America 500 years before Columbus? Why is there a plaque marking his former home–in Cambridge, Massachusetts? Were Vikings living in Minnesota long before the NFL showed up in Minneapolis? That…

In the May edition of the Throwback, my free monthly e-newsletter, learn about how Theodore Roosevelt’s childhood molded him into a future president and find out about how he endured terrible tragedy to rise through the ranks of New York City politics on his way to the White House. Also, an incredible story about a man…

It’s everything Irish in the March edition of the Throwback. Find out why America’s familiar St. Patrick’s Day traditions are about as authentically Irish as a bowl of Lucky Charms, learn about the Patrick and Bridget who emigrated from Ireland to Boston and began a family that would become an American political dynasty, and get…

In this month’s edition of The Throwback, my monthly history-themed e-newsletter: * The surprising history of Winter Olympics with no snow * The history of spaghetti and tomato sauce * A couple Abraham Lincoln articles to commemorate Presidents Day Click here to read. Click here to subscribe.

In this month’s edition of The Throwback, my monthly history-themed e-newsletter:   * Some facts you may not know about Martin Luther King, Jr. (Did you know he entered college at 15 and had a different birthname?) * The polio vaccine rollout wasn’t as smooth as you might think. * Has the Burning Bush been…

We all know December 7, 1941, as “a date which will live in infamy.” But did you know that was not the original line penned by President Franklin D. Roosevelt? The presidential address that was delivered to Congress on the day after the attack was not the product of a team of speechwriters and consultants but…

I always found it poetic that World War I ended on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. But did you know that the quest for poetic symmetry came at a terrible cost? The armistice was actually signed at 5 A.M., but for six hours the staccato of machine guns and the howls…