Housed in Yale University’s Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library sits what may be the world’s most mysterious book. The Voynich Manuscript, named after the
Here are a few ancient mysteries covered in The Little Black Book of Ancient Mysteries: This first one was the basis of my Road of
There is a post making the rounds that cadets didn’t want to shake Trump’s hand at graduation and that’s why he left early. It doesn’t
A single event can have strange historical ripples. In 1702 a yellow fever epidemic wiped out 10% of the population in less than three months.
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”] [et_pb_row admin_label=”row”] [et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] The streets of Southern Manhattan, including areas like the Financial District and the Village, are seen as disorganized
Introduction In the middle of nowhere on the way to nowhere is the way I describe Area 51 in my books. Nestled in the remote
Who Are Patience and Fortitude? My two favorite lions guard the front entrance of the main branch of the New York Public Library. Long before
Every disaster requires seven things to go wrong. Six Cascade events leading to the 7th event, the disaster. At least one of the Cascade events
On July 29, 1976, serial killer David Berkowitz – who would become known as the Son of Sam – committed the first of his murders
The first rail tracks on the lower west side of Manhattan were laid along 10th and 11th Avenues south from Penn Station. The problem was,
I love writing fiction that finds amazing fact and “coincidences” of history and weaves them together into a thriller. These are facts: On the 25th
In 2019 the Whakaari Volcano erupted. Briefly. For just a couple of minutes. 22 people died. Tourists. Visiting an active volcano that had erupted twice
A conference held on the southwestern tip of Staten Island, New York on 11 September 1776 A.D. in the Billop House, which still stands. This
I remember watching Led Zeppelin’s last concert in the current Garden from ‘Blue Heaven’. Also attending the Millrose Games when they were held at the
If you fly into or out of LaGuardia, coming in or going out over the Bronx—which a plane seemed to do every two minutes while
I tracked down his grave while doing research for a book, The Jefferson Allegiance, which has as the premise that Hamilton and Jefferson brokered a
NEW YORK CITY’S LITTLE BLACK BOOK Today is publication day! It’s in Kindle Unlimited so feel free to thumb through and check out all this
Prison ships in New York Harbor. More American soldiers and sailors died in prison ships (primarily Wallabout Bay in the East River, now Fort Greene
Part of the history of the north-east Bronx, but more recently, was the short lived amusement park, Freedomland. It was a theme park built in
The Battle of Long Island on 27 August 1776. We lost. George Washington, fresh from his victory pushing the British out of Boston, came south,
On the Ides of March, 1783 George Washington gives a dramatic speech, halting a coup by his officers against Congress and saving the fledgling United
One of the things I had to memorize as a plebe at West Point, besides esoteric stuff such as ‘How’s the Cow’ was an interesting
“Should hostilities once break out between Japan and the United States, it would not be enough that we take Guam and the Philippines, nor even
I’ve been in Tennessee a while now and never really thought about the state’s name. I assumed it was Native American, but figured it might
Today we remember fallen comrades. I think of two team-mates, Jim and Dave, who were KIA on deployments but didn’t know it until years later
Basic Facts: Length: 5,500 miles (8,850 kilometers) With all branches included, it measures 13,171 miles (21,196 kilometers) Started: Various walls were initiated as early as
Officially known as The Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kwantung Army in Manchuria. Realizing that they would be behind the west in
The Warren Commission determined in 1964 that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. In the half a century since, polls have never indicated more than 30%
Over 4,500 years ago, the Great Sphinx was carved out of a quarry on the Giza Plateau. It has the body of a lion and
Could the Revolution Have Ended in 1776? Travel back in time to Staten Island, New York on 11 September 1776 A.D. The day Benjamin Franklin
Propane doesn’t smell. It’s odorless in its natural state. But if there is a leak, you smell a nasty odor. Ever wonder why? It wasn’t
It’s an island off the Bronx in New York City, not far from where I grew up. It’s not very big. Roughly a mile long
In the late 1960’s, scientists face a fundamental question regarding computing. In what direction will the future go? The big corporations, IBM and others, want
How does the United States go to war? It’s not as clear cut as many think. And it’s been a while since we’ve done it
Operation Paperclip was an OSS, Office of Strategic Services, program which brought over 1,500 Germans to the United States after World War II. The OSS
Explorer, soldier, poet, translator, diplomat, spy, linguist, writer, cartographer, fencer, and more. A great and enigmatic person in history. Burton traveled the world, going to
We tend to think of the south when we discuss slavery in America. In 1703, New York City had the second highest percentage of slaves
‘Wanted: Women With Degrees in Mathematics . . . Women are being offered scientific and engineering jobs where formerly men were preferred. Now is the
When we turn a light on, or plug in any device, we owe a debt to Nikola Tesla for his contributions to the design of
“The point in history at which we stand is full of promise and danger. The world will either move forward toward unity and widely shared
“Have you heard of a ship called the good Reuben James, Manned by hard fighting men both of honor and fame?” The USS Reuben James
“A cadet will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do.” This is one of the first things imprinted on New Cadets when they
This is excerpted from The Green Beret Guide to Seven Great Disasters II which is free today, 7 December. “Should hostilities once break out between
I’d never heard of the Reuben James even though Woody Guthrie wrote a song about it. Here is what happened:
In 1929, the 29th of October is the day the Great Depression officially began. The stock market had been going down, but this was the
Sounds like a reverse Man in the High Castle. I had never really considered it until I saw a book in the Fort Campbell library
It seems like a headline from a current newspaper but this was 1969. And one of those was the commander of the Fifth Special Forces
I’ve examined the balance of power in the United States in several of my books because the Founding Fathers never intended their work to last
First off, if it had worked, many of the big problems in our Constitution that had to be incorporated to allow slavery wouldn’t exist and
First interesting piece of trivia: William Tecumseh Sherman was the first president of the Louisiana State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy, which eventually became
I recently noticed the Secretary of State weighing in on his review of a movie. Which is odd, to say the least. I watched The
And it wasn’t the Caine. I went to the Military Academy, founded by Thomas Jefferson in 1802. Although Jefferson tended to be anti-military, he accepted
Most disasters require 7 things to go wrong; my rule of 7. Whether it be a plane crash or a military disaster. Pearl Harbor was
It began as nothing more than a routine training flight. At 2:10 p.m. on December 5, 1945, five TBM Avenger torpedo bombers took off from
This past week when my grandsons were visiting we went to the Worlds Fair Park here in Knoxville. Not far from the infamous Sunsphere, is
That was the question at the core of one of the missions for the Time Patrol, Independence Day. I was trying to think of an
Understanding and empathy is the path forward for mankind and this documentary made by a Syrian woman about their life in Aleppo over five years
After years of studying accidents and disaster, I came to the conclusion that almost every one involving people required seven things to go wrong. The
Even though I went to West Point, which is just south of Storm King Mountain from Newburgh where Washington the Continental Army was encamped in
JFK was assassinated on 21 Nov 1963. His mistress, Mary Meyer, was killed on 12 Oct 1964. Shot in the back of the head while
At the end of World War II, there was a race between the Russians and the Americans to plunder the scientific knowledge of the Nazi
That’s called foreshadowing. The message was supposed to be L-O-G-I-N, but after the L-O the system crashed. It was going from a lab at UCLA
Many people consider the two the same, but I don’t. One is inward oriented, the other outward. At West Point we had to memorize quite
Most have heard of New Amsterdam, the iteration of New York City before it became called just that. However, what I didn’t know, even having
Nine Eleven (Time Patrol) is free until the 12th. Each of my Time Patrol books consists of six mission on the same day in different
I tend to go for superlatives when researching. When my wife and I are watching some documentary, I’ll inevitably say: I wrote about that! In
By The Jefferson Allegiance and his mistress. A document brokered by Jefferson and Hamilton against the future threat of a president run amok. That’s the
By The Jefferson Allegiance and his best friend and aide. A document brokered by Jefferson and Hamilton against the future threat of a president run
False Flag operations have happened throughout history. If we don’t learn from history, we will repeated the same mistakes. I just updated this keynote presentation
I recently saw this question posed on Quora and it made me think. Let me start by answering with my opinion, which is NO. But
By The Jefferson Allegiance and his daughter. A document brokered by Jefferson and Hamilton against the future threat of a president run amok. That’s the
Saw this question on Quora and it made me think. I went into Beast Barracks at West Point when I was seventeen and clueless. Then
By The Jefferson Allegiance and a General named Grant. A document brokered by Jefferson and Hamilton against the future threat of a president run amok.
[et_pb_section admin_label=”section”] [et_pb_row admin_label=”row”] [et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] By The Jefferson Allegiance and a Congressman named Lincoln. A document brokered by Jefferson and Hamilton against the
There is a movement afoot for people to gather and “swarm” Area 51. It started as a Facebook joke but has since taken a life
I used to stay in the basement of a brownstone on Jane Street in the Village when I visited my agent or publisher in NYC.
Beginning today in 1948, the Berlin Airlift is a unique moment in history. When victors went to extraordinary lengths to extend a lifeline to a
New York Minute is set in the city in the summer of 1977, which was a tumultuous time, to say the least. Son of Sam
Happy birthday to my fellow West Point alum, Sam. The story of his name change is just one of many rather interesting facts about Grant’s
During the Vietnam War, Special Forces often worked with the CIA on covert intelligence gathering missions. One of those units was Project GAMMA. On 6
Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Admiral Howe held a meeting on that day on the top of Staten Island to discuss halting the conflict even
We all agree this was a tragic event, but also there seems to be a feeling that since the Civil War was essentially “won” at
Why was it first built? What happened to it? How did it become a major tourist attraction in New York City?
Basking the glow of Watergate, the Pentagon Papers and other coups, the press corps was riding hide. Then the perfect storm hit New York City
Interesting to research this. I remember most of these songs. 1977 was an interesting year in that several different sounds were converging in different directions:
My latest slideshare, the first of a number that will revolve around the world of New York Minute: 1977, New York City. Nothing but good
I was giving a keynote at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference several years ago and I mentioned this book and movie and got blank stares.
15 March is a significant date in history, but not just for the event of 44 BC. It’s also the date in 1917 that the
This might be the most significant event of the 20th Century. Tsarist Russia was gone, replaced by Communist Russia. Part of the momentum behind Hitler’s
This is the stuff I love finding when researching. in 1720, a Spanish expedition out of Santa Fe was attacked in Nebraska by Native Americans,
One of the duties of a fiction writer is to predict the future; and sometimes re imagine the past. The issue of a president bloated
was the St. Francis Dam failure in California. What’s interesting is that there is still a dam of the exact same design in Los Angeles.
Abridged from Stuff Doesn’t Just Happen: The Gift of Failure. I go through the seven Cascade Events that led to Pearl Harbor in detail in
