Biographies Story Briefs

We may know about a famous person's accomplishments, but what do we know about THEM? What is the human-interest story in THEIR lives? This biography collection features the stories behind the lives of some famous (and not-so-famous) individuals.

Star of "Boardwalk Empire," Nucky Thompson becomes "the virtual dictator" of Atlantic City by protecting people engaged in the business of Prohibition...

Meet the real Erling Storrusten, the inspiration for Margi Preus' main character, Espen, in her novel "Shadown on the Mountain."

Years after a whale destroyed his ship, the Essex, Thomas Nickerson wrote a narrative and drew pictures about the tragedy. This facsimile depicts his ...

His story featured in "The Pacific," Eugene Sledge describes the harrowing battle of Okinawa. Finally ending in June of 1945, it is one of the most co...

Acting on behalf of Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor and nephew of Catherine of Aragon, Eustace Chapuys sent many letters to Charles describing the K...

The wife of Robert Louis Stevenson was married to someone else when she met R.L.S. in a small town near Paris.

Professor Wiles has won the Abel Prize for solving Fermat's Last Theorem. How long did it take to solve it? How did he do it?

A world-renowned scientist and AIDS researcher, Dr. Joep Lange was a passenger on Flight MH17 when it crashed over Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

Frances Adeline Miller Seward, the wife of President Lincoln’s Secretary of State, William Seward, was respected in her own right. Among other t...

Francis Gary Powers, flying military aircraft for his country, was a "Top Gun" by 1955.

On the 1st of May, 1960, Francis Gary Powers (1929-1977) was a U-2 pilot flying an American spy plane over the Soviet Union.

A currently unsung hero of the 18th century, who now has an award named for him, Francis Hauksbee experiments with static electricity and stuns audien...

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