Nineteenth Century Life Story Briefs

What made the 19th century an interesting but tumultuous time? What technological, cultural and social changes influenced life then? Explore those issues in this story collection.

Beethoven premiered his 9th Symphony on May 7, 1824 in Vienna. Deafness prohibited him from conducting, but Beethoven was on stage for the first time ...

Victoria and Albert find privacy on the Isle of Wight, but tragedy strikes when Albert dies at age 42. For years, the Queen stays out of the limelight...

Huge amounts of oil are contained in the head of a sperm whale. This white whale, like the "Moby Dick" of Herman Melville's tale, also has a gigantic ...

Dostoevsky gives us clues where Raskolnikov lives, but not until his wife provided more information (after the author's death) can we be more certain ...

Even before Irish-Catholics arrive from Ireland, during the Potato Famine, religious-based riots occur in Philadelphia.

General Lee loves his horse, Traveller, but what do we really know about their special relationship?

Robert Louis Stevenson's Mother kept a "baby book" for her only child. It is filled with interesting information about RLS as a baby, a toddler and a ...

Samuel Clemens first used his pen name, Mark Twain, while working for Territorial Enterprise, a newspaper in Virginia City, Nevada.

If General Santa Anna ordered a bugle to sound the signal "No Quarter," what did the Alamo defenders hear?

President Lincoln was sitting in a red rocking chair when he was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. This image depicts that rocking chair.

Learning lessons from the three Ghosts, Scrooge is appalled at the way looters are selling the stuff they've taken from a dead man's home.

When the Terror and Erebus went missing, how did searchers know where to look for them?

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