Byte Sized Biographies…

Robert E. Lee: Valiant Hero or Misguided Traitor? Arlington House, Occupied By Federal Troops, 1864 George Parke Custis was kicked out of Princeton, left St. John’s College of Annapolis after only one semester and made a living renting out all of the various plantation properties that he had inherited.  By comparison to the industrious and spartan Robert E. Lee, Custis was an indolent patrician wh...

Herman Melville: From obscurity to immortality Herman Melville, 1861 When he died at age 72, on September 28, 1891, Herman Melville was so obscure that those who even remembered his literary output presumed that he had passed away many decades earlier.  Melville’s works were out of print, his last novel published more than thirty years before his death.  The title of his epic work Moby Dick was mi...

Herman Melville: From Obscurity to Immortality Melville's Massachusetts Home-Arrowhead Over forty, Melville need not be concerned with actually having to fight for the Union but in 1863, he and his wife decided to move back to New York City, exchanging Arrowhead, which he was unable to sell, for his brother Allan’s East 26th Street home. Herman Melville, Last Photograph, Mid-1880's Throughout this...

Ted Ngoy, the ultimate American Dream, including donuts Ted Ngoy's First Donut Shop, La Habra, California Eventually, in 1976, one of Ted's customers showed him an ad in the local newspaper, the Orange County Register, advertising a donut shop for sale.  Ngoy had meticulously saved 20,000 dollars, the seller financed the rest of the $45,000 purchase price. Ted and his wife, Suganthini, with Richar...

Frida Kahlo, Mexican icon Frida Kahlo Photographed By Her Father Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo Calderon was born on July 6, 1907 in Coyoacan, Mexico. Today, Coyoacan, officially a borough of the Federal District, is part of the urban sprawl of Mexico City.  But when Frida was born it consisted of open space, farm and ranch land.  Although her birth probably occurred at her grandmother’s house, Fri...

Frida Kahlo: Mexican Icon Trotsky In Mexico Since the death of Lenin in 1924, a power struggle over not only over the Soviet government but also the international Communist movement ensued with the winner Josef Stalin and the loser Leon Trotsky.  But Stalin was not content with merely expelling Trotsky from the party and the country.  His megalomaniac paranoia would subsequently require the physic...

Ian Fleming, who proved that a great deal of fiction is factual. Ian Fleming, Naval Intelligence Ian Fleming was born on May 28, 1908, the second son of Valentine and Evelyn Fleming. Both parents came from upper crust British backgrounds, Evelyn, known as Eve, was the descendant of a solicitor paternal grandfather and a maternal grandfather who was the personal physician to Queen Victoria, both of...

Ian Fleming proved that a great deal of fiction is factual Ian Fleming, with his first novel Casino Royal Acquiring a name for his protagonist was simple enough.  When cosmopolitan visitors to Goldeneye found themselves a little bored by the repetitive, tropical languor, Fleming suggested some bird watching accompanied by the book Macmillan’s Field Guide to the West Indies by James Bond, a volume...

Rasputin, the wrong man in the right place. Rasputin, Early Years Grigori Rasputin was born on January 9, 1869, in the Siberian village of Pokrovskoe, one of nine children of Efim and Anna.  Even the number of surviving siblings of Rasputin is a matter of dispute. Possibly all of his nine brothers and sisters died only a few days after they were born and the only sister to perhaps survive was born...

Rasputin, the wrong man in the right place. Rasputin, later years Rasputin routinely spent his summers in Pokrovskoe and June, 1914 found him back in his home town.  On June 29, Rasputin emerged from his house in order to hand a telegram to his postman.  He was greeted by a mysterious female stranger, dressed in black with a white kerchief over her features, only her eyes visible.  She silently bo...

Georg Elser's failure is one of the most remarkable stories in European history. Georg Elser, Circa 1939 The contrast between Adolf Hitler and Georg Elser could not have been more dramatic.  Hitler was a fanatically driven over achiever who had overcome his lower middle class background, lack of education and early personal failures to become one of the most charismatic and extroverted political f...

Georg Elser's failure is one of the most remarkable stories in European history. Burgerbraukeller, After Explosion At precisely 9:20, the first of George Elser’s clocks activated perfectly the bomb detonated with a tremendous blast that pulverized the speaker’s platform, shattered the pillar behind it and brought the roof of the building down upon its inhabitants.  Dust and debris filled the air,...

Michelangelo, the Eternal Genius Michelangelo Michelangelo Buonarroti-Simoni was born on March 6, 1475 in Caprese, Italy in Tuscany , about sixty miles east of Florence.  A month later his father moved the family back to the Tuscan capital.  Ludovico Buonarroti’s family were bankers and money lenders and despite the failure of the family bank, Michelangelo’s father managed assets and property that...

Michelangelo, the Eternal Genius Pope Julius II, by Raphael The relationship between Julius II and Michelangelo has been dramatized as a nasty battle of wills between two egocentric men.  In actuality, Michelangelo’s issue with the Pope stemmed from the reality that Julius’ main focus was to expand the territory of the Papal States and the ensuing warfare that would be required.  Michelangelo’s ar...

Harriet Tubman, righteous heroine Harriet Tubman Harriet Tubman was born Araminta Ross in the eastern shore region of Maryland in 1822.  Her exact date of birth remains unknown.  Both of her parents were slaves, Harriet (Rit) Green and Ben Ross. John Brown The summer of 1859 also brought a resumption of John Brown’s plan for rebellion.  He was already gathering assets in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania...

Alexander Hamilton, the Zelig of American military and political history. Alexander Hamilton, First Secretary of the US Treasury The circumstances surrounding the birth of Alexander Hamilton are complicated and even when he was born is a matter of dispute.  His mother, Rachel Faucette, was of British and French descent.  His father, James Hamilton was a Scot.  They met on the island of St. Kitts i...

Francis Scott Key and the National Anthem Francis Scott Key Key was a prominent lawyer from Frederick, Maryland who, through a sequence of incidents that occurred during the War of 1812, observed one of the most critical episodes in American history. Map of the Battle of Baltimore In fact, Ross and Cockburn had decided on a coordinated air and sea attack.  Ross would land his troops at North Point...

Amelia Earhart, Lost Heroine Amelia Earhart as a child. Amelia Earhart was born on July 24, 1897 in Atchison, Kansas.  Although her mother came from a wealthy family, her father was an attorney but also an alcoholic with an erratic work history that lead to an unstable childhood for both Amelia and her sister, Muriel.  Amelia would attend six high schools before graduating from Hyde Park High Scho...

Paul Gauguin, the Bitterness and the Beauty Paul Gauguin in Breton attire. From his very first days, Gauguin’s life was filled with a volatile instability that must have affected his development.  He was born in Paris on June 7, 1848.  His father, Clovis, was a journalist, his mother, Aline, the daughter of Flora Tristan, a seminal feminist writer of the early nineteenth century.  Aline’s father h...

Jack Johnson, the Real Deal Jack Johnson, The Galveston Giant Jack Johnson was born on March 31, 1878 in Galveston.  Very little can be verified about his early life.  Most historical information about him comes from autobiographies that he published himself.  Had he not gone on to achieve boxing notoriety, both he and his family would have been completely forgotten. Jack Johnson knocks out Jim Je...

King Ludwig II of Bavaria, a Beautiful Madness Wonderful Atlantic Monthly Photo Essay on Ludwig II Ludwig II as a young man Ludwig II was born on August 25, 1845.  His father, Maximillian, was then the Crown Prince of Bavaria.  His grandfather, Ludwig I, was the King of Bavaria and a member of the House of Wittlesbach, the ruling dynasty that had governed the Kingdom of Bavaria, for over six hundr...

Billie Holiday, Lady Day Billie Holiday, 1917 Sometimes the most remarkable artistic genius can emerge from the humblest of beginnings.  Sarah Julia Harris was born on August 16, 1895 in Baltimore, MD.  Disowned by her father, she was raised by her mother, who ultimately married another man and had two more children.  Like her siblings, Sarah, nicknamed “Sadie”, began working at cleaning jobs at a...

Edgar Allan Poe: Life Sucks and Then You Die Edgar Allan Poe, only days after his suicide attempt, 1848 Poe was born Edgar Poe on January 19, 1809, in the city of Boston.  His parents, David and Eliza were actors that travelled a circuit along the Eastern seaboard.  His mother performed a week before his birth and would return again to the Boston stage a month later, which is indicative of the eco...

Ernesto "Che" Guevara, Revolutionary Poster Boy Che Guevara, El Guerrillero Heroico, by Korda Ernesto Guevara de la Serna was born in Rosario, Argentina on May 14, 1928.   His upper class parents forged his birth certificate to read June 14 to conceal the fact that Ernesto was conceived out of wedlock.  Ernesto Guevara Lynch and Celia de la Serna y Llosa both came from socially well-connected fami...

Friedrich Nietzsche: I am not a Man! I am Dynamite! Friedrich Nietzsche Friedrich Nietzsche was born in Rocken, Germany on October 15, 1844.  In July of 1849, Nietzsche’s father, a thirty-five year old minister, died of an indeterminate brain condition, forcing the family to move to the nearby town of Naumburg.  Both of these locations are in the Saxony region, former German Democratic Republic, a...