Life Theory

Which president had feet bigger than his ego? Which barked like a seal? Which joked about dating mummies? Kathleen Krull uses fun and quirky facts to bring to light the human side of the 42 U.S. presidents in this "deliciously gossipy" biography.

In The Life of Cicero, Plutarch details the priceless contributions Cicero made to Roman society. He translated the works of Greek philosophers into Latin, gained acclaim as an orator and lawyer, and was elected to office. Politics ultimately got the better of him, however, and his life ended in assassination while in exile. Cicero’s ideas live on through his body of work, but to learn about the man himself, Plutarch’s biography is an excellent starting point.

The women’s suffrage movement was decades in the making and came with many harsh setbacks. But it resulted in a permanent victory: women’s right to vote. How did the suffragists do it? One hundred years later, an eye-opening look at their playbook shows that some of their strategies seem oddly familiar. Women’s marches at inauguration time? Check. Publicity stunts, optics, and influencers? They practically invented them. Petitions, lobbying, speeches, raising money, and writing articles? All of that, too.

The eerie silence was broken only by the sound of scuffling feet as marchers approached the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama. The mood was sober. Hundreds of men, women, and children had been protesting in Selma for weeks to win black Americans the right to vote. They’d been threatened. Been arrested. Jailed. This march was likely to end in violence, yet they went anyway. But when state troopers attacked with billy clubs and tear gas, the brute force was a shock.

Machines are able to interpret and understand human beings and also interpret the data that is fed to them because of artificial intelligence (AI). So, what is artificial intelligence? If you have been trying to learn the basics of artificial intelligence, you will know that it is a human being’s attempt to make a machine smart enough to handle processes that a human being would normally do.

Today, many decisions that could be made by human beings, from predicting earthquakes to interpreting languages, can now be made by computer algorithms with advanced analytic capabilities. Everyday we make millions of decisions, from selecting a life partner, to organizing your closet, to scheduling your life, to having a conversation. However, these decisions may be imperfect due to limited experience, implicit biases, or faulty probabilistic reasoning.

Sandwiched between the Revolution and the Civil War, the War of 1812 is one of America’s forgotten conflicts, and the stalemated nature of the war (which resolved virtually none of either side’s war aims) has also ensured that it is often given merely a cursory overview. Under President Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809) and James Madison (1809-1817), the United States tried to steer a course that would keep it from being drawn into the European war and defend its neutrality on the high seas.

Han pasado casi 150 años de su muerte y todavía se usa una riqueza de apelativos para referirse a Antonio López de Santa Anna, presidente de México en once ocasiones. Hoy, la mayoría de sus compatriotas lo considera el traidor más grande de la historia. No siempre fue así. De hecho, cuando él vivía no hubo político o general más reverenciado, necesario y famoso en México - aunque en intervalos también el más odiado - que el General Santa Anna.

As the 32nd president of the United States of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is a common household name in both his home country and the world. Known as the man who led the United States through the Great Depression and World War II, Roosevelt was a leader and a statesman, a scholar, and a politician. Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only president to have served for three consecutive terms and voted in for a fourth, a fact that allows him to stand out among the long list of American presidents.

Queen Mary I ruled England and its territories for only five years, from 1553 to 1558, yet she has been remembered for nearly 500 years as Bloody Mary, the Catholic oppressor of a Protestant country. The truth, as usual, is more complicated than the myth. Mary grew up in a era of religious and political turmoil. Mary's life was shaped by her experience of this, and by the twisted family politics of her father, Henry VIII.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, or Mahatma Gandhi as he is more popularly known, is widely considered the father of India, the preeminent leader of the Indian struggle against British imperialism, and one of the most influential minds of the 20th century, Gandhi emerged to become one of the greatest advocates of peace and nonviolent resistance that the world has known. Gandhi became one of those rare leaders who preached through his own practices, motivating millions of people to follow his principles of freedom and peace.

Take an exciting tour into the depths of our world and the consciousness creating it. Let's talk about who we are, why we are here, and beyond. Empowering and informative.

Clergymen rarely make good politicians. There is perhaps no better example of this than Father Charles Coughlin, a Depression-era priest-turned-demagogue who was seen as an angel by some and a devil by others. The same man who cruelly castigated the Jews also spoke eloquently on the needs and rights of the most downtrodden in society. The same orator who said, "Roosevelt or ruin", later cried, "Roosevelt and ruin." In the 1930s, his effective use of the radio revolutionized mass communications, and millions of people listened to his every word.

In a sense, Cnut the Great was practically destined for greatness, if only because he came from a distinguished Danish royal family. Cnut's father was Sweyn Forkbeard, and his grandfather was Harald Bluetooth, both prominent and legendary kings of Denmark. Thanks to his background and his abilities, Cnut became the most prominent of the Danish kings of England, but he was also, at times, king of Denmark, Norway, and parts of Sweden.

Jean-Paul Marat (1743-1793) gave the French Revolution a voice. One of the most memorable and notorious revolutionaries, Marat became one of the Revolution's best-known figures through his speeches, writings, and scathing attacks on everyone he perceived as, "[E]nemies of the revolution". No revolutionary was more passionate, determined, and willing to die for the cause.

When you think of the cross, what thoughts come to mind? Some people think of steeples, gold necklaces, and churches. For others, their thoughts go deeper as words like these come to mind: Jesus. Nails. Blood. Pain. Death. Tomb. Empty. Joy. Promise. Life. Savior! The words of the cross are so full of pain. So full of passion. So full of promise - God's promise to each and every one of us. His promise is to do whatever it takes to save your soul. He did this just for you. He Did This Just for You shares the story of salvation in a new light.

Libertarianism is a synopsis of the origins of the Libertarian Party. It details the various political agendas that have attempted to incorporate themselves into the mindset of Libertarians.

Dred Scott was an unlikely candidate to become the impetus and rallying cry of a brand-new political party in the mid-19th century. He was sold to US Army doctor John Emerson in St. Louis, Missouri. Emerson's commission brought him to the Wisconsin Territory in 1836, which was free territory where slavery was illegal. By 1840, Dred Scott had married another slave of Emerson's, and the couple had a child. Desperate to shake off the yoke of slavery, Scott sued for his freedom in Missouri, arguing that once he had entered free territory he could no longer be a slave.

John F. Kennedy is the president that everyone knows. He was a rich man's son, an athlete, a war hero, a ladies' man, an author, a president - his face rendered forever young because the last time Americans saw him, he was riding in a convertible in Dallas, his glamorous wife at his side. Then the bullets struck, and the assassinated president became a legend, the truth of his life obscured by his tragic and untimely death. But JFK had more depth to his character than the magazine covers indicated.

Given how bad some of Rome's emperors were, it's a testament to just how insane and reviled Caligula was that he is still remembered, nearly 2,000 years later, as the epitome of everything that could be wrong with a tyrant. The Romans had high hopes for him after he succeeded Tiberius in AD 37, and by all accounts he was a noble and just ruler during his first few months in power. But after that, he suffered a mysterious illness that apparently rendered him insane. Indeed, the list of Caligula's strange actions is long.