Charlotte
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Madame Tussaud
Outside of creating some of the most renowned wax sculptures of all time, Madame Tussaud lived in a turbulent time which would eventually lead her to a life she would not have otherwise chosen. The life of Tussaud, while a bit underwhelming, is important to understanding how she became the great success she is today, nearly 150 years after her death. We begin in Strasbourg, France where little Anna Marie Grosholtz came screaming into this world on December 7, 1761 to Anne, a single mother. Tussaud had always been called Marie to prevent confusion since mother and daughter had names that were so closely related. According to Tussaud’s own memoir,…
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Women and Sexual Inequality
It is pretty much common knowledge that women throughout history were, for the most part, living in a man’s world and unjustly treated in accordance with today’s standards. Although most of us have a basic understanding of how women have been mistreated, it may not be common knowledge of how women’s sexuality was viewed during medieval times in England. Let us first consider the options a woman in Medieval society had. First, and foremost, a woman’s life was almost always dictated by a man, whether it be her father before marrying age, her husband, a widow (where she would still carry her dead husband’s title, debts, etc making her still…
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The Great Fire of 1910
It was “fanned by a tornadic wind so violent that the flames flattened out ahead, swooping to earth in great darting curves, truly a veritable red demon from hell.” Touted as the largest forest fire in America and quite possibly the largest anywhere, the great fire of 1910 was fueled by a seemingly perfect combination of events. No cause was ever determined after the fire but many different factors have to be taken into account when examining the great fire or what is also called The Big Blowup. The winter’s snow had melted early and the western states of America were experiencing a drought. In fact the rain had stopped…
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William Seward Burroughs
Burroughs was born into a wealthy family from St. Louis, Missouri. His grandfather, and namesake, invented the Burroughs adding machine which eventually led to the creation of the Burroughs Corporation which William S. Burroughs I owned. Since Burroughs’ birth on February 5, 1914, much was expected from him by his family due to the great success of his family. At the age of 14, Burroughs was sent to the Los Alamos Ranch School for boys in New Mexico because of an incident in St. Louis where he was playing with some chemicals that exploded and injured his hand. The injury required the use of pain medication and it was Burroughs…
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The Origin of Stockholm Syndrome
For 5 nights and 6 days, 4 people were held as hostages at the Sveriges Kreditbanken located in Norrmalmstorg square in Stockholm, Sweden. All of the events were orchestrated by one man, Jan-Erik Olsson, although he did have an accomplice, as well as the 4 captives who had become friends with the two convicted felons. Jan-Erik Olsson had a history of being in jail and was serving time for grand larceny at the time of the bank robbery. The prison that was housing Olsson let him leave on furlough, except he failed to return to the prison at his expected time. On the morning of August 23, 1974, Olsson walked…
