Hypnotism and Its Past

Actor Lumsden Hare as the scheming hypnotist in Svengali, a 1931 film adaptation of Trilby

[In earlier posts that you’ll find here and here, I’ve written about my fascination with hypnotism and my interviews and encounters with hypnotists of various types. In this post, I continue the series…

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H.G. Wells Meets Josef Stalin

Josef Stalin

I recently read H.G. Wells’ novel The Invisible Man and came away impressed by the author’s artistry in entertainingly moving a story along while including a serious subplot about H.G. Wells the role…

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Wilde in the Streets

Oscar Wilde, photographed in New York City in 1882. (U.S. Library of Congress)

Here I present an oldie — an article I wrote 25 years ago for Minneapolis-St. Paul Magazine. It was one of my first attempts to write about history and has always…

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There’s Gold in That Medicine

Gold has real medicinal value. It is used in implanted devices like pacemakers, and of course in dental work. Some people believe a controversial liquid suspension called colloidal gold may have…

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