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SOURCES
“Where do you find these stories” people often ask, and the answer is: “Everywhere.” Stories that I first saw online, heard from a friend, found in an old library book, are all here. The trick isn’t finding stories, it’s verifying them. Sometimes it’s easy. Other times it involves hours of research.
I relied primarily on scholarly books, magazine articles, old newspapers, and a small number of websites that demonstrated a scholarly approach and/or a particular expertise with the material. There are several online sources that I consulted so constantly that I have chosen not to cite them every time. The Encyclopaedia Britannica (www.britannica.com) is a wonderful source for basic historical information. A sometimes useful variation on that is the 1911 edition of the Britannica (www.1911encylopedia.com) with its lengthy in-depth articles on subjects often overlooked today.
For more recent stories, the New York Times archive, available to me (with my library card) through the Minuteman Library Network (http://www.mln.lib.ma.us/) allows word searching of stories going back to 1857. The Time magazine archive (www.time.com) allows word searching of articles back to 1923. These both offer an opportunity to go back many decades and see how a particular person or event was viewed at the time.
I make no claims to this being a scholarly work. But even in a “popular” work of history, readers deserve to know the principal sources of the information, and where to go to find out more.
The Sacred Band: 100 Decisive Battles by Paul K. Davis. Soul of the Sword by Robert L. O’Connell. Plutarch’s Lives, translated by John Dryden.
Archimedes’ Secret Weapon: Dio’s Roman History (volume II: Fragments of Books XII–XXV), translated by E. Cary. Universal History by Polybius. (These works excerpted online at http://www.mcs.drexel.edu). Buffon by Otis E. Fellows and Stephen F. Milliken. “Archimedes’ Mirrors: Some New Reflections,” by Malcolm Browne, New York Times, March 11, 1978.
Up Against the Wall: Rubicon by Tom Holland. 100 Decisive Battles by Paul K. Davis.
Warrior Princess: Gladiatrix by Amy Xoll. “The Celtic War Queen Who Challenged Rome,” by Margaret Donsbach, Military History, online archive (http://www.thehistorynet.com/mh/blceltic_war_queen).
Daring Dancer: Condemned to Repeat It by Wick Allison et al. Procopius, History of the Wars (volume I), translated by H. B. Dewing, excerpted online at the Internet Medieval Sourcebook (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/sbook.html). The Crusades by Antony Bridges.
An Islamic Europe?: 100 Decisive Battles by Paul K. Davis. Encyclopedia of Events That Changed the World by Robert Ingpen and Philip Wilkinson.
Spoils of War: Tilt by Nicholas Shrady. Through My Eye: 91st Infantry Division in the Italian Campaign, 1942–45 by Leon Weckstein.
History’s Hitmen: The Assassins, A Radical Sect in Islam by Bernard Lewis. The Crusades by Antony Bridges.
The Swallows of Volohai: The Mongols by David Morgan. The Mongol Empire: Genghis Khan: His Triumph and His Legacy by Peter Ludwig Brent. Encyclopedia of Events That Changed the World by Robert Ingpen and Philip Wilkinson.
Divine Wind: Storm from the East: From Genghis Khan to Kublai Khan by Robert Marshall. The Divine Wind: Japan’s Kamikaze Force in World War II by Captain Rikihei Inoguchi and Commander Tadashi Nakajima.
Arms Race: “Chinese Bombard” by John H. Lienhard, in Engines of Our Ingenuity (http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi1744.htm). “The Oldest Representation of a Bombard” by G-d Lu, J. Needham, and C-h Phan, Technology and Culture, vol. 29, no. 3, 1988, pp. 594–605. Gunpowder: Alchemy. Bombards, and Pyrotechnics by Jack Kelly.
Dangerous Games: Golf: A Pictorial History by Henry Cotton. The Sackville Illustrated Dictionary of Golf by Alan Booth and Michael Hobbs. “The Perfect Substitute for War,” by Paul Auster, New York Times Magazine, April 18, 1999.
God Is in the Details: 100 Decisive Battles by Paul K. Davis. Encyclopedia of Events That Changed the World by Robert Ingpen and Philip Wilkinson.
Weapons Wizard: The Inventions of Leonardo da Vinci by Margaret Cooper. Leonardo, the First Scientist by Michael White.
Siege of Bread and Butter: “A Loaf of Bread: Price and Value” by John Pearn, M.D., Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition (1998) 7(1):8–14.
Fighting Turtles: New History of Korea by Ki-bai Lee. The Reader’s Companion to Military History, edited by Robert Cowley and Geoffrey Parker. “Admiral Yi Sun-Shin,” by Alan Burse, Korea Herald, March 19 1997.
A Falling-Out in Prague: Fighting Words: From War, Rebellion, and Other Combative Capers by Christine Ammer. “The Empire Strikes Out,” New York Times, April 18, 1999. Leonardo’s Mountain of Clams and the Diet of Worms by Stephen Jay Gould. Visit by the author to Hradcany Castle in Prague, August 2004.
Drebbel’s Dream: Submarines and Deep Sea Vehicles by Jeffrey Tall. The Navy Times Book of Submarines: A Political, Social, and Military History by Brayton Harris. “The Saga of the Submarine,” by Brett McLaughlin, All Hands Magazine, September 1967.
Bees in Battle: “Bees in Warfare,” by John T. Ambrose, Gleanings in Bee Culture, November 1973. “Bees Go to War,” by Roger Morse, Gleanings in Bee Culture, October 1955. “War and Bees: Military Applications of Apiculture,” by Conrad Bérubé (http://www.apiculture.com).
The Siege That Gave Birth to the Croissant: A History of Food by Maguelonne Touissant-Samat. Reader’s Digest Facts and Fallacies.
The War of Jenkins’ Ear: “Earmarked for War,” by Jack Rudolph, American History Illustrated, February 1984. A Brief History of the Caribbean by Jan Rogozinski.
A Dandy Tale: America’s Song: The Story of Yankee Doodle by Stuart Murray. “Yankee Doodle,” Library of Congress website (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/today/apr19.html).
Old Man’s Fight: Paul Revere’s Ride by David Hackett Fischer.
Fighting Words: Fighting Words: From War, Rebellion, and Other Combative Capers by Christine Ammer.
The General’s Gambit: The George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741–1799 (http://lcweb2.loc.gov/ammem/gwhtml/gwhome.html). Gunpowder: Alchemy. Bombards, and Pyrotechnics by Jack Kelly.
Forgotten Fight: The Battle for New York by Barnett Schecter. “The True Story of Nathan (‘The Torch’) Hale: No Wonder They Hanged Him,” by Thomas Fleming, New ...
