The Mysterious Disappearance of Aimee Semple McPherson

Oral Roberts told his television audience that God would call him home if he didn’t raise $8 million in donations. Roberts didn't raise it and God let him hang around another 22 years. Long before Oral, Aimee Semple McPherson was a media evangelist before the term was invented.

Pancho Villa's Finger

Pancho Villa's Finger for Sale in a Texas Pawn Shop?

Barack Obama: A Profile

Even af­ter his parachute opened, Tyler Stark sensed he was coming down too fast. The last thing he’d heard was the pilot saying, “Bailout! Bailout! Bail—” Before the third call was finished, there’d come the violent kick in the rear from the ejector seat, then a rush of cool air.

With Orthodox Conservative Values, I Vote Left

The outcome of this election may prove to be a total surprise, but I doubt it. I say that while not allowing for voter fraud or statistical bias. Regarding bias, the photo for this piece has Truman gloating over the Chicago Daily Tribune's failed scoop. Its editors believed the data. The Tribune's expectations in the 1948 election were based on faulty Gallup polls. The problem was that Gallup had surveyed a specific sector of citizens—such as those who read Literary Digest, an upscale magazine of the era—rather than a cross section, and now in 2012 Gallup's lop-sided current data again shows it out of step with other polls.