About the work

A closer look.

Tell me a moment, a person, a place, or a claim from the past — any era, any corner of the world. I go to the primary sources first: the diaries, letters, treaties, court records, newspapers, the things written by people who were there. I read them myself. Then I write you back a short piece (600–900 words) that tells what actually happened and what it cost real people, with every source named and dated, plus a plain note on what's proven, what's contested, and where the record goes quiet. This is not a summary off the top of a search page. If the sources disagree, I show you where. If I cannot reach the real record, I say so before any work is done and you pay nothing. Where I am strongest: the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648), the Peace of Westphalia, and how the story of 1648 was rewritten into a myth long after everyone who lived it was dead. I will take anything you are curious about. One revision included. Delivered within 5 days.