Little Sleights

Part 2 of Giorgio Perlasca's story.

In 1987, a group of Holocaust survivors wrote to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum to notify them of an heroic savior that had gone unnoticed in Padua, Italy for many years - one who had saved over 5000 lives in Budapest in World War II. Once discovered, he went by many names: the Spanish Schindler. The Italian Wallenberg. Righteous Among the Nations.

In 1987, a group of Holocaust survivors wrote to the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum to notify them of an heroic savior that had gone unnoticed in Padua, Italy for many years - one who had saved over 5000 lives in Budapest in World War II. Once discovered, he went by many names: the Spanish Schindler. The Italian Wallenberg. Righteous Among the Nations.

But before all that, he was Giorgio Perlasca

A saint no stranger to sinning, devout to some, diabolical to others and driven above all else, she was a force of nature made flesh that saw her will imposed on the most powerful men in her empire, including her husband, Justinian I. A staunch friend, loyal disciple, and dedicated wife, she was Theodora of Paphlagonia.

Eighty-six years. Multiple careers Wars of swords and speech. She was a prisoner. A prohibitionist. Spy, surgeon, suffragist. Writer and abolitionist. She was also the only woman to ever receive the United States Medal of Honor. Multiple careers, a war on two fronts

But before all that, she was Mary Edwards Walker.

Did you know the story of Napoleon’s most humiliating defeat? Or see the signs of future follies in Richard’s Nixon’s past? Have you heard of the greatest story Robert Louis Stevenson never told? If not, strap in, because this is a different kind of Little Sleights, where we’ll talk about the moments lost in the shadows of some of history’s tallest figures.

In 916 AD, a woman drew her sword against her enemies and led her kingdom into battle. She would lose that fight, and her life, that same day. Her empire would not long survive her absence, and soon both grave and civilization were lost to time. Now she is both empress and enigma. But before all that, she was Xochitl.

They were the daughters of Ptolemy. Sisters of Cleopatra. Usurpers. Victors. Victims. Queens. But before all that, they were Berenice and Arsinoe.

He would go down as everything from the failure of the family to the romantic anti-hero his sisters would become famous for creating, while history would see his sisters raised to the highest echelons in literature. They were the Bronte sisters. He, in the end, was much less.

But before that, he was Branwell Bronte.

She was the mistress of Charles II, mother to a duke, and one of the first English actresses to (legally) grace the stage. But before all that, she was Nell Gwyn.

She was the mistress and perhaps wife of Pericles, preeminent Athenian leader. The target of playwrights, the muse of philosophers, and the source of debate and myth for years to come. But before all that, she was Aspasia of Miletus.