My mother kept a cook and a nursemaid, and a dvornik, or outdoor man, to take care of the horses, the cow, and the woodpile.

Sitting Bull is commonly thought of as a warrior. In point of fact he was not. He was a “medicine man;” which means that he included within himself the three professions of the priesthood, medicine and law.

The flip of a fair coin is purely random.

Yet apparently millions of us just love being nudged or browbeaten into particular chowlines by someone else with an air of authority, from weight-loss guru to restaurant reviewer.