LONDON'S RIVER TURNED MURKY: A SUMMER OF FILTH, 1858

The city of London sweltered in the heat of summer, 1858. But it was not merely the sun that baked the metropolis. An even more repellent force infested its very heart: the River Thames. Years of industrial discharges had transformed London's lifeblood into a stench. The stench was all-consuming, a miasma that clung to every cobblestone and infused

The year 845 AD. A chill wind whistled across the Seine River, carrying with it the scent of salt and fear. The Norsemen were upon us, a stormy swarm of warriors seeking plunder. Their longships, like prowling predators, sliced through the waters, their flags waving in the wind. A city once proud now trembled beneath the shadow of Ragnarök. Paris,