Our Best Stories of 2019
Tweety bird linguistics, tiny purses, Beowulf's monsters, and the evolution of beauty.
Pirating Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, in the 1840s
When Parley's Illuminated Library published a pirated version of A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens decided he had had enough.
The War Documentary That Never Was
John Huston's 1945 movie The Battle of San Pietro presents itself as a war documentary, but contains staged scenes. What should we make of it?
Wait, Why Are the Parthenon Marbles in London?
Lord Elgin went beyond his original mandate, amassing a vast store of treasures, one scholar notes.
The Lumpy Pearls That Enchanted the Medicis
There’s a specific term for these irregular pearls: “baroque,” from the Portuguese barroco.
How Local TV Made “Bad” Movies a Thing
Weekly shows on local TV stations helped make the ironic viewing of bad movies into a national pastime.
The Incredibly True Story of Fake Headlines
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