The Marginalian
The Marginalian

Reads tagged with “history”

The First Kiss in Cinema: How Thomas Edison Scandalized the World in 1896
The First Kiss in Cinema: How Thomas Edison Scandalized the World in 1896

How Thomas Edison made the kiss Hollywood’s favorite audience-courting device.

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A.A. Milne on Happiness and How Winnie-the-Pooh Was Born
A.A. Milne on Happiness and How Winnie-the-Pooh Was Born

On rainy days and the simplicity of happiness.

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The Letters of Greats: From Ernest Hemingway to Georgia O’Keeffe, a Glimpse of Famous Correspondence
The Letters of Greats: From Ernest Hemingway to Georgia O’Keeffe, a Glimpse of Famous Correspondence

Lessons in love via post, or what Hemingway’s soft side has to do with Maurice Sendak’s early genius.

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Scrap Irony: Irreverent Illustrated Cultural Commentary by Edward Gorey circa 1961
Scrap Irony: Irreverent Illustrated Cultural Commentary by Edward Gorey circa 1961

What the physiological effects of space flight have to do with the art of courtship and the Oedipus complex.

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John Steinbeck on Falling in Love: A 1958 Letter of Advice to His Lovesick Teenage Son
John Steinbeck on Falling in Love: A 1958 Letter of Advice to His Lovesick Teenage Son

“If it is right, it happens — The main thing is not to hurry. Nothing good gets away.”

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Visions of the Jinn: A Visual History of Arabian Nights
Visions of the Jinn: A Visual History of Arabian Nights

From Aladdin to Lewis Carroll, or what Buddhist deities have to do with understanding the Middle East.

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The Greatest Grid: How Manhattan’s Famous Street Map Came to Be
The Greatest Grid: How Manhattan’s Famous Street Map Came to Be

What Edgar Allan Poe, the Dead Rabbits, and Charles Dickens have to do with New York’s defining feature.

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The Origin of Snark: Original Illustrations from Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of the Snark,” 1876
The Origin of Snark: Original Illustrations from Lewis Carroll’s “The Hunting of the Snark,” 1876

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Elevator Groupthink: An Ingenious 1962 Psychology Experiment in Conformity
Elevator Groupthink: An Ingenious 1962 Psychology Experiment in Conformity

What vintage Candid Camera can teach us about the cultural role of the global Occupy movement.

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The Antikythera Mechanism: The Story of Humanity’s Oldest Analog Computer, circa 150 B.C.
The Antikythera Mechanism: The Story of Humanity’s Oldest Analog Computer, circa 150 B.C.

30 gear wheels of anachronism, or what a 2,000-year-old shipwreck reveals about the evolution of technology.

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