“Tyrian purple was a difficult color to manufacture. Thousands of snails were required to create a single ounce of dye.”
Katy Kelleher
Posted inNonfiction, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Tim Alberta, Jane C. Hu, Katy Kelleher, Jimmy Thomson, and David Marchese.
Posted inNonfiction, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Peter Eisler, Linda So, Jason Szep, Grant Smith, Ned Parker, and Jaed Coffin, Sarah Gilman, Katy Kelleher, and Irris Makler.
Posted inNonfiction, Top 5
The Top 5 Longreads of the Week
This week, we’re sharing stories from Seema Jilani, Katy Kelleher, Carina del Valle Schorske, Martin Padgett, and Ben Lindbergh.
Posted inNonfiction
The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Lockets
Lockets simultaneously display and hide. But does squirreling our love and grief away in a piece of jewelry keep the memories and emotions present for us, or minimize them?
Posted inHighlight, Nonfiction
The Living Nightmare of Homeownership
The manmade dream of owning a home wasn’t built on a solid foundation.
Posted inStory
The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Orchids
Sometimes a flower is just a flower, and sometimes it’s a powerful vehicle for giving free rein to our worst colonialist and misogynist impulses.
Posted inArts & Culture, History, Science & Nature, Story
The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Mirrors
Mirrors are sparkly and shiny and hypnotic. They’ve fascinated us for thousands of years. And they might show us a lot more about our society’s misplaced priorities than we care to see.
Posted inArts & Culture, History, Science & Nature, Story
The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Pearls
Born from irritation and intrusion, luminous and complex, surprisingly durable: pearls are rich with symbolism and saturated with pain.
Posted inArts & Culture, History, Science & Nature, Story
The Ugly History of Beautiful Things: Angora
Angora rabbit fur is fluffy, and silky, and was especially popular with two influential 20th-century groups: Hollywood starlets and Nazi officers.