Hero

Some historical figures become more fascinating with each passing decade, and Lawrence of Arabia is one. As Middle Eastern issues continue to bedevil international relations, the magnificently stirring life of this English adventurer—brilliantly recounted here by Michael Korda—seems ever more relevant, and ever more mysterious.

May 20: Blue jeans celebrate their unofficial 140th birthday today, the dry goods merchant Levi Strauss and the tailor Jacob Davis receiving a patent on May 20, 1873 for "a new article of manufacture, a pair of pantaloons having the…

Ethan Rutherford and Matt Burgess (Dogfight: A Love Story) on the writing of Rutherford's surreal and fiercely funny story collection The Peripatetic Coffin

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