Sleeper Agents
Female spies from Asia are every bit as dangerous – and as seductive – as their Western counterparts.
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B. Alexandra Szerlip, Contributor
Two-time National Endowment for the Arts fellow B. Alexandra Szerlip is the author of The Man Who Designed the Future: Norman Bel Geddes and the Invention of Twentieth Century America (Melville House, New York / London), voted “One of the Top Ten Arts Books of 2017” by the American Library Association. She’s also a painter and mixed-media sculptor.
All Posts
Shunga: Beyond “Edo Porn”
Shunga were highly erotic Japanese paintings and woodblock prints characterized by meticulously detailed genitalia, astonishing physical contortions, and occasional witty dialogue or commentary.
The Controversial Legacy of Charlie Chan
The aphorism-spouting Chinese detective played by a succession of white men in yellow-face continues to both delight and offend.
The Cutthroat Truffle Industry
Theft, counterfeiting, kidnapping, poisoning – all manner of skullduggery is involved when it comes to one of the world’s most expensive foods.
The Mezcal Invasion
Once derided as rotgut, tequila’s smoky, artisanal cousin is coming to a trendy bar near you.
To Mock the Mighty: A History of Court Jesters
More than just clowns, jesters played a unique and important role in the halls of power.
Melting Palaces
Beautiful, transient, and completely impractical, ice palaces are monuments to the human sense of novelty and wonder.
Sex Slavery in San Francisco’s Chinatown
A journey through San Fran’s sordid past.
The Subversive History of Japanese Tattoos
Traditionally associated with outlaws and gangsters, tattoos in Japan have a long and colorful history.
Kitsune: The Japanese Fox Trickster
Kitsune are adept at shape-shifting from male to female, from animal to human, and back again.