art history pragmatic historian reading

Teasing Out the Real History in Historical Fiction

Note: This post contains spoilers for the novel “The Art Forger” by B.A. Shapiro. I finished reading “The Art Forger” by B.A. Shapiro this week. The novel reminded me of the movie “National Treasure.” “The Art Forger” would lend itself well to being turned into a movie because of the action and intrigue. (Though there are other movies about art forgers, I could not find one based on this book.) In it, we are treated…

Continue reading

history law museums pragmatic historian preservation

Taking History Seriously

I am irritated. I read a story on NPR News about a Pennsylvania guy who stole artifacts, mostly firearms, from about a dozen museums in the 1960s and ’70s. He got caught in 2018 after trying to sell one of the guns. His sentence? One day. One. Day. I am irritated because this sentence shows how unseriously the courts, and by extension, society in general, take thefts from museums. Oh, well, it’s just an artifact,…

Continue reading

history inspiration music

Returning to Find a Leopard

Can a song be perfect? If not, I think I have found one that is as close to perfect as it can be. I need to thank YouTube’s mysterious algorithms for this song. I had been listening to songs from Duran Duran’s new album “Future Past” before purchasing the album and an old song of theirs was suggested. It was not one I was familiar with. It’s called “The Man Who Stole a Leopard.” One…

Continue reading