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The Strange History Of Binding Books In Human Skin
By Elizabeth Svoboda/Undark
In 2015, Megan Rosenbloom traveled to Harvard University's Houghton Library in search of a book called Des destinées de l'âme ("Destinies of the Soul") by the French author Arsène Houssaye. This copy of Houssaye's masterwork had a singular distinction: At the time, it was the only book on the planet proven to be bound in human skin.
For Rosenbloom, a librarian at UCLA, the trip served as her entrée into a field she'd studied for years: "anthropodermic bibliopegy," the practice of binding books in human epidermis.
It's easy to assume this topic is too restricted or too gruesome for a book of its own, but Dark Archives: A Librarian's Investigation Into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin proves that assumption wrong. As Rosenbloom crisscrosses the globe to confirm the purported origins of skin-bound books - a cracking detective story in itself - her journey offers unusual insight into what defines informed consent, what separates homage from exploitation, and how power disparities can breed casual inhumanity.
Posted on November 22, 2020
A People's History Of ThanksgivingWhere Is The Gold?With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.Continue reading "A People's History Of Thanksgiving" » Posted on November 28, 2013 |
Chicago Blog Review: Fruit SlingerA welcome blast of summer-friendly food porn on a daily basis.Continue reading "Chicago Blog Review: Fruit Slinger" » Posted on August 6, 2009 |
The Strange History Of Binding Books In Human Skin
By Elizabeth Svoboda/Undark
As Rosenbloom crisscrosses the globe to confirm the purported origins of skin-bound books - a cracking detective story in itself - her journey offers unusual insight into what defines informed consent, what separates homage from exploitation, and how power disparities can breed casual inhumanity.Posted on November 22, 2020
The Irreverence Polling Needs
By W. Joseph Campbell/The Conversation
In 1984, at a time when election polling was going through another rough patch, the legendary Bud Roper said in a speech to the American Association for the Advancement of Science that "Our polling techniques have gotten more and more sophisticated, yet we seem to be missing more and more elections."Posted on November 17, 2020
When Prophecy Fails
By Wikipedia
What a 1950s Chicago housewife tells us about our country today.Posted on November 11, 2020
The Lives, Loves, Deaths & Art Of Neanderthals
By Susan Cosier/Undark
"Neanderthals were never some sort of highway service station en route to Real People. They were state-of-the-art humans, just of a different sort."Posted on November 8, 2020
The Artificial Scarcity Of E-Books In Education
By Rory Mir/The Electronic Frontier Foundation
If technology enables us to share, reproduce and update educational materials so effectively that we can give them away for free, it's our moral duty to do so.Posted on October 30, 2020
How Journalists Invented Wild Bill Hickok
By SIU Press
Mythologized and sensationalized, Hickok was turned into the deadliest gunfighter of all, a so-called moral killer, a national phenomenon even while he was alive. It wasn't true.Posted on October 29, 2020
How Chicago Public Library Books Get From Here To There
By The Chicago Public Library
"Watch this behind-the-scenes tour of one of the hidden secrets of CPL - the sorting machine!"Posted on October 22, 2020
Maps For Migrants And Ghosts
By SIU Press
For immigrants and migrants, the wounds of colonization, displacement, and exile remain unhealed. Even our most personal and intimate experiences are linked to the larger collective histories that came before.Posted on October 12, 2020
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