Little is known about Jean Seberg, the Iowa native and notorious actress. Seberg was born in Marshalltown, Iowa on November 13, 1938. She would have been 77 years old today. The famous actress is…
While in Bangkok we were able to visit the beautiful home of Jim Thompson. The American born businessman, merchant, one-time spy, antiques collector, gardener, and designer was born in 1906 and worked as an architect in New York before heading to South East Asia during WWII. His fascination with Thai silk brought the material to the forefront of fashion and interior design in the 1950s and 1960s and his legacy continues with the lovely fabrics and furniture at Jim Thompson showrooms all over the country. He is credited with reviving the vibrant jewel toned colors so associated with Thai silk today and was an advocate for cottage industry as a way to help local communities thrive. His disappearance while on a walk in the Malaysian jungle in 1967 only adds to the mystique and drama of his amazing life! Thompson designed his home by combining six traditional teak Thai style houses into one complex and added elegant touches like Italian marble floors and Belgian crystal chandeliers - the fusion is so beautiful and I just loved the tropical breeziness and old world elegance his interiors captured! The gardens, also designed by Thompson were so lush and lovely! Thompson at work with local craftsmen {via} Three fabrics from the modern Jim Thompson line - such rich color and pattern! From top: Eclipse silk-cotton blend; Solar silk-linen blend; and Crystalline silk fabric. A Michel Smith living room featuring deep sofas in berry colored Jim Thompson silk {via Elle Decor} The slight sheen of the silk adds just enough glamour to the informal space. Designer Miles Redd chose a vibrant aqua Jim Thompson silk for the curtains - I adore the combination of vibrancy and tradition here! {via Elle Decor} Jim Thompson at home {via} xo Allison Spicer + Bank
Despite her fairytale marriage, the Hollywood goddess paid dearly.
“The trouble with fiction… is that it makes too much sense. Reality never makes sense.” – Aldous Huxley from The Doors of Perception “For a country to have a great wri…
The surrealist painter’s only novel, The Hearing Trumpet, is a wily, epicurean, and hilariously scattershot exploration of nature, religion, myth, and more.
Explore Marquette University Archives’s 903 photos on Flickr!
A week ago, I announced that The Displaced Nation will be dedicating the month of November to exploring the displaced lives of those who travel the world to do good works on behalf of those less fo…
He was known for the Italian restaurant chain that carries his name and for his TV appearances.
This c. 1825 portrait of John Jacob Astor by John Wesley Jarvis hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. "An early herald of the American dream, John Jacob Astor arrived in the United States in 1783, a poor immigrant. He made his first fortune in the fur trade in the Great Lakes region, shipping the furs, particularly beaver, to Europe. In 1811 he sent two expeditions to Oregon and founded the first American settlement on the Pacific coast, Astoria. After the War of 1812 and the British departure from the Northwest Territory, Astor's American Fur Company established a trading post on Mackinac Island, in present-day Michigan, which became the center of the booming fur trade. Astor increased his fortune in the China trade and in the accumulation of New York real estate, becoming in the 1830s the richest man in America. 'It's all a matter of habit,' he said, 'and good habits in America make any man rich.'" -- National Portrait Gallery This engraving after a painting by Alonzo Church appears in Evert Duyckinck's National Portrait Gallery, 1862. and this one closely resembling the Jarvis painting appeared in Benson Lossing's 1881 "Eminent Americans".
A week ago, I announced that The Displaced Nation will be dedicating the month of November to exploring the displaced lives of those who travel the world to do good works on behalf of those less fo…
Interesting trivia about the Victorian explorer 1. Sir Richard Burton was a Victorian explorer, translator, author, spy, diplomat, poet, soldier, cartographer … the list goes on. Sir Richard Burton…
Christine Granville's story is one of staggering bravery.
A week ago, I announced that The Displaced Nation will be dedicating the month of November to exploring the displaced lives of those who travel the world to do good works on behalf of those less fo…
For Victorian women looking to break free from the social restrictions of the day, charitable work abroad provided a much-needed escape. Historical fiction author Wendy Wallace profiles two little-known pioneering spirits.
Gertrude of Arabia rigged an election, installed a king loyal to the British, drew new borders—and gave us today’s ungovernable country.
By his death at 70 in 1857, Holman had walked, climbed, ridden, hiked, and sailed a total distance equal to traveling to the moon. So why haven't you heard of him?
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu—British aristocrat, feminist, and writer—was largely responsible for the adoption of inoculation against smallpox in England.
A week ago, I announced that The Displaced Nation will be dedicating the month of November to exploring the displaced lives of those who travel the world to do good works on behalf of those less fo…
John Paul Jones, the ‘Father of the American Navy,’ led Catherine the Great’s 18th-century occupiers, before a sex scandal chased him out of the empire.
Today, John Singer Sargent's 'Portrait of Madame X' is regarded as a brilliant and tasteful depiction of classical beauty and femininity. So it might shock you to learn that when the American artist first unveiled this painting in 1884, all hell broke loo
A week ago, I announced that The Displaced Nation will be dedicating the month of November to exploring the displaced lives of those who travel the world to do good works on behalf of those less fo…
A week ago, I announced that The Displaced Nation will be dedicating the month of November to exploring the displaced lives of those who travel the world to do good works on behalf of those less fo…
Photograph of John Fowles by Carolyn Djanogly John Fowles was born in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, on March 31, 1926. He attended Bedford School (1940–1944) and then served nearly two years in the Royal Marines. After his four years at Oxford (New College), where he read in French and r...
For Victorian women looking to break free from the social restrictions of the day, charitable work abroad provided a much-needed escape. Historical fiction author Wendy Wallace profiles two little-known pioneering spirits.
Barry Unsworth, the celebrated author of historical fiction who shared the Booker Prize in 1992, dies in Italy at the age of 81.
Thanks for visiting Stuck in a Book at my old site – and welcome to my new one! If you were searching for a particular page, then the content will all still be here. Search in the search bar …
