What We Are Reading Today: Pink: The History of a Color

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Updated 20 October 2024
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What We Are Reading Today: Pink: The History of a Color

Author: Michel Pastoureau 

Pink has such powerful associations today that it’s hard to imagine the color could ever have meant anything different. But it’s only since the introduction of the Barbie doll in 1959 that pink has become decisively feminized.

Indeed, in the 18th century, pink was frequently masculine, and the color has signified many things beyond gender over the course of its long history.

In this richly illustrated book, Michel Pastoureau, a celebrated authority on the history of colors, presents a fascinating visual, social, and cultural history of pink in the West, from antiquity to today.


What We Are Reading Today: Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn

Updated 18 December 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: Family of Spies by Christine Kuehn

‘Family of Spies’ is a gripping family memoir and nonfiction account that uncovers one family’s shocking role as spies aiding Japan in the lead-up to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
“An amazing and gripping tale, full of suspenseful twists and cinematic details,” said a review in The New York Times.
Author Christine Kuehn chronicles the fruits of her decades-long research, revealing her grandparents’ secret espionage activities in pre-World War II Germany and their life in Hawaii, where they gathered intelligence.

Interweaving historical detail with personal narrative, Kuehn shares her own harrowing journey of discovery — sparked by a mysterious letter from a screenwriter — and the emotional toll of confronting this buried past. 
She draws extensively on conversations with her father, Eberhard, who had long remained taciturn about his family’s history, shielding her from questions growing up.