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Peek in the Stacks: rare books

BOFF! THWACK! KAPOW!

Few fictional characters have caught our imaginations as much as Batman, a superhero like all of us in that he doesn’t fly and can’t jump over tall buildings. Bob Kane and Bill Finger created the Batman character, sometimes known as the Dark Knight or Caped Crusader. He first appeared in a 1939 issue of Detective Comics (DC) ...

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Nursery Rhymes

Nursery rhymes are verses, chants, or poems spoken or sung to small children to amuse or sooth them. Most were first written down in the 18th century when publications for children moved away from being purely educational, though many rhymes were probably not new at that time. They come from numerous sources, including proverbs, drinking songs, riddles, and historical events or people ...

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Living in the Nude

Naturism, or Nudism, is a social movement that advocates and practices social nudity in an effort to encourage self-respect and respect for others. Advocates believe that they came into the world in the nude and therefore they feel closer to nature and the earth when they are in the nude. They also believe that by removing clothing, which establishes social status...

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The Evolution of Men's Fashion

If you look up "men’s fashion" on your search engine you might see images of men wearing a combination of ripped jeans that look uncomfortably tight and ride too low, and an equally tight plaid button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, topped off with a vest that is too close to the body, unproportioned and improperly...

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Accounting for History

Historical accounts of the pueblo at Los Angeles first began to surface in the 1870s. Yet, aside from iterating the widely accepted facts related to Spanish exploration and the founding of the pueblo, early writers largely neglected the Spanish colonial period in Los Angeles history. These works were primarily regional histories created by boosters in an effort to glorify the city’s residents and promote...

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