Return to Marco Polo's World

Is it possible to achieve peak physical health without a gym, workout equipment, or even space to run? If the exercise plan in 1945's Return to Life Through Contrology is followed, it may be. Written and compiled by Joseph H. Pilates and William J. Miller, this short exercise book demonstrates a series of movements at the core of what we now call simply "Pilates." Before it became mainstream, the practice was called Contrology, and it was much simpler than its current, equipment-heavy iteration.

The Feres Mura, Ethiopian Jews whose families converted to Christianity during the nineteenth century and then reasserted their Jewish identity in the late twentieth century, still await acceptance by Israel.