Based on a True Story | smithsonianmag.comhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/rss/tag/based-true-story/RSS feed for Based on a True StoryenFri, 17 Jul 2026 18:40:24 +0000Was There Ever an Original Version of 'The Odyssey,' and Do We Need to Worry About What Homer Would Think?https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/was-there-ever-an-original-version-of-the-odyssey-and-do-we-need-to-worry-about-what-homer-would-think-180989143/The earliest surviving fragments of the epic poem—the subject of Christopher Nolan's latest Hollywood blockbuster—date back more than 2,000 years. But oral storytelling about a hero named Odysseus is much olderFri, 17 Jul 2026 18:40:24 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/was-there-ever-an-original-version-of-the-odyssey-and-do-we-need-to-worry-about-what-homer-would-think-180989143/What's Behind Steven Spielberg's Lifelong Obsession With Flying Saucers and Extraterrestrial Visitors?https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/whats-behind-steven-spielbergs-lifelong-obsession-with-flying-saucers-and-extraterrestrial-visitors-180988903/Half a century after "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," the director returns to the subject of UFOs with "Disclosure Day." His science fiction films are informed by his fascination with alien encounters in American suburbiaThu, 11 Jun 2026 11:45:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/whats-behind-steven-spielbergs-lifelong-obsession-with-flying-saucers-and-extraterrestrial-visitors-180988903/One Weather Forecast Changed the Course of WWII. Here's the Real Story Behind 'Pressure,' a Drama About the Meteorologist Who Convinced the Allies to Delay D-Dayhttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/one-weather-forecast-changed-the-course-of-wwii-heres-the-real-story-behind-pressure-a-drama-about-the-meteorologist-who-convinced-the-allies-to-delay-d-day-180988829/A new movie starring Andrew Scott and Brendan Fraser dramatizes the tense 72 hours before the Allied invasion of Normandy, revealing how meteorology helped determine Operation Overlord's successThu, 28 May 2026 12:17:53 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/one-weather-forecast-changed-the-course-of-wwii-heres-the-real-story-behind-pressure-a-drama-about-the-meteorologist-who-convinced-the-allies-to-delay-d-day-180988829/Soviet Cosmonauts Trained at Star City as They Raced to Beat America to the Moon. Now, a New TV Series Imagines What Happened Behind the Base's Wallshttps://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/soviet-cosmonauts-trained-at-star-city-as-they-raced-to-beat-america-to-the-moon-now-a-new-tv-series-imagines-what-happened-behind-the-bases-walls-180988823/Apple TV's "Star City" takes place in a world where the space race never came to an end. A spinoff of "For All Mankind," the show is told from the Soviet perspectiveWed, 27 May 2026 12:00:00 +0000https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/soviet-cosmonauts-trained-at-star-city-as-they-raced-to-beat-america-to-the-moon-now-a-new-tv-series-imagines-what-happened-behind-the-bases-walls-180988823/