This year's Christmas stocking of film releases may contain a lemon: The Golden Compass, an adaptation of the first volume of Philip Pullman's fantasy trilogy. Emails have been warning Christians to shun the movie because the author is a dedicated atheist with an avowed goal of "destroying God." Some years ago, similar rumors about Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling proved fanciful-but in this case, urban legend is home truth.

The long, illustrious, and slightly confusing history of Hasbro's G.I. Joe began in 1964, after the toy company decided to cash in on the phenomenal success of Barbie by creating a doll for boys. "Rocky" (the Marine), "Skip" (the sailor) and "Ace" (the pilot) could have squired Barbie to the prom, because at 12" tall each would have been a manlier escort than Ken the clotheshorse. The timing could have been better, though: The first incarnation of "Joe" started strong but was no match for the anti-war and anti-warrior sentiment of the late '60s.

Once again, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute of Wilmington, Del., has determined that higher education does a lousy job of training American citizens. Exhibit A is its latest 60-question, multiple-choice test on American history and government, international relations, and market economy.

About 40 years ago, Tom Wolfe defined the limits of "gonzo journalism": exaggerated, subjective, and highly stylized, though mostly factual. Many have felt called to its style but only a handful have succeeded.

Thirty-five years ago, a paperback novel called The Flame and the Flower revolutionized the romance genre. Or so the story goes: pre-Flame, slim sappy volumes of cute meetings and chaste courtship; post-Flame, hefty sagas of tempestuous meetings and steamy encounters. Thus, Kathleen Erin Woodiwiss, who died of cancer last month, was saluted as the Mother of Modern Historical Romance by the Romance Writers of America (an organization that didn't even exist in 1972) at their annual convention in Dallas.

The red cover, embossed with gold, is bound with real cloth and not subject to warping in humid weather. The look deliberately harks back to the turn of the century: the 20th century, that is, when Britannia ruled the waves and Kipling's "If" (p. 185) was the model for stoic manhood. Some see the harking-back as cheerfully cynical, or at least tongue-in-cheek. Even if this is true of the cover, it's not true of the contents.