Do you think that history is a science? Well, not exactly. First, and foremost, history is the state's “legend of wars”, it’s official regalia. Of course, public historians are not interested in scientific truth – quite the opposite. In this respect, any attempt to present a state’s history as altruistic and benevolent as possible is welcomed and encouraged – as opposed to any revisionism attempts that may be more accurate. In this matter, Chinese have surpassed us all – they revised in highly creative manner (but rather shamelessly) the technology already invented by Europeans, a process that resulted in oldest state on the planet. Here is an interesting paradox: ask any sinologist about the Middle Kingdom during second century B.C., and he will describe it to you in such a vivid manner as if he has been living there all his life – but as soon as you will ask him to describe Chinese history in the 19-20th centuries… let's say, his eagerness will be greatly diminished. However, we will discuss China in a different article, and in the meantime we will try to understand how exactly historic “legend of wars” is formed and functions – based on a specific and well-known example. A great example is Ferdinand Magellan's first voyage around the world.

Men selling sheep wait for customers at a local livestock market, ahead of the Eid al-Adha festival, in Lagos, Nigeria September 11, 2016. (Photo by Akintunde Akinleye/Reuters)

An Indian artist performs with fire during a procession as part of “Bonalu” festival in Hyderabad, India, Monday, Aug.10, 2015. Bonalu is a month long Hindu folk festival of India's Telangana region dedicated to Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction. (Photo by Mahesh Kumar A./AP Photo)

Photographer Howard Schatz had an idea: place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters. Such was the premise behind his book, In Character: Actors Acting, which captures some of Hollywood’s most emotive stars in the act of, well, making faces. Luckily for us, he continued the tradition for Vanity Fair. Here are some of the best.

A German rifleman beside the corpse of a French soldier in a trench at Fort Vaux, France, 1916. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Mother and son in disguise attend a Halloween celebration at Taipei Children's Amusement Park in Taipei, Taiwan, Sunday, October 29, 2023. (Photo by Chiang Ying-ying/AP Photo)

An archer in a samurai warrior costume aims at a target in the Asakusa Yabusame horseback archery event at Sumida Park in Tokyo, Saturday, April 18, 2015. (Photo by Shizuo Kambayashi/AP Photo)

A visitor holds up her toy bunny to the aquarium glass in front of Aurora the Russian polar bear at the Sao Paulo Aquarium in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Thursday, April 16, 2015. (Photo by Andre Penner/AP Photo)