And it led to the publication earlier this year of Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World’s Richest Museum, which “A Goddess Goes Home” updates and complements.

In an August 1942 wind tunnel test at a research facility in Virginia, the XP-77 was the very picture of streamlined design. NASA Langley Bell Aircraft’s chief engineer, Robert Woods, was a whiz ...