We are really lucky to get lots of listener suggestions for the show, more good questions than we can possibly answer in a mailbag episode once or twice a year. So we’re starting a new segment we call… Decoder Rings Back! Every month, host Willa Paskin will personally call up a listener to answer their question.&nbsp;In this inaugural installment of Decoder Rings Back, Willa calls up listener Dustin Malek about his cultural mystery: Why did the Mona Lisa, of all paintings, become the most famous in the world, bar none? Willa shares the story of daring heist that turned Leonardo da Vinci’s enigmatic smiling subject into a celebrity.Future episodes of Decoder Rings Back will only be available to Slate Plus subscribers. So if you want to be sure not to miss them, sign up for Slate Plus! You’ll get exclusive episodes and ad-free listening not just on our show, but all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/decoder-ring/id1376577202" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Apple Podcasts</a> or <a href="https://open.spotify.com/show/3vYNA0Ki5sUHnYC9QwQnKl" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Spotify</a>, or visit <a href="https://slate.com/podcast-plus?utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=plus_pod&utm_content=Decoder_Ring&utm_source=episode_summary" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">slate.com/decoderplus</a> for access wherever you listen.&nbsp;This episode was produced by Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Katie Shepherd and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at <a href="mailto:DecoderRing@slate.com" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">DecoderRing@slate.com</a> or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.Sources for This EpisodeCumming, Laura. “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/aug/05/mona-lisa-theft-louvre-leonardo" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The man who stole the Mona Lisa</a>,” The Guardian, August 5, 2011.Hoobler, Dorothy, and Thomas Hoobler. “<a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2009/05/mona-lisa-excerpt200905?printable=true%C2%A4tPage=all" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Stealing Mona Lisa</a>,” Vanity Fair, April 16, 2009.Hoobler, Dorothy, and Thomas Hoobler. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crimes-Paris-Story-Murder-Detection/dp/0803234325" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Crimes of Paris: A True Story of Murder, Theft, and Detection</a>, Bison Books, 2010.Isaacson, Walter. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Leonardo-Vinci-Walter-Isaacson/dp/1501139169/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Leonardo da Vinci</a>, Simon & Schuster, 2018.Roberts, Sam. “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/07/arts/design/mona-lisa-vincenzo-peruggia.html" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Happy Birthday to the Man Who Stole the Mona Lisa and Took It to Italy</a>,” The New York Times, October 7, 2022.Sassoon, Donald. “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/4289718" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mona Lisa: The Best-Known Girl in the Whole Wide World</a>,” History Workshop Journal, Spring 2001.Sassoon, Donald. <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Mona-Lisa-History-Painting-Best-Known/dp/0007106157" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Mona Lisa: The History of the World’s Most Famous Painting</a>, HarperCollins, 2016.“<a href="https://www.npr.org/2011/07/30/138800110/the-theft-that-made-the-mona-lisa-a-masterpiece" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Theft That Made The 'Mona Lisa' A Masterpiece</a>,” NPR, July 30, 2011.Zug, James. “<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/stolen-how-the-mona-lisa-became-the-worlds-most-famous-painting-16406234/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Stolen: How the Mona Lisa Became the World’s Most Famous Painting</a>,” Smithsonian Magazine, June 15, 2011.<hr> Hosted on Acast. See <a style='color:grey;' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer' href='https://acast.com/privacy'>acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.

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