Search results for ""Smithsonian""

"Wonder" celebrates the reopening of the Smithsonian s Renwick Gallery following a major renovation of its historic landmark building, the first purpose-built art museum in the United States. Nine major contemporary artists, including Maya Lin, Tara Donovan, Leo Villareal, Patrick Dougherty, and Janet Echelman, were invited to take over the Renwick s galleries, transforming the whole of the museum into an immersive cabinet of wonders. Mundane materials such as index cards, marbles, sticks, and thread are conjured into strange new worlds that demonstrate the qualities uniting these artists: a sensitivity to site and the ways we experience place, a passion for making and materiality, and a desire to provoke awe.A wide-ranging essay by Nicholas R. Bell connects these artworks to wonder s role throughout Western culture, to the question of how museums have evolved as places to encounter wondrous things, and to the symbolic weight of the moment as this building is dedicated to art for the third instance in three centuries. It is of no small consequence, writes Bell, that we, as a public, commit to the perpetuation of spaces that harbor the potential for subjective and intensive encounters with art. That we maintain museums for this purpose reveals wonder to be fundamental in our quest to establish who we are, and to grasp the universe beyond."

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A provocative study that explores medical, social, cultural, and aesthetic customs and practices of treating the dead body in Sweden in an era of modernization. Originally published in Swedish in 2002, Death, Modernity, and the Body explores the impact of modernization on customs and practices of treating the dead body in Sweden in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries,when intense social and cultural change transformed the country from an agricultural society to a modern industrial state. The book focuses on five arenas: medical research and education, displays of the dead body for entertainment purposes, funerary preparations of the body, memorial photography, and cremation. Åhrén takes an original approach to the history of death in modern society by focusing on the dead body in intersecting cultural domains. Medical, scientific and technological history are thereby connected to popular culture, social and political history, as well as ethnography and anthropology. The scholarly literature on the history of death is disproportionately focused on the Anglophone world, France, and Germany; this study contributes to the scholarship by examining the case of Sweden, where modernization was exceptionally rapid and pervasive, and full of interesting particularities. Eva Åhrén is a Research Fellow and Assistant Professor in the Department for the History of Science and Ideas at Uppsala University, Sweden, and a Research Associate at Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C.

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Charles C. Eldredge Prize for Distinguished Scholarship in American Art from the Smithsonian American Art Museum In Race ExpertsLinda Kim examines the complicated and ambivalent role played by sculptor Malvina Hoffman in the Races of Mankind series created for the Chicago Field Museum in 1930. Although Hoffman had training in fine arts and was a protégé of Auguste Rodin and Ivan Meštrović, she had no background in anthropology or museum exhibits. Nonetheless, the Field Museum commissioned her to make a series of life-size sculptures for the museum’s new racial exhibition, which became the largest exhibit on race ever installed in a museum and one of the largest sculptural commissions ever undertaken by a single artist. Hoffman’s Races of Mankind exhibit was realized as a series of 104 bronzes of racial types from around the world, a unique visual mediation between anthropological expertise and lay ideas about race in interwar America. Kim explores how the exhibition compelled the artist to incorporate into her artistic model of race not only racial science but also popular ideas that ordinary Americans brought to the museum. Kim situates the Races of Mankind exhibit at the juncture of these different forms of expertise and examines how the sculptures represented the messy resolutions between them.Race Experts is a compelling story of ideological contradiction and accommodation within the racial practices of American museums, artists, and audiences.

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The MacArthur grant–winning environmental justice activist’s riveting memoir of a life fighting for a cleaner future for America’s most vulnerable A Smithsonian Magazine Top Ten Best Science Book of 2020 Catherine Coleman Flowers, a 2020 MacArthur “genius,” grew up in Lowndes County, Alabama, a place that’s been called “Bloody Lowndes” because of its violent, racist history. Once the epicenter of the voting rights struggle, today it’s Ground Zero for a new movement that is also Flowers’s life’s work—a fight to ensure human dignity through a right most Americans take for granted: basic sanitation. Too many people, especially the rural poor, lack an affordable means of disposing cleanly of the waste from their toilets and, as a consequence, live amid filth. Flowers calls this America’s dirty secret. In this “powerful and moving book” (Booklist), she tells the story of systemic class, racial, and geographic prejudice that foster Third World conditions not just in Alabama, but across America, in Appalachia, Central California, coastal Florida, Alaska, the urban Midwest, and on Native American reservations in the West. In this inspiring story of the evolution of an activist, from country girl to student civil rights organizer to environmental justice champion at Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative, Flowers shows how sanitation is becoming too big a problem to ignore as climate change brings sewage to more backyards—not only those of poor minorities.

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The rapid expansion of the field of public history since the 1970s has led many to believe that it is a relatively new profession. In this book, Denise D. Meringolo shows that the roots of public history actually reach back to the nineteenth century, when the federal government entered into the work of collecting and preserving the nation’s natural and cultural resources. Scientists conducting research and gathering specimens became key figures in a broader effort to protect and interpret the nation’s landscape. Their collaboration with entrepreneurs, academics, curators, and bureaucrats alike helped pave the way for other governmental initiatives, from the Smithsonian Institution to the parks and monuments today managed by the National Park Service. All of these developments included interpretative activities that shaped public understanding of the past. Yet it was not until the emergence of the education-oriented National Park Service history program in the 1920s and 1930s that public history found an institutional home that grounded professional practice simultaneously in the values of the emerging discipline and in government service. Even thereafter, tensions between administrators in Washington and practitioners on the ground at National Parks, monuments, and museums continued to define and redefine the scope and substance of the field. The process of definition persists to this day, according to Meringolo, as public historians establish a growing presence in major universities throughout the United States and abroad.

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Hours after the USSR collapsed in 1991, Congress began making plans to establish the official memory of the Cold War. Conservatives dominated the proceedings, spending millions to portray the conflict as a triumph of good over evil and a defeat of totalitarianism equal in significance to World War II. In this provocative book, historian Jon Wiener visits Cold War monuments, museums, and memorials across the United States to find out how the era is being remembered. The author's journey provides a history of the Cold War, one that turns many conventional notions on their heads. In an engaging travelogue that takes readers to sites such as the life-size recreation of Berlin's "Checkpoint Charlie" at the Reagan Library, the fallout shelter display at the Smithsonian, and exhibits about "Sgt. Elvis," America's most famous Cold War veteran, Wiener discovers that the Cold War isn't being remembered. It's being forgotten. Despite an immense effort, the conservatives' monuments weren't built, their historic sites have few visitors, and many of their museums have now shifted focus to other topics. Proponents of the notion of a heroic "Cold War victory" failed; the public didn't buy the official story. Lively, readable, and well-informed, this book expands current discussions about memory and history, and raises intriguing questions about popular skepticism toward official ideology.

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Issue 34 Includes • Poetry Translation Folios with work by Guatemalan K’iche Maya poet Humberto Ak’ab’al, translated by Michael Bazzett; Lithuania superstar poet Tomaž Šalamun, translated by Brian Henry; Spanish poet Sandra Santana, translated by Geoffrey Brock; and Venezuelan poet-in-exile Jesüs Amalio, translated by David Brunson, Jr. Plus a Fiction Translation Folio with two stories by nternationally renowned Portuguese writer Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, translated by Alexis Levitin. • Poetry by National Book Critics Circle Award winner Ada Limón; Guggenheim Fellows Paul Guest and Mark Halliday; Ruth Lilly Fellow Marcus Wicker; William Carlos Williams Awardwinner Martha Collins; Rilke Prize winner David Keplinger; NEA Fellows Michael Bazzett, Brian Henry, Lance Larsen, Alex Lemon, Jenny Molberg, and Corey Van Landingham; as well as Kelli Russell Agodon, Abdul Ali, Sean Cho A., Michael Dumanis, Chanda Feldman, Melissa Ginsburg, Matty Layne Glasgow, Niki Herd, Alicia Mountain, Lis Sanchez, Indriani Sengupta, and many others. • Fiction by Madeline Haze Curtis, Maria Poulatha, Alyssa Quinn, Kate Weinberg, and Tara Isabel Zambrano. • Nonfiction by Brooke Barry and Robert Long Foreman. • The cover features a recent piece by Minneapolis-based artist Dyani White Hawk, whose work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Walker Art Center, the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Minneapolis Institute of Art, theSmithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, and elsewhere.

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"As much a love letter to the cathedral as it is the story of two doomed lovers." --Smithsonian Magazine Written in 1831, The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo is a beloved French gothic novel which centers around the wondrous Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France. Set during the reign of King Louis XI, we are introduced to the gypsy dancer Esmerelda. A beautiful girl, both inside and out, Esmerelda captures the hearts of everyone around her, including Captain Phoebus, Pierre Gringoire, and the hunchback Quasimodo, who is hidden away in the tower of Notre Dame as a bell ringer. Unfortunately, Esmerelda has also caught the attention of Archdeacon Claude Frollo, Quasimodo's abusive guardian. Frollo battles with his lust, eventually succumbing, leading him to pursue Esmerelda while leaving morality behind. A beautifully written novel about love, lust, and thirteenth-century Paris, The Hunchback of Notre Dame will leave readers both marveling at the beauty of Notre Dame and reeling at the lengths that people will go for love. Packaged in handsome, affordable trade editions, Clydesdale Classics is a new series of essential works. From the musings of literary geniuses such as Nathaniel Hawthorne in The Scarlet Letter to the striking personal narrative of Harriet Jacobs in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, this new series is a comprehensive collection of masterpieces by some of the most famous writers in history.

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Let your little urbanite explore the bustling big apple with this illustrated children’s travel guide!Say hello to the city that never sleeps! Visit the Statue of Liberty, meet dinosaurs at the Smithsonian, hail a taxi cab, and catch a show on Broadway - there’s so much for little explorers to do in New York City!Packed with bold, vibrant illustrations and simple, clear text that’s ideal for reading aloud, this charming picture book will capture the attention of young readers in no time! Perfect for children aged 3-5 years old, it provides a child-friendly tour of the city and showcases iconic landmarks and fun activities for kids to do.The Ultimate Travel CompanionChildren will love discovering lots of fascinating fun facts about New York. Marvel at the bright lights of Times Square! Did you know that this is one of the busiest intersections in the world? Have a picnic in Central Park! Did you know that Central Park is the most filmed public park in the world?This colorful picture book is perfect for little travelers vacationing in New York, or little locals who want to learn more about their hometown.Complete the Series:The Little Cities series showcases child-friendly attractions for kids to visit in different cities. From Chicago and Austin to San Francisco and Boston, these engaging guides highlight what makes each city truly special. Where will you decide to explore today?

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William Stimpson was at the forefront of the American natural history community in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Stimpson displayed an early affinity for the sea and natural history, and after completing an apprenticeship with famed naturalist Louis Agassiz, he became one of the first professionally trained naturalists in the United States. In 1852, twenty-year-old Stimpson was appointed naturalist of the United States North Pacific Exploring Expedition, where he collected and classified hundreds of marine animals. Upon his return, he joined renowned naturalist Spencer F. Baird at the Smithsonian Institution to create its department of invertebrate zoology. He also founded and led the irreverent and fun-loving Megatherium Club, which included many notable naturalists. In 1865, Stimpson focused on turning the Chicago Academy of Sciences into one of the largest and most important museums in the country. Tragically, the museum was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and Stimpson died of tuberculosis soon after, before he could restore his scientific legacy. This first-ever biography of William Stimpson situates his work in the context of his time. As one of few to collaborate with both Agassiz and Baird, Stimpson's life provides insight into the men who shaped a generation of naturalists--the last before intense specialization caused naturalists to give way to biologists. Historians of science and general readers interested in biographies, science, and history will enjoy this compelling biography.

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A fascinating historical account of a largely forgotten statesman, who pioneered a form of patriotism that left an indelible mark on the early United States. Joel Roberts Poinsett’s (1779–1851) brand of self-interested patriotism illuminates the paradoxes of the antebellum United States. He was a South Carolina investor and enslaver, a confidant of Andrew Jackson, and a secret agent in South America who fought surreptitiously in Chile’s War for Independence. He was an ambitious Congressman and Secretary of War who oversaw the ignominy of the Trail of Tears and orchestrated America’s longest and costliest war against Native Americans, yet also helped found the Smithsonian. In addition, he was a naturalist, after whom the poinsettia—which he appropriated while he was serving as the first US ambassador to Mexico—is now named. As Lindsay Schakenbach Regele shows in Flowers, Guns, and Money, Poinsett personified a type of patriotism that emerged following the American Revolution, one in which statesmen served the nation by serving themselves, securing economic prosperity and military security while often prioritizing their own ambitions and financial interests. Whether waging war, opposing states’ rights yet supporting slavery, or pushing for agricultural and infrastructural improvements in his native South Carolina, Poinsett consistently acted in his own self-interest. By examining the man and his actions, Schakenbach Regele reveals an America defined by opportunity and violence, freedom and slavery, and nationalism and self-interest.

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How do you dig up a 13,000 year-old footprint? Why do kelp forests need sea otters? How do you measure a shrinking glacier from an airplane? What is a ‘zombie urchin’? Heart of the Coast brings these questions to life in a deep exploration of the beauty, mystery and biodiversity of the Pacific coast. Join Hakai Institute researchers in the field—archaeologists, oceanographers, marine biologists and beyond—as they journey from the ice fields of Klinaklini Glacier to the dazzling undersea reefs of a place called Crazy Town. British Columbia’s Central Coast is a rich landscape called “a biologist’s dream” and “the Amazon of the north.” Since launching its Calvert Island ecological observatory there in 2009, the Hakai Institute has become a renowned centre of science and exploration. Collaborations with the Smithsonian Institution, the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and several First Nations on the BC coast——along with a wide array of scientists hailing from other agencies and universities across North America—have uncovered new species, advanced our knowledge of marine food webs, and helped track the effects of climate change on watersheds and coastal ecosystems. Stunning photography illuminates the institute’s journey of discovery over the past decade. This unforgettable book will inspire you with wonder and awe for the natural world, but be careful—you may learn something along the way.

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The MacArthur grant–winning environmental justice activist’s riveting memoir of a life fighting for a cleaner future for America’s most vulnerable A Smithsonian Magazine Top Ten Best Science Book of 2020 Catherine Coleman Flowers, a 2020 MacArthur “genius,” grew up in Lowndes County, Alabama, a place that’s been called “Bloody Lowndes” because of its violent, racist history. Once the epicenter of the voting rights struggle, today it’s Ground Zero for a new movement that is also Flowers’s life’s work—a fight to ensure human dignity through a right most Americans take for granted: basic sanitation. Too many people, especially the rural poor, lack an affordable means of disposing cleanly of the waste from their toilets and, as a consequence, live amid filth. Flowers calls this America’s dirty secret. In this “powerful and moving book” (Booklist), she tells the story of systemic class, racial, and geographic prejudice that foster Third World conditions not just in Alabama, but across America, in Appalachia, Central California, coastal Florida, Alaska, the urban Midwest, and on Native American reservations in the West. In this inspiring story of the evolution of an activist, from country girl to student civil rights organizer to environmental justice champion at Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative, Flowers shows how sanitation is becoming too big a problem to ignore as climate change brings sewage to more backyards—not only those of poor minorities.

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In 1973 Richard Bangs founded Sobek Expeditions, the original and now the largest adventure travel company in the world, with over a million clients guided since its beginning. But this is not just a story of an unusual company, one that profoundly transformed the way we travel and experience the world. It presents true stories, both perilous and awe-inspiring from the full array of adventure travel: trekking, climbing, sailing, diving, adventure cruising, kayaking, back-country skiing, mountaineering, biking, cultural immersions, canyoneering, and more. Sobek pioneered scores of adventures, from trekking in the Himalayas, to cruising the Galapagos and Antarctica, to first descents of some 80 rivers around the world. The author personally led 35 first river descents, capsizing on six continents (a unique, albeit, dubious distinction), and organized and led the first trips into North Korea, Libya, Yemen, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, New Guinea, Iran, and even China back in 1978. Its clients have included Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Mick Jagger, Barry Diller and even a pre-op Caitlyn Jenner. It is the shadow company behind National Geographic Adventures, New York Times Active Journeys, and Smithsonian Expeditions. This book traces 50 years of adventure travel and how it has evolved through times of war and peace, terrorism, the rise if the internet, the pandemic and the first virtual expeditions,

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From ancient dwellings to modern high-tech skyscrapers, discover everything there is to know about the history of architecture worldwide.Covering over 6,000 years of human history, Architecture charts the most important developments in building materials, technology, design, and the social changes that have shaped the architectural landscape. Explore every significant architectural period and style in depth through critical examples. Take a tour of some of the world’s most iconic buildings, beautifully illustrated with brilliant photography and specially commissioned CGI artworks. Dive deep into the pages of this inspiring architecture book to discover:- An innovative approach to the story of architecture using iconic examples. - Explores buildings throughout history and across the world.- A combination of creative photography and specially commissioned CGI artworks to analyze every significant architectural style.- Profiles of the latest developments in architectural practice, including “green” technology, such as living façades.- Published in association with the Smithsonian Institution in the US.- Optional 56-page reference section profiles key architects and contains profiles of additional important buildings.Find out why so many ancient Roman structures have withstood the test of time. Learn how the soaring ceilings of Gothic cathedrals are held up. And discover the architectural innovations that are helping to combat climate change. Architecture is the perfect book for anyone fascinated by the built world – its visual character and the factors that have formed it – and who wants to understand more.

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La ciencia está en todo lo que nos rodea: en cómo comunicamos, comemos, trabajamos, construimos…¡forma parte de nuestras vidas! Profundiza en las diferentes disciplinas científicas (biología, química, física) y descubre cómo han dado lugar a las tecnologías e innovaciones que configuran nuestra vida cotidiana y el mundo que nos rodea.- Increíbles fotografías e imágenes generadas por ordenador - Con gráficos y esquemas para asimilar conceptos a simple vista- Texto informativo y accesible basado en los últimos descubrimientos e investigaciones científicas - Avalado por la mundialmente reconocida Smithsonian Institution de Washington D. C¿Sabías que la ciencia también ha dado lugar a avances en áreas tan distintas como la historia o el arte? Aprende cómo nos ayuda a explorar el espacio, a analizar el clima y a erradicar enfermedades. Perfecto para niños curiosos que buscan entender mejor el mundo que les rodea.—---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Explore groundbreaking scientific achievements, and think beyond basic biology, chemistry and physics. Here’s what you’ll find inside:- An encyclopedia-type reference book that engages and excites young minds to think about many different scientific fields.- Lively, informative and accessible text based on the latest discoveries and scientific research.- Dashboard-style graphic panels provide information at a glance.Super Science examines the science behind everyday life and the technologies that allow us to create the world previously only imagined in science fiction. It features a wide range of scientific inventions that help us solve modern problems like climate change and global pandemics.

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A beautifully illustrated retrospective of Art Nouveau architect and designer Hector Guimard, positioning him at the forefront of the modernist movement The aesthetic of architect Hector Guimard (1867–1942) has long characterized French Art Nouveau in the popular imagination. This groundbreaking book showcases all aspects of his artistry and recognizes the fundamental modernity of his work. Known for, among other things, the decorative entrances to the Paris Métro and the associated lettering, he often looked to nature for inspiration, and combined materials such as stone and cast iron in unique ways to create designs composed of curves and waves that evoked movement. Guimard broke away from his classical Beaux-Arts training to advocate a modern, abstract style; he also pioneered the use of standardized models for his design objects and experimented with prefabricated designs in his social housing commissions, advancing the technology of the time. With copious, beautifully reproduced illustrations of his architectural drawings as well as his furniture, jewelry, and textile designs, this volume explores Guimard’s full oeuvre and elucidates the significance of his work to the history of modern art. Essays by an international group of scholars present Guimard as a visionary architect, a shrewd entrepreneur, an industrialist, and a social activist.Published in association with the Richard H. Driehaus MuseumExhibition Schedule:Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York (November 17, 2022–May 21, 2023)The Richard H. Driehaus Museum, Chicago (June 22, 2023–January 7, 2024)

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With over 200 color illustrations, Byzantine Silk on the Silk Roads examines in detail the eclectic iconography of the Byzantine period and its impact on design and creativity today. Through an examination of the extraordinary variety of designs in these captivating silks, an international team of experts reveal that Byzantine culture was ever-moving and open to diverse influences across the length of the Silk Road. Commentaries from curators at key collections – including the Museum of Arts, Boston, the Smithsonian (Cooper Hewitt), the V&A and the Vatican – reveal the spread of silk embroidery and designs from East to West, and from West to East, from China to Rome, and from Constantinople to Korea. Drawing on exclusive imagery from worldwide collections within museums, churches and archives as case studies, their analysis of these unique woven silks explores the relationship between color and power, material culture and status, and offers broader insight into Byzantine culture, trade, society and ceremony. Byzantine Silk … takes us on a journey from the past to the present, too, where Byzantine story-telling and image-making is revisited, through color, imagery and pattern, in contemporary fashion collections. Exploring Byzantine culture through a contemporary filter, the book shows how the Byzantine era still influences textile and fashion designers today in their choices of materials and colors, and their utilization of images and patterns, acting as a unique source of inspiration to designers and creators in the 21st century.

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Stay in touch with country and city dwelling friends by writing them a note inside these rural-themed greeting cards by New England illustrator extraordinaire, Mary Azarian.A handwritten note, on good paper and contained in a classy envelope, says something about the sender and is more welcomed, absorbed, and remembered than an e-mail.Each box contains twelve cards and matching envelopes. The outside of each card features one of six farm scenes from Mary Azarian’s collection of prints, A Farmer’s Alphabet (each image is repeated twice). There are apples being picked from a tree, a dog asleep in a cozy armchair, kids jumping into a hay mound, neighbors chatting over a picket fence, long underwear worn in front of an old wood stove, and the scenic view of a farm amongst the hills.The inside of each card is blank and ready for your message.Mary Azarian created the prints for A Farmer’s Alphabet while a teacher in one of Vermont’s last one-room schoolhouses. In the late 1970s, the state board of education commissioned her to create a rural alphabet, a series of bold red-and-black woodcut prints featuring the letters, A to Z, and depicting scenes from Vermont life. Published as a book by Godine, Smithsonian Magazine said, “No matter where children live – on a farm, in the suburbs or the city – they will love this handsome book.” The Boston Globe said, “A beautiful gift; a treasure to own.”

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Two leaders of the National Park Service provide a front-row seat to the disastrous impact of partisan politics over the past fifty years-and offer a bold vision for the parks' future. The US National Parks, what environmentalist and historian Wallace Stegner called America's "best idea," are under siege. Since 1972, partisan political appointees in the Department of the Interior have offered two conflicting views of the National Park Service (NPS): one vision emphasizes preservation and science-based decision-making, and another prioritizes economic benefits and privatization. These politically driven shifts represent a pernicious, existential threat to the very future of our parks. For the past fifty years, brothers Jonathan B. and T. Destry Jarvis have worked both within and outside NPS as leaders and advocates. National Parks Forever interweaves their two voices to show how our parks must be protected from those who would open them to economic exploitation, while still allowing generations to explore and learn in them. Their history also details how Congress and administration appointees have used budget and staffing cuts to sabotage NPS's ability to manage the parks and even threatened their existence. Drawing on their experience, Jarvis and Jarvis make a bold and compelling proposal: that it is time for NPS to be removed from the Department of the Interior and made an independent agency, similar to the Smithsonian Institution, giving NPS leaders the ability to manage park resources and plan our parks' protection, priorities, and future.

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A New York Times Notable Book Best Books of 2021: TIME, Smithsonian New York Times Book Review • Editors' Choice A radical reckoning with the racial inequality of America’s past and present, by one of the country’s leading scholars of policing and mass incarceration Between 1964 and 1972, the United States endured domestic violence on a scale not seen since the Civil War. During these eight years, Black residents responded to police brutality and systemic racism by throwing punches and Molotov cocktails at police officers, plundering local businesses and vandalizing exploitative institutions. Ever since, Americans have been living in a nation and national culture created, in part, by the extreme violence of this period. In America on Fire, acclaimed professor Elizabeth Hinton draws on previously untapped sources to unravel this extraordinary history for the first time, arguing that we cannot understand the civil rights struggle without coming to terms with the astonishing violence, and hugely expanded policing regime, that followed it. A leading scholar of policing, Hinton underlines a crucial lesson in the book – that police violence precipitates community violence – and shows how it continues to escape policy makers, who respond by further criminalizing entire groups instead of addressing underlying socioeconomic causes. Taking us from the uprising in Watts, Los Angeles in 1965 to the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Hinton’s urgent, eye-opening and much-anticipated America on Fire offers an unprecedented framework for understanding the crisis at the country’s heart.

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From ancient dwellings to modern high-tech skyscrapers, discover everything there is to know about the history of architecture worldwide.Covering over 6,000 years of human history, Architecture charts the most important developments in building materials, technology, design, and the social changes that have shaped the architectural landscape.Explore every significant architectural period and style in depth through critical examples.Take a tour of some of the world's most iconic buildings, beautifully illustrated with brilliant photography and specially commissioned CGI artworks.Dive deep into the pages of this book about architecture to discover:- An innovative approach to the story of architecture using iconic examples.- Explores buildings throughout history and across the world.- A combination of creative photography and specially commissioned CGI artworks to analyse every significant architectural style.- Profiles of the latest developments in architectural practice, including "green" technology, such as living façades.- Published in association with the Smithsonian Institution in the US- Optional 56-page reference section profiles key architects and contains profiles of additional important buildingsFind out why so many ancient Roman structures have withstood the test of time. Learn how the soaring ceilings of Gothic cathedrals are held up. And discover the architectural innovations that are helping to combat climate change.Architecture is the perfect book for anyone fascinated by the built world - its visual character and the factors that have formed it - and who wants to understand more.

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The Silk Manuscripts from Zidanku, Changsha (Hunan), are the only pre-Imperial Chinese manuscripts on silk found to-date. Dating to the turn from the 4th to the 3rd centuries BC (Late Warring States period), they contain several short texts concerning basic cosmological concepts, arranged in a diagrammatic arrangement and surrounded by pictorial illustrations. As such, they constitute a unique source of information complementing and going beyond what is known from transmitted texts.This is the first in a two-volume monograph on the Zidanku manuscripts, reflecting almost four decades of research by Professor Li Ling of Peking University. While the philological study and translation of the manuscript texts is the subject of Volume Two, this first volume presents the archaeological context and history of transmission of the physical manuscripts. It records how they were taken from their original place of interment in the 1940s and taken to the United States in 1946; documents the early stages in the research on the finds from the Zidanku tomb and its re-excavation in the 1970s; and accounts for where the manuscripts were kept before becoming the property, respectively, of the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation, New York (Manuscript 1), and the Freer and Sackler Galleries, Smithsonian Institution (Manuscripts 2 and 3). Superseding previous efforts, this is the definitive account that will sets the record straight and establishes a new basis for future research on these uniquely important artifacts.

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The Performer-Audience Connection is a pioneering foray into one of the major puzzles of human communication: the communication of emotion in dance. It is the first attempt of its kind systematically to investigate what performers wish to convey and what audiences perceive in the performance of dance. The centerpiece of this provocative book is an examination of performer intentions and audience response at eight dance performances in Washington, D.C. Part of the Smithsonian Institution Division of Performing Arts Dance Series, these concerts featured a variety of dance genres and cultures: American tap dance, Kathakali dance-drama from Kerala, India, Japanese Kabuki, contemporary avant-garde dance, Philippine folk dance, the Indian classical tradition of Kuchipudi, and modern dance to an AfroAmerican spiritual. How did dancer and audience interact at the emotional level on these eight occasions? What affected performer-audience rapport? Through interviews of both spectators and dancers, Judith Lynne Hanna explores the performers' ways of imparting emotion through movement and audience members' expectations and responses. In doing so she casts new light on important issues of cultural identity, sex role, historic attitudes toward dance, and even marketing the arts today. A landmark work not only for performers who wish to reach their audiences more effectively but also for choreographers, anthropologists, specialists in nonverbal communication, behavioral scientists, educators, and all who are fascinated by the arts and the special magic of the "performer-audience connection."

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"A history of cool." — Airmail "Without a doubt she is the great reference of photography in the Hip Hop Culture, with photos that are already the history of contemporary culture of the 20th century." — Staf Magazine "In over 240 pages, the book encapsulates the spirit of history-making generations and their influence on fashion and wider visual culture." — The Luupe Covering four decades of photography, this book serves as a stunning snapshot of Beckman’s significance in the world of art, photojournalism, music, fashion, and popular culture – but most prevalently, it’s a testament to her unique ability to extract beauty from the outliers of society. With written contributions from Beckman’s peers including academia’s Jason King, Chair of NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music & Vivien Goldman Author & Professor at NYU; journalists Vikki Tobak, and co-founder of PAPER, Kim Hastreiter; visual artist Cey Adams; music legends Sting, Run DMC, Paul Weller, Salt-n-Pepa, Belinda Carlisle, and Slick Rick; and fashion’s Dapper Dan, Dior’s Maria Grazia Chiuri, Levi’s Chad Hinson – Rebels: From Punk to Dior showcases Janette Beckman’s influence in her realm. In addition to publishing five books, Janette Beckman’s work has been exhibited in galleries worldwide and is included in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Museum of the City of New York, and the British National Portrait Gallery. She is represented by the Fahey Klein Gallery.

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A fascinating historical account of a largely forgotten statesman, who pioneered a form of patriotism that left an indelible mark on the early United States. Joel Roberts Poinsett’s (1779–1851) brand of self-interested patriotism illuminates the paradoxes of the antebellum United States. He was a South Carolina investor and enslaver, a confidant of Andrew Jackson, and a secret agent in South America who fought surreptitiously in Chile’s War for Independence. He was an ambitious Congressman and Secretary of War who oversaw the ignominy of the Trail of Tears and orchestrated America’s longest and costliest war against Native Americans, yet also helped found the Smithsonian. In addition, he was a naturalist, after whom the poinsettia—which he appropriated while he was serving as the first US ambassador to Mexico—is now named. As Lindsay Schakenbach Regele shows in Flowers, Guns, and Money, Poinsett personified a type of patriotism that emerged following the American Revolution, one in which statesmen served the nation by serving themselves, securing economic prosperity and military security while often prioritizing their own ambitions and financial interests. Whether waging war, opposing states’ rights yet supporting slavery, or pushing for agricultural and infrastructural improvements in his native South Carolina, Poinsett consistently acted in his own self-interest. By examining the man and his actions, Schakenbach Regele reveals an America defined by opportunity and violence, freedom and slavery, and nationalism and self-interest.

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This splendidly illustrated book celebrates the historic silver and turquoise jewelry of the Navajo and Pueblo Indians. It presents for the first time over 300 superb objects that are usually hidden from view in museum storerooms and private collections across the United States. Larry Frank discusses the history of this jewelry from 1868, when the Navajos were restored to their homeland, to 1930, when tourist demand and mass production ended the innovative first phase of the craft. He explores early design sources in contemporary Spanish, Mexican, and Plains Indian work; describes Navajo tools and techniques (often used under conditions of extreme hardship); traces the cultural development of jewelry-making from a past-time to an esteemed profession; and notes the Pueblo Indians' contribution - the sophisticated use of turquoise. Of interest to specialists will be his reevaluation of the Plains Indian contribution and his dating sequence, based on close examination of the style and technique of hundreds of objects. Indian Silver Jewelry contains 253 close-up photographs - 52 of them in color - of conchas, necklaces, bracelets, rings, hair ornaments, bridles, and other pieces, as well as rare photographs of Indians wearing jewelry. The illustrations are grouped by collection - The Smithsonian Institution, the Field Museum of Natural History, the Museum of the American Indian, the Museum of New Mexico, the Heard Museum, the Wheelwright Museum, the Millicent Rogers Museum, the Lynn D. Trusdell Collection, and assorted private collections. The detailed captions invite the reader to look, compare, and discover for himself the extraordinary beauty and vitality of Southwest Indian silver jewelry.

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The first comprehensive history of the Lakota Indians and their profound role in shaping America’s history Named One of the New York Times Critics’ Top Books of 2019 • Named One of the 10 Best History Books of 2019 by Smithsonian Magazine • Winner of the MPIBA Reading the West Book Award for Narrative Nonfiction “All nations deserve to have their stories told with this degree of attentiveness.”—Parul Sehgal, New York Times “A brilliant, bold, gripping history.”—Simon Sebag Montefiore, London Evening Standard, Best Books of 2019 Red Cloud, Crazy Horse, and Sitting Bull are iconic figures in the American imagination, but in this groundbreaking book they emerge as something different: the architects of Lakota America, an expansive and enduring Indigenous regime that commanded human fates in the North American interior for generations. In this first complete account of the Lakota Indians, Pekka Hämäläinen traces their rich and often surprising history from the early sixteenth to the early twenty‑first century. He explores the Lakotas’ roots as marginal hunter‑gatherers and reveals how they reinvented themselves twice: first as a river people who dominated the Missouri Valley, America’s great commercial artery, and then—in what was America’s first sweeping westward expansion—as a horse people who ruled supreme on the vast high plains. Deeply researched and engagingly written, this history places the Lakotas at the center of American history, and the results are revelatory.

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Since the mid-nineteenth century photography has had a central place in cultural encounters within and between migrant communities. Migrant histories have been mediated through the photographic image, and the cultural practices of photography have themselves been transformed as migrant communities mobilise the photographic image to navigate experiences of cultural dislocation and the forging of new identities. Exploring photographic images and the cultural practices of photography as 'contact zones' through which cultural exchange and transformation takes place, this volume addresses the role of photography in migrant histories in the United States from the mid-nineteenth century to today. Taking as its focal point photography's role in shaping migrant experiences of cultural transformation, and in turn how migrant experiences have re-configured culturally differentiated practices of photography, case studies on migration from Europe, Central America, and North America position photography as entwined with cultural histories of migration and cultural transformation in the United States. Free ebook available at OAPEN Library, JSTOR and Project Muse Contributors: Sarah Bassnett (Western University), David Bate (University of Westminster), Justin Carville (Institute of Art, Design & Technology, Dun Laoghaire), Erina Duganne (University of Texas, Austin), Orla Fitzpatrick (National Museum of Ireland), Bridget Gilman (San Diego State University), Aleksandra Idzior (University of Fraser Valley), Alexandra Irimia (University of Western Ontario), Sandra Krizic Roban (Institute of Art History, Zagreb), Sigrid Lien (University of Bergen), Helene Roth (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munich), Leslie Urena (Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery)

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Two leaders of the National Park Service provide a front-row seat to the disastrous impact of partisan politics over the past fifty years-and offer a bold vision for the parks' future. The US National Parks, what environmentalist and historian Wallace Stegner called America's "best idea," are under siege. Since 1972, partisan political appointees in the Department of the Interior have offered two conflicting views of the National Park Service (NPS): one vision emphasizes preservation and science-based decision-making, and another prioritizes economic benefits and privatization. These politically driven shifts represent a pernicious, existential threat to the very future of our parks. For the past fifty years, brothers Jonathan B. and T. Destry Jarvis have worked both within and outside NPS as leaders and advocates. National Parks Forever interweaves their two voices to show how our parks must be protected from those who would open them to economic exploitation, while still allowing generations to explore and learn in them. Their history also details how Congress and administration appointees have used budget and staffing cuts to sabotage NPS's ability to manage the parks and even threatened their existence. Drawing on their experience, Jarvis and Jarvis make a bold and compelling proposal: that it is time for NPS to be removed from the Department of the Interior and made an independent agency, similar to the Smithsonian Institution, giving NPS leaders the ability to manage park resources and plan our parks' protection, priorities, and future.

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2018 James Beard Award Winner: Best American Cookbook Named one of the Best Cookbooks of 2017 by NPR, The Village Voice, Smithsonian Magazine, UPROXX, New York Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle, Mpls. St. PaulMagazine and others Here is real food—our indigenous American fruits and vegetables, the wild and foraged ingredients, game and fish. Locally sourced, seasonal, “clean” ingredients and nose-to-tail cooking are nothing new to Sean Sherman, the Oglala Lakota chef and founder of The Sioux Chef. In his breakout book, The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen, Sherman shares his approach to creating boldly seasoned foods that are vibrant, healthful, at once elegant and easy. Sherman dispels outdated notions of Native American fare—no fry bread or Indian tacos here—and no European staples such as wheat flour, dairy products, sugar, and domestic pork and beef. The Sioux Chef’s healthful plates embrace venison and rabbit, river and lake trout, duck and quail, wild turkey, blueberries, sage, sumac, timpsula or wild turnip, plums, purslane, and abundant wildflowers. Contemporary and authentic, his dishes feature cedar braised bison, griddled wild rice cakes, amaranth crackers with smoked white bean paste, three sisters salad, deviled duck eggs, smoked turkey soup, dried meats, roasted corn sorbet, and hazelnut–maple bites.The Sioux Chef’s Indigenous Kitchen is a rich education and a delectable introduction to modern indigenous cuisine of the Dakota and Minnesota territories, with a vision and approach to food that travels well beyond those borders.

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Jeter Publishing presents the second nonfiction biography in a brand-new series that celebrates men and women who altered the course of history often without recognition. On July 16, 1969, a Gemini rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Previous launches had focused on getting astronauts into space, docking two spacecraft, and even walking in space, but this mission was different. Apollo 11 was designed to land two astronauts on the moon and then bring them back to Earth. Four days later, two astronauts, Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, did walk on the moon. But did you know that there were actually three astronauts aboard the rocket on July 16? Michael Collins didn’t get to walk on the Moon, but his contribution is just as important as Armstrong and Aldrin’s. Prior to joining NASA, Collins was in the Air Force and flew fighter jets. After joining NASA, he made two trips into space, performing one of the first EVAs or Extravehicular activities (in other words, walking in space) as well as making that trip to the moon. Collins continued to contribute even after leaving the space program. He took a job in the State Department and even served as director of the National Air & Space Museum and as undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. He may not have walked on the moon, but he’s one of only twenty-four people to travel there. In fact, without Michael Collins, that first moon landing might never have happened.

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Black behind the Ears is an innovative historical and ethnographic examination of Dominican identity formation in the Dominican Republic and the United States. For much of the Dominican Republic’s history, the national body has been defined as “not black,” even as black ancestry has been grudgingly acknowledged. Rejecting simplistic explanations, Ginetta E. B. Candelario suggests that it is not a desire for whiteness that guides Dominican identity discourses and displays. Instead, it is an ideal norm of what it means to be both indigenous to the Republic (indios) and “Hispanic.” Both indigeneity and Hispanicity have operated as vehicles for asserting Dominican sovereignty in the context of the historically triangulated dynamics of Spanish colonialism, Haitian unification efforts, and U.S. imperialism. Candelario shows how the legacy of that history is manifest in contemporary Dominican identity discourses and displays, whether in the national historiography, the national museum’s exhibits, or ideas about women’s beauty. Dominican beauty culture is crucial to efforts to identify as “indios” because, as an easily altered bodily feature, hair texture trumps skin color, facial features, and ancestry in defining Dominicans as indios.Candelario draws on her participant observation in a Dominican beauty shop in Washington Heights, a New York City neighborhood with the oldest and largest Dominican community outside the Republic, and on interviews with Dominicans in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Santo Domingo. She also analyzes museum archives and displays in the Museo del Hombre Dominicano and the Smithsonian Institution as well as nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century European and American travel narratives.

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Frankie Welch (1924-2021) combined a creative mind and an entrepreneurial spirit to establish herself as a leading American textile, accessories, and fashion designer in a career that spanned four decades, from the 1960s through the 1990s. This lavishly illustrated book provides a lively account of her life and career, tracing her rise from the small town of Rome, Georgia, to her role as a doyenne of fashion in the Washington, D.C., area. Featuring her scarf and fashion designs for the 1968 presidential campaigns, the history of her influential dress shop in Alexandria, Virginia, her connections to first ladies and other D.C. tastemakers, and her exuberant embrace of Americana during the U.S. Bicentennial, this history weaves Welch's personal biography into the literal fabric of our country.Frankie Welch's Americana discusses significant designs and their creation, use, and influence in detail, while highlighting how Welch embraced and promoted her role as an entrepreneur, building a niche business that capitalized on her location near Washington and her political connections. Welch was most widely known for her custom scarves, and each design offers an opportunity for readers to view the nation's recent past through the informative lens of women's fashion.Welch designed thousands of scarves for many clients, including Betty Ford, Furman University, McDonald's, the National Press Club, the Hubert Humphrey presidential campaign, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Garden Club of Georgia. Concise and well researched, Frankie Welch's Americana is the first book to document the ambition and accomplishments of one of the South's most prominent fashion authorities of the second half of the twentieth century.

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Crammed with fascinating facts and all the core curriculum topics, this physics book will have you exam-ready in no time!Created in association with the Smithsonian Institution, this completely comprehensive guide makes physics crystal clear. It’s the perfect support for home and school learning.This super simple science book cuts through the jargon and breaks down the information into easy, manageable chunks. From atoms and states of matter to scalars and vectors, this indispensable guide is packed with everything you need to quickly and easily understand physics.The Ultimate Physics Revision Book Every page is designed to make even the most complex scientific subjects accessible and engaging. Topics are covered in one easy-to-follow single page and fully illustrated to explain the concept - perfect for visual learners. The essential points are in a Key Facts box, which is great for checking back later when revising. Calculations and graphs are set out in simple, logical steps to make the science feel achievable for all students.Whether you’re a keen physicist or just looking to get an A+,, this accessible science revision guide for children offers clear and concise coverage of all the core physics topics. From dramatic images of planets to bolts of lightning, vivid photography makes it easy for students to relate physics to the world around them.Complete the Series:Alongside SuperSimple: Chemistry, SuperSimple: Biology, and SuperSimple: Maths, these revision guides are part of an exciting new series designed not only to educate, but to inspire.

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A major new look at the work of one of America’s foremost self-taught artistsBill Traylor (ca. 1853–1949) came to art-making on his own and found his creative voice without guidance; today he is remembered as a renowned American artist. Traylor was born into slavery on an Alabama plantation, and his experiences spanned multiple worlds—black and white, rural and urban, old and new—as well as the crucibles that indelibly shaped America—the Civil War, Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and the Great Migration. Between Worlds presents an unparalleled look at the work of this enigmatic and dazzling artist, who blended common imagery with arcane symbolism, narration with abstraction, and personal vision with the beliefs and folkways of his time.Traylor was about twelve when the Civil War ended. After six more decades of farm labor, he moved, aging and alone, into segregated Montgomery. In the last years of his life, he drew and painted works depicting plantation memories and the rising world of African American culture. Upon his death he left behind over a thousand pieces of art. Between Worlds convenes 205 of his most powerful creations, including a number that have been previously unpublished. This beautiful and carefully researched book assesses Traylor’s biography and stylistic development, and for the first time interprets his scenes as ongoing narratives, conveying enduring, interrelated themes.Between Worlds reveals one man’s visual record of African American life as a window into the overarching story of his nation.Published in association with the Smithsonian American Art Museum

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Named one of the Best Photo Books of the Year by SmithsonianA stunning full-color collection of photographs, old and new, by the renowned photographer and LGBTQIA+ activist Lola Flash Working at the forefront of genderqueer visual politics, celebrated photographer Lola Flash has become known for images that manage to both interrogate and transcend preconceptions about gender, sex, and race. Spurred by their experience as an active member of ACT UP and ART+ during the AIDS epidemic in New York City, their art is profoundly connected to their activism, fueling a lifelong commitment to visibility and preserving the legacy of queer communities, especially queer communities of color.The seventeenth volume in a groundbreaking series of LGBTQ-themed photobooks from The New Press, Believable draws on the extraordinary body of work that Flash has created over four decades, from their iconic “Cross Colour” images from the 1980s and early 1990s to their more recent photography, which used the framework of Afrofuturism to examine the intersection of Black culture and technoculture and science fiction. Also included in the book are portraits that explore the impact of skin pigmentation on Black identity and consciousness, as well as people who have challenged traditional concepts of gender and trendsetters in the urban underground cultural scene.In all their images, their passion for photography and their belief in the medium’s ability to provide agency and freedom and initiate change shine through. For the first time, Believable brings together the remarkable work of this queer art icon. Believable was designed by Emerson, Wajdowicz Studios (EWS).

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Between 1971 and 1979, All in the Family was more than just a wildly popular television sitcom that routinely drew 50 million viewers weekly. It was also a touchstone of American life, so much so that the living room chairs of the two main characters have spent the last 40 years on display at the Smithsonian. How did a show this controversial and boundary-breaking manage to become so widely beloved?Those Were the Days is the first full-length study of this remarkable television program. Created by Norman Lear and produced by Bud Yorkin, All in the Family dared to address such taboo topics as rape, abortion, menopause, homosexuality, and racial prejudice in a way that no other sitcom had before. Through a close analysis of the sitcom’s four main characters—boorish bigot Archie Bunker, his devoted wife Edith, their feminist daughter Gloria, and her outspoken liberal husband Mike—Jim Cullen demonstrates how All in the Family was able to bridge the generation gap and appeal to a broad spectrum of American viewers in an age when a network broadcast model of television created a shared national culture. Locating All in the Family within the larger history of American television, this book shows how it transformed the medium, not only spawning spinoffs like Maude and The Jeffersons, but also helping to inspire programs like Roseanne, Married... with Children, and The Simpsons. And it raises the question: could a show this edgy ever air on broadcast television today?

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Winner of the Grawemeyer Award in ReligionA Los Angeles Times Bestseller“Raises timely and important questions about what religious freedom in America truly means.”—Ruth Ozeki“A must-read for anyone interested in the implacable quest for civil liberties, social and racial justice, religious freedom, and American belonging.”—George TakeiOn December 7, 1941, as the bombs fell on Pearl Harbor, the first person detained was the leader of the Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist sect in Hawai‘i. Nearly all Japanese Americans were subject to accusations of disloyalty, but Buddhists aroused particular suspicion. From the White House to the local town council, many believed that Buddhism was incompatible with American values. Intelligence agencies targeted the Buddhist community, and Buddhist priests were deemed a threat to national security.In this pathbreaking account, based on personal accounts and extensive research in untapped archives, Duncan Ryūken Williams reveals how, even as they were stripped of their homes and imprisoned in camps, Japanese American Buddhists launched one of the most inspiring defenses of religious freedom in our nation’s history, insisting that they could be both Buddhist and American.“A searingly instructive story…from which all Americans might learn.”—Smithsonian“Williams’ moving account shows how Japanese Americans transformed Buddhism into an American religion, and, through that struggle, changed the United States for the better.”—Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of The Sympathizer“Reading this book, one cannot help but think of the current racial and religious tensions that have gripped this nation—and shudder.”—Reza Aslan, author of Zealot

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Over the past quarter century, dramatic technological advances in the production, manipulation, and dissemination of images have transformed the practices of journalism, entertainment, and advertising as well as the visual environment itself. From digital retouching to wholesale deception, the media world is now beset by an unprecedented range of moral, ethical, legal, and professional challenges. Image Ethics in the Digital Age brings together leading experts in the fields of journalism, media studies, and law to address these challenges and assess their implications for personal and societal values and behavior.Among the issues raised are the threat to journalistic integrity posed by visual editing software; the monopolization of image archives by a handful of corporations and its impact on copyright and fair use laws; the instantaneous electronic distribution of images of dubious provenance around the world; the erosion of privacy and civility under the onslaught of sensationalistic twenty-four-hour television news coverage and entertainment programming; and the increasingly widespread use of surveillance cameras in public spaces. This volume of original essays is vital reading for anyone concerned with the influence of the mass media in the digital age.Contributors: Howard S. Becker; Derek Bousé, Eastern Mediterranean U, Cyprus; Hart Cohen, U of Western Sydney; Jessica M. Fishman; Paul Frosh, Hebrew U of Jerusalem; Faye Ginsburg, New York U; Laura Grindstaff, U of California, Davis; Dianne Hagaman; Sheldon W. Halpern, Ohio State U; Darrell Y. Hamamoto, U of California, Davis; Marguerite Moritz, U of Colorado, Boulder; David D. Perlmutter, Louisiana State U; Dona Schwartz, U of Minnesota; Matthew Soar, Concordia University; Stephen E. Weil, Smithsonian Institution’s Center for Education and Museum Studies.

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This easily accessible volume, which grew out of a series of lectures presented at the Smithsonian Institution in 1991, aims to provide a coherent introduction to Byzantine culture with a focus on the interconnected realms of art and religion. The eight participants have revised their lectures into chapters on Byzantine history, theology, icons and icon theory, church architecture, monumental painting, silver church furnishings, illustrated liturgical books, and pilgrimage. In addition to presenting current research on this range of topics, the chapters each contribute original scholarship from authors who are recognized experts in their respective fields. The Introduction, by Linda Safran, deals with views and definitions of Byzantium over the course of its long history and considers why that civilization deserves our attention today. It underscores the essential unifying role of the Orthodox religion in a vast and fluid empire and clarifies how the experiential aspects of that religion—churches, liturgy, church arts and imagery, religious travel—open a window into Byzantine culture. Throughout the book, the past is made vivid by considering what Byzantine believers heard and said and did, as well as what they saw. The book's chapters are cross-referenced and are complemented both by endnotes that cite primary and secondary sources and by "Suggestions for Further Reading" that include English and foreign-language references. There is no comparable art history text that combines this high-caliber range of current scholarship with more than 250 illustrations, including 16 pages of color plates, to introduce Byzantine culture to a broad readership.Contributors are Joseph Alchermes, Susan A. Boyd, Anna Kartsonis, Henry Maguire, Robert Ousterhout, Eric D. Perl, Nancy Patterson Ševčenko, and Gary Vikan.

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In a time of reckoning, this year’s National Magazine Awards finalists and winners focus on abuse of power in many forms. Ronan Farrow’s Pulitzer Prize–winning revelation of Harvey Weinstein’s depredations (New Yorker), along with Rebecca Traister’s charged commentary for New York and Laurie Penny’s incisive Longreads columns, speak to the urgency of the #MeToo moment. Ginger Thompson’s reporting on the botched U.S. operation that triggered a cartel massacre in Mexico (National Geographic/ProPublica) and Azmat Khan and Anand Gopal’s New York Times Magazine investigation of the civilian casualties of drone strikes in Iraq amplify the voices of those harmed by U.S. actions abroad. And Alex Tizon’s “My Family’s Slave” (Atlantic) is a powerful attempt to come to terms with the cruelty that was in plain sight in his own upbringing.Responding to the overt racism of the Trump era, Ta-Nehisi Coates’s “My President Was Black” (Atlantic) looks back at the meaning of Obama. Howard Bryant (ESPN the Magazine) and Bim Adewunmi (Buzzfeed) offer incisive columns on the intersections of pop culture, sports, race, and politics. In addition, David Wallace-Wells reveals the coming disaster of our climate-change-ravaged future (New York); Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham’s ESPN the Magazine reporting exposes the seamy sides of the NFL; Nina Martin and Renee Montagne investigate America’s shameful record on maternal mortality (NPR/ProPublica); Ian Frazier asks “What Ever Happened to the Russian Revolution?” (Smithsonian); and Alex Mar considers “Love in the Time of Robots” (Wired with Epic Magazine). The collection concludes with Kristen Roupenian’s viral hit short story “Cat Person” (New Yorker).

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'Beautiful . . . Justifies its place alongside nature writing classics such as H is for Hawk' NEW STATESMAN'Wonderful ... both frank and fearless' TELEGRAPH BEST TRAVEL BOOKS OF THE YEAR'Fascinating' GUARDIAN TOP TEN NATURE MEMOIRSFrom Mexico to the Arctic ice, grey whale mothers swim with their calves. Following them, by bus, train and ferry, are Doreen and her toddler Max, in pursuit of a wild hope.Doreen first visited Alaska as a young BBC journalist reporting on climate change among indigenous whaling communities. There, drawn deeply into an Iñupiaq family and an ill-fated love affair, she joined the bowhead whale hunt out on the sea ice.Years later, now a single mother living in a hostel, Doreen embarks on this extraordinary journey: following the grey whale migration back to the Arctic, where greys and bowheads meet at the melting apex of our planet.'As compelling as any novel... A human story of resilience, loss and immense bravery. It becomes not just a book about mother and son, whales, the climate, but a book about power and what happens when power is abused. It is a rallying call for love' Alice Kinsella, IRISH TIMES'In this melodic memoir, the climate researcher turned journalist parallels the whales' journey with her own through parenthood' ShreyaChattopadhyay, NEW YORK TIMES'Soundings got under my skin. I finished it in tears' AMY LIPTROT'What a voice! What a book!' CHARLES FOSTER'Soulful, honest, insightful, humane and propulsive' JINI REDDY 'Thrilling, passionate and tender-hearted' HELEN JUKES WINNER OF THE RSL GILES ST AUBYN AWARDLONGLISTED FOR THE SNHN NATURAL HISTORY BOOK PRIZEONE OF SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE'S TEN BEST BOOKS ABOUT TRAVEL OF 2022

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Jeter Publishing presents the second nonfiction biography in a brand-new series that celebrates men and women who altered the course of history often without recognition. On July 16, 1969, a Gemini rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Previous launches had focused on getting astronauts into space, docking two spacecraft, and even walking in space, but this mission was different. Apollo 11 was designed to land two astronauts on the moon and then bring them back to Earth. Four days later, two astronauts, Neal Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, did walk on the moon. But did you know that there were actually three astronauts aboard the rocket on July 16? Michael Collins didn’t get to walk on the Moon, but his contribution is just as important as Armstrong and Aldrin’s. Prior to joining NASA, Collins was in the Air Force and flew fighter jets. After joining NASA, he made two trips into space, performing one of the first EVAs or Extravehicular activities (in other words, walking in space) as well as making that trip to the moon. Collins continued to contribute even after leaving the space program. He took a job in the State Department and even served as director of the National Air & Space Museum and as undersecretary of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. He may not have walked on the moon, but he’s one of only twenty-four people to travel there. In fact, without Michael Collins, that first moon landing might never have happened.

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Uncover the key moments that shaped American history in this extensive history encyclopedia for children. This complete encyclopedia of American history showcases the incredible journey the United States of America has made to become the major 21st-century power it is today.American History: A Visual Encyclopedia is the ultimate reference tool for children aged 9+ to explore the history of one of the most remarkable nations in the world. Get the background on the Battle of Yorktown and discover what started the American Revolution. Learn the legends of the Wild West, and relive the atmosphere of the “Roaring Twenties”! This history encyclopedia covers everything from the cultures of the indigenous peoples of North America right up to the events of the present day. This ultimate US history encyclopedia for kids offers: A comprehensive reference guide that covers US history from the first peoples to the present day. Fully updated information and a fresh design in this new edition, featuring the Biden presidency, the coronavirus pandemic, climate change and environmental issues, and other recent historical events. More than 750 images providing a visual account of American History. Created in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, American History: A Visual Encyclopedia gives detailed historical information and brings it to life with more than 750 photographs and paintings, plus extensive maps, charts, and state-specific information. Each double-page feature focuses on one aspect of the Union’s history, be it the Civil War or civil rights, the Great Depression or the Moon landing. Complete texts of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution are included in this visual encyclopedia for easy reference classroom work or reports.

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Explore Earth’s natural treasures, from their primeval origins to traditional uses and modern-day appeal with this illustrated guide to rocks, minerals, crystals, gems and more!Featuring sparkling crystals, vibrant gemstones, and other precious materials often prized for their beauty, such as amber, coral, and fossils, this illustrated guide is sure to captivate every rockhound and budding gemmologist. Learn how to identify more than 450 rock and mineral specimens through beautiful photographs and key characteristics. Discover more about rocks and minerals through folklore and historical artefacts, and find out the fascinating stories behind some of the amazing natural treasures, including the Hope Diamond and the Great Mogul emerald. Plus there is information on polishing and displaying your finds to further equip you with all the knowledge needed to become a rock and mineral collector.Dive deep into this riveting book on rocks and minerals to further discover:- Comprehensive coverage of more than 450 specimens of rocks, minerals, crystals, gems and fossils.- Expert text and high-quality images combine to make this an indispensable reference tool for every rockhound and budding gemmologist.- Detailed reference panels provide key at-a-glance information for identifying specimens.- Feature panels on folklore, historical artefacts, and famous gems tell the fascinating stories of rocks and minerals.- Includes information on collecting and showing rocks and minerals.Practical advice on cutting, polishing, and displaying your finds further equips you with all the knowledge needed to delve into the arena of rock and mineral collecting.SI Rock and Gem was produced in association with the Smithsonian in Washington, DC, the world's largest museum complex, ensuring the guide's accuracy.

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American art museums flourished in the late twentieth century, and the impresario leading much of this growth was J. Carter Brown, director of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, from 1969 to 1992. Along with S. Dillon Ripley, who served as Smithsonian secretary for much of this time, Brown reinvented the museum experience in ways that had important consequences for the cultural life of Washington and its visitors as well as for American museums in general. In Capital Culture, distinguished historian Neil Harris provides a wide-ranging look at Brown's achievement and the growth of museum culture during this crucial period. Harris combines his in-depth knowledge of American history and culture with extensive archival research, and he has interviewed dozens of key players to reveal how Brown's showmanship transformed the National Gallery. At the time of the Cold War, Washington itself was growing into a global destination, with Brown as its devoted booster. Harris describes Brown's major role in the birth of blockbuster exhibitions, such as the King Tut show of the late 1970s and the National Gallery's immensely successful Treasure Houses of Britain, which helped inspire similarly popular exhibitions around the country. He recounts Brown's role in creating the award-winning East Building by architect I. M. Pei and the subsequent renovation of the West building. Harris also explores the politics of exhibition planning, describing Brown's courtship of corporate leaders, politicians, and international dignitaries. In this monumental book Harris brings to life this dynamic era and exposes the creation of Brown's impressive but costly legacy, one that changed the face of American museums forever.

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The emergence of a master artist alongside his first major collection, created during a golden age of art in the nation’s capital Renowned for his innovative work with silkscreen printing, Lou Stovall’s works are part of numerous collections, including the National Gallery of Art, Smithsonian American Art Museum, and Phillips Collection. Washington Post art critic Paul Richard once wrote, “As a printer of his own art, and of the art of many others, as a framer and installer and shepherd of collections, Stovall has inserted more art into Washington than almost anyone in town.” Of the Land: The Art and Poetry of Lou Stovall presents a series of prints and accompanying poems that showcase the artist’s work during the 1970s, when he was developing his unique silkscreen technique and exploring both natural and abstract elements. An introduction by the book’s editor and artist’s son, Will Stovall, along with an autobiography from the artist anchor the Of the Land series in its time and place—a period of jazz, protest, and prolific art production in Washington, DC, that birthed the Washington Color School. Stovall’s contributions, as well as his collaborations with well-known artists like Jacob Lawrence, Sam Gilliam, Elizabeth Catlett, and Robert Mangold, have cemented him as one of the most significant American artists of our age. Part of a tradition of African American artists and thinkers who met at Howard University, Lou Stovall created the Workshop in 1968, a small, active silkscreen studio printing posters for arts and DC-focused events. His deep influence on the silkscreen medium, the art community, and DC will be part of his lasting legacy.

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