Search results for ""yale university press""

A compelling history of the Ptolemies, the decline of Egypt, and the rising power of the Roman Empire

Read more less

A portrait of one of the ancient world’s first political celebrities, who veered from failure to success and back again “This colorful biography of Demetrius . . . explores his rich inner life and reveals an ancient world of violence and intrigue.”—New York Times Book Review The life of Demetrius (337–283 BCE) serves as a through-line to the forty years following the death of Alexander the Great (323–282 BCE), a time of unparalleled turbulence and instability in the ancient world. With no monarch able to take Alexander’s place, his empire fragmented into five pieces. Capitalizing on good looks, youth, and sexual prowess, Demetrius sought to weld those pieces together and recover the dream of a single world state, with a new Alexander—himself—at its head. He succeeded temporarily, but in crucial, colossal engagements—a massive invasion of Egypt, a siege of Rhodes that went on for a full year, and the Battle of Ipsus—he came up just short. He ended his career in a rash invasion of Asia and became the target of a desperate manhunt, only to be captured and destroyed by his own son-in-law. James Romm tells the story of Demetrius the Besieger’s rise and spectacular fall but also explores his vibrant inner life and family relationships to depict a real, complex, and recognizable figure.

Read more less

An eminent engineer and historian tackles one of the most elemental aspects of life: how we experience and utilize physical force “Another gem from a master of technology writing.”—Kirkus Reviews Force explores how humans interact with the material world in the course of their everyday activities. This book for the general reader also considers the significance of force in shaping societies and cultures. Celebrated author Henry Petroski delves into the ongoing physical interaction between people and things that enables them to stay put or causes them to move. He explores the range of daily human experience whereby we feel the sensations of push and pull, resistance and assistance. The book is also about metaphorical force, which manifests itself as pressure and relief, achievement and defeat. Petroski draws from a variety of disciplines to make the case that force—represented especially by our sense of touch—is a unifying principle that pervades our lives. In the wake of a prolonged global pandemic that increasingly cautioned us about contact with the physical world, Petroski offers a new perspective on the importance of the sensation and power of touch.

Read more less

A feminist reinterpretation of the myths surrounding Cleopatra casts new light on the Egyptian queen and her legacy “A lucid and persuasive reinterpretation. Readers won’t see Cleopatra the same way again.”—Publishers Weekly “Where Prose really sparkles: her critiques of the cultural depictions of Cleopatra.”—Allison Arieff, San Francisco Chronicle The siren passionately in love with Mark Antony, the seductress who allegedly rolled out of a carpet she had herself smuggled in to see Caesar, Cleopatra is a figure shrouded in myth. Beyond the legends immortalized by Plutarch, Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, and others, there are no journals or letters written by Cleopatra herself. All we have to tell her story are words written by others. What has it meant for our understanding of Cleopatra to have had her story told by writers who had a political agenda, authors who distrusted her motives, and historians who believed she was a liar? Francine Prose delves into ancient Greek and Roman literary sources, as well as modern representations of Cleopatra in art, theater, and film, to challenge narratives driven by orientalism and misogyny and offer a new interpretation of Cleopatra’s history through the lens of our current era.

Read more less

Acclaimed cultural critic Greil Marcus tells the story of Bob Dylan through the lens of seven penetrating songs “The most interesting writer on Dylan over the years has been the cultural critic Greil Marcus. . . . No one alive knows the music that fueled Dylan’s imagination better. . . . Folk Music . . . [is an] ingenious book of close listening.”—David Remnick, New Yorker Named a Best Music Book of 2022 by Rolling Stone “Further elevates Marcus to what he has always been: a supreme artist-critic.”—Hilton Als Across seven decades, Bob Dylan has been the first singer of American song. As a writer and performer, he has rewritten the national songbook in a way that comes from his own vision and yet can feel as if it belongs to anyone who might listen. In Folk Music, Greil Marcus tells Dylan’s story through seven of his most transformative songs. Marcus’s point of departure is Dylan’s ability to “see myself in others.” Like Dylan’s songs, this book is a work of implicit patriotism and creative skepticism. It illuminates Dylan’s continuing presence and relevance through his empathy—his imaginative identification with other people. This is not only a deeply felt telling of the life and times of Bob Dylan but a rich history of American folk songs and the new life they were given as Dylan sat down to write his own.

Read more less

A showcase of 500 highlights of the Farjam Collection, featuring painting, works on paper, photography, sculpture, installations, and videos

Read more less

An investigation of conceptual artist Hanne Darboven’s artistic practice and her highly personal mark-making as a form of marking time on paper Hanne Darboven (1941–2009) is best known for her immersive installations of individually framed sheets filled with written formulations and collaged images. Approaching Darboven’s life and work through the lens of drawing, this succinct survey is organized around three watershed moments in the artist’s practice. It begins with examples of Darboven’s Konstruction drawings—abstract works based in transversal and mirroring strategies—made during her two-year stay in New York in the late 1960s. The next section maps how Darboven adapted her drawing practice into formulas that calculate specific dates and durations into a single number, which the artist represented as anything from a series of calligraphic lines to a set of consecutively drawn boxes. The book concludes with a close look at Inventions that Have Changed Our World, an installation from 1996 that documents each day of the twentieth century according to Darboven’s formulas and assigns an inventor, ranging from Johannes Gutenberg to the Wright brothers, to represent each of the century’s ten decades. This engaging overview highlights how Darboven's work offers a deeply idiosyncratic accounting of art and life that challenges time as a linear and objective measure. Distributed for the Menil Collection Exhibition Schedule: The Menil Collection, Houston (October 29, 2023–February 11, 2024)

Read more less

A compelling, authoritative account of the brilliant, conflicted, visionary world of Tudor England When Henry VII landed in a secluded bay in a far corner of Wales, it seemed inconceivable that this outsider could ever be king of England. Yet he and his descendants became some of England’s most unforgettable rulers, and gave their name to an age. The story of the Tudor monarchs is as astounding as it was unexpected, but it was not the only one unfolding between 1485 and 1603. In cities, towns, and villages, families and communities lived their lives through times of great upheaval. In this comprehensive new history, Lucy Wooding lets their voices speak, exploring not just how monarchs ruled but also how men and women thought, wrote, lived, and died. We see a monarchy under strain, religion in crisis, a population contending with war, rebellion, plague, and poverty. Remarkable in its range and depth, Tudor England explores the many tensions of these turbulent years and presents a markedly different picture from the one we thought we knew.

Read more less

A unique journey with James Ensor through the history of still life in Belgium in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries Still life played an important role within the work of Belgian expressionist and symbolist painter James Ensor (1860–1949). The quality and significance of his intriguingly complex still lifes become clear when placed within the broader development of the genre in Belgium between 1830 and 1930. The book offers an overview of the nineteenth-century Belgian academic tradition of decorative painting, with intriguing work by lesser-known painters such as Jean Robie, Hubert Bellis, Frans Mortelmans, and Henri De Braekeleer, as well as forgotten female artists such as Berthe Art and Alice Ronner. In the early twentieth century, artists such as Louis Thevenet continued to develop the genre of still life in a traditional manner, while innovators such as the late James Ensor, Léon Spilliaert, Marthe Donas, Walter Vaes, and Gustave Van de Woestyne created highly personal interpretations. This book is published on the first exhibition ever entirely devoted to James Ensor's still lifes at Mu.ZEE (Ostend). Distributed for Mercatorfonds Exhibition Schedule: Mu.ZEE, Ostend, Belgium (December 16, 2023–April 14, 2024)

Read more less

A collection of John Carey’s greatest, wisest, and wittiest reviews—amassed over a lifetime of writing In 1977, newly installed as a professor of English at Oxford, John Carey took the position of chief reviewer for the Sunday Times. In a career spanning over 40 years and upwards of 1,000 reviews, Carey has kept abreast of the brightest and best books of the day, distilling his thoughts each week for the entertainment of Sunday readers. Contained in this volume is the cream of that substantial crop: a choice selection of the books which Carey has most cherished. Covering subjects as diverse as the science of laughter, the art of Grayson Perry, the history of madness, and Sylvia Plath’s letters, this is a collection of treats and surprises, suffused with careful thought, wisdom, and enjoyment. The result is a compendium of titles that have stood the test of time, offered with Carey’s warmest recommendation.

Read more less

From a celebrated critic, a heartfelt and adventurous reflection on the art of writing about art

Read more less

A new history of postwar painting that explores how the desire to look backward shaped some of the period's most radical artmaking

Read more less

The first major publication in more than thirty years on contemporary artist Chryssa, an innovator of light art Chryssa & New York offers a timely reassessment of Greek-born artist Chryssa (Chryssa Vardea-Mavromichali, 1933–2013). Chryssa was a leading figure in the postwar New York art world and in the use of signage, text, and neon, yet her work, which bridges Pop, Conceptual, and Minimalist approaches to art making, remains under-recognized. Focusing on the artist’s early career, in particular her time in New York from the 1950s to the 1970s, this book charts the emergence of her singular aesthetic, especially her formal innovations with neon, and culminates in the development of her monumental and rarely seen installation The Gates to Times Square (1964–66). Essays situate Chryssa’s art alongside that of other New York-based practitioners in the 1950s and 1960s, consider her work through the lenses of queer theory and the Greek diaspora, and uncover her crucial influence on light art today. Rounding out the volume, a conversation on the technical aspects of her practice and a comprehensive chronology make this the definitive publication on Chryssa for years to come. Distributed for Dia Art Foundation and the Menil Collection, Houston Exhibition Schedule: Dia Chelsea, New York (March 2–July 23, 2023) Menil Collection, Houston (September 29, 2023–March 10, 2024) Wrightwood 659, Chicago (May 1–August 15, 2024)

Read more less

A comprehensive history of the struggle to define womanhood in America, from the seventeenth to the twenty-first century“Exhaustively researched and finely written.”—Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times“An intelligently provocative, vital reading experience. . . . This highly readable, inclusive, and deeply researched book will appeal to scholars of women and gender studies as well as anyone seeking to understand the historical patterns that misogyny has etched across every era of American culture.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review What does it mean to be a “woman” in America? Award-winning gender and sexuality scholar Lillian Faderman traces the evolution of the meaning from Puritan ideas of God’s plan for women to the sexual revolution of the 1960s and its reversals to the impact of such recent events as #metoo, the appointment of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, the election of Kamala Harris as vice president, and the transgender movement. This wide-ranging 400-year history chronicles conflicts, retreats, defeats, and hard-won victories in both the private and the public sectors and shines a light on the often-overlooked battles of enslaved women and women leaders in tribal nations. Noting that every attempt to cement a particular definition of “woman” has been met with resistance, Faderman also shows that successful challenges to the status quo are often short-lived. As she underlines, the idea of womanhood in America continues to be contested.

Read more less

A fast-paced narrative about the world-famous libertine Giacomo Casanova, from celebrated biographer Leo Damrosch “Fully succeeds in communicating that ‘vivid presentness,’ that ‘joyful eagerness’ for life, which is what keeps us reading Casanova—and reading about him.”—Gregory Dowling, Wall Street Journal “A nuanced, deftly contextualized biography of an adventurer, an opportunist, and a man of voracious appetites. . . . Another top-notch work from Damrosch.”—Kirkus Reviews (starred review) The life of the iconic libertine Giacomo Casanova (1725–1798) has never been told in the depth it deserves. An alluring representative of the Enlightenment’s shadowy underside, Casanova was an aspiring priest, an army officer, a fortune teller, a con man, a magus, a violinist, a mathematician, a Masonic master, an entrepreneur, a diplomat, a gambler, a spy—and the first to tell his own story. In his vivid autobiography Histoire de Ma Vie, he recorded at least a hundred and twenty love affairs, as well as dramatic sagas of duels, swindles, arrests, and escapes. He knew kings and an empress, Catherine the Great, and most of the famous writers of the time, including Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin. Drawing on seldom used materials, including the original French and Italian primary sources, and probing deeply into the psychology, self-conceptions, and self-deceptions of one of the world’s most famous con men and seducers, Leo Damrosch offers a gripping, mature, and devastating account of an Enlightenment man, freed from the bounds of moral convictions.

Read more less

From Ukraine’s leading writer-activist comes an intimate account of resistance and survival in the earliest months of the Russian-Ukrainian war “A vivid, in-the-trenches report from a Ukrainian city and its ‘injured, yet unbreakable’ citizens.”—Kirkus Reviews When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Serhiy Zhadan took to social media to coordinate a network of resistance workers and send messages of courage to his fellow Ukrainians. What began as a local organizing effort exploded onto the international stage as readers around the globe looked to Zhadan as a key eyewitness documenting Russian atrocities. In this powerful record of the war’s harrowing first four months, Zhadan works day and night in Kharkiv to evacuate children and the elderly from suburbs that have come under fire. He sends lists of life-saving medications to the West in the hopes of procuring them for civilians, coordinates food deliveries, collects money for military equipment, and organizes concerts. He shares photographs of the open sky—grateful for every pause in the shelling—and captures images of beloved institutions reduced to rubble. We’ll restore everything. We’ll rebuild everything, he writes. As the days pass, the city empties. Friends are killed. And when images of the Bucha massacre are released, Zhadan’s own voice falters: I’m speechless. Hang in there, my friends. Tomorrow, we’ll wake up one day closer to our victory. An intimate work of witness literature, this book is at once the testimony of one man entering a new reality and the story of a society fighting for the right to exist.

Read more less

An inside look at al-Qaeda from 9/11 to the death of its founder—told through the words of Bin Laden and his closest circle As seen on 60 Minutes “A comprehensive, meticulously constructed and eye-opening look at bin Laden as husband, father and leader-in-hiding. . . . An engaging and persuasive read.”—Karen J. Greenberg, Washington Post “Never less than gripping. . . . [Offers] an extraordinary insight into the inner workings of al-Qaeda, both before and after 9/11, and lays bare the terrorist organisation’s closely guarded plans, ambitions and frustrations.”—Saul David, Sunday Telegraph Usama Bin Laden’s greatest fear was not capture or death but the exposure of al-Qaeda’s secrets. At great risk to themselves and the entire mission, the U.S. Special Operations Forces, who carried out the Abbottabad raid that killed Bin Laden, took an additional eighteen minutes to collect Bin Laden’s hard drives and thereby expose al-Qaeda’s secrets. In this groundbreaking book, Nelly Lahoud dives into Bin Laden’s files and meticulously distills the nearly 6,000 pages of Arabic private communications. For the first time, al-Qaeda’s closely guarded secrets are laid bare, shattering misconceptions and revealing how and what Bin Laden communicated with his associates, his plans for future attacks, and al-Qaeda’s hostility toward countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Pakistan. Lahoud presents firsthand accounts of al-Qaeda from 9/11 until the elimination of Bin Laden, in his own words and those of his family and closest associates.

Read more less

An urgent account of the state of our oceans today—and what we must do to protect them “Provides a persuasive guide to recovery, and is an inspiring and invigorating read.”—Phoebe Weston, The Guardian The ocean sustains life on our planet, from absorbing carbon to regulating temperatures, and, as we exhaust the resources to be found on land, it is becoming central to the global market. But today we are facing two urgent challenges at sea: massive environmental destruction, and spiraling inequality in the ocean economy. Chris Armstrong reveals how existing governing institutions are failing to respond to the most pressing problems of our time, arguing that we must do better. Armstrong examines these crises—from the fate of people whose lands will be submerged by sea level rise to the exploitation of people working in fishing to the rights of marine animals—and makes the case for a powerful World Ocean Authority capable of tackling them. A Blue New Deal presents a radical manifesto for putting equality, democracy, and sustainability at the heart of ocean politics.

Read more less

A bold new history of the rise and expansion of the Norman Dynasty across Europe from Byzantium to England In the eleventh century the climate was improving, population was growing, and people were on the move. The Norman dynasty ranged across Europe, led by men who achieved lasting fame, such as William the Conqueror and Robert Guiscard. These figures cultivated an image of unstoppable Norman success, and their victories make for a great story. But how much of it is true? In this insightful history, Judith Green challenges old certainties and explores the reality of Norman life across the continent. There were many soldiers of fortune, but their successes were down to timing, good luck, and ruthless leadership. Green shows the Normans’ profound impact, from drastic change in England to laying the foundations for unification in Sicily to their contribution to the First Crusade. Going beyond the familiar, she looks at personal dynastic relationships and the important part women played in what at first sight seems a resolutely masculine world.

Read more less

Angel Vergara’s work tests the limits of art and reality by questioning the way the contemporary image shapes the intermingled public and private spheres—as well as our own experience Angel Vergara’s (b. 1958; based in Brussels) work is a continued investigation into the power of the image. By means of performances, videos, installations, paintings and drawings, he tests the limits of art and reality. Each of his works is an attempt to break through the image and to make its impact on an aesthetic as well as a sociocultural and political level. Thus, Vergara creates a new, suspended reality, grown from the artist’s personal dialogue with reality and with the image by which it has already been transformed. Decontextualised images of reality are mediated by the artist and transformed into art, encouraging the viewer to question their way of perceiving the everyday as well as the way it is presented to them in images. Vergara’s art disorients and disconcerts the viewer. It questions what is known and opens paths to new modes of signification. Accompanying the 2023 retrospective exhibition “In the Instant” that the MACS is dedicating to Angel Vergara, this important book reviews the career of the Belgian artist and highlights the close relationship between his painting and the cinematic medium. Distributed for Mercatorfonds Exhibition Schedule: 02.11.2022–02.06.2023 Outside installation. Musée de la batellerie—Conflans Sainte Honorine, France. 24.11.2022–19.03.2023 Photo Brut - Centrale for Contemporary Art, Brussels 23.04.2023–08.10.2023 Angel Vergara. In a Moment. Monographic exhibition. MAC’s in Mons, Belgium.

Read more less

Two acclaimed South African artists offer a cross-generational dialogue on history, memory, and the power of self-narration Three decades after the dismantling of apartheid began, South Africa’s so-called “born free” generation has reached adulthood and its artists have used their work to navigate their difficult inheritance. At the same time, the historical distance between their experience and that of an older generation grows. This book brings together two of South Africa’s most acclaimed contemporary artists to reflect upon this moment. In their respective practices, Sue Williamson (b. 1941) and Lebohang Kganye (b. 1990) incorporate oral histories into film, photographs, installations, and textiles to consider how, just as formal statements determine collective histories, so the stories our elders tell us shape family narratives and personal identities. Exploring the complexities involved in the passing down of memories, their works implicitly and explicitly address racial violence, social injustice, and intergenerational trauma. This richly illustrated catalogue features essays that consider themes of voice, testimony, ancestry, and care, and a dialogue between Kganye and Williamson that explores how art can mobilize the healing powers of conversation.Distributed for the Barnes FoundationExhibition Schedule:The Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia (March 5–May 21, 2023)

Read more less

A deep look at a contemporary artist whose work highlights how the rise of technology and corporate capitalism have disrupted our lives and polarized society One of the most thought-provoking artists of his generation, Josh Kline (b. 1979) creates installations, sculptures, videos, and photographs that address the ways new technologies affect how people live and work. Engaging with a range of concerns that impact the entire labor force, from essential workers to the creative class, Kline demonstrates how climate change, automation, disease, and politics have shaped our identities. At a time when so many aspects of life are under threat, Kline takes an unflinching look at how we got here and boldly imagines a more equitable and empathetic future. Kline’s art demonstrates the ways technology has widened and reinforced the gap of inequity in America, while also carrying the potential to make a fairer world. “As an artist who’s thinking about the consequences of technological innovation,” Kline has said, “I think there’s an obligation to raise questions about who benefits.” His ongoing cycle of installations (Freedom, 2014–16; Unemployment, 2015–16, Civil War, 2016–19; Climate Change, 2019– ) that imagine the next hundred years of society are featured in this book, along with his earlier bodies of work, Creative Labor (2009– ) and Blue Collars (2014– ) and production images and concept sketches for his newest works that are published here for the first time. Distributed for the Whitney Museum of American ArtExhibition Schedule:Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (April 19–August 13, 2023)

Read more less

The first biography of Gilbert Spencer, recounting the life and career of a long-overlooked twentieth-century British artist

Read more less

A fascinating, bottom-up exploration of contemporary Russian politics that sheds new light on why Putin’s grip on power is more fragile than we think “Putin v. the People wrestles with perhaps the central conundrum of contemporary Russia: the endurance of support for Putin amid deepening disillusionment with the present and pessimism about the future.”—Daniel Beer, The Guardian What do ordinary Russians think of Putin? Who are his supporters? And why might their support now be faltering? Alive with the voices and experiences of ordinary Russians and elites alike, Sam Greene and Graeme Robertson craft a compellingly original account of contemporary Russian politics. Telling the story of Putin’s rule through pivotal episodes such as the aftermath of the "For Fair Elections" protests, the annexation of Crimea, and the War in Eastern Ukraine, Greene and Robertson draw on interviews, surveys, social media data, and leaked documents to reveal how hard Putin has to work to maintain broad popular support, while exposing the changing tactics that the Kremlin has used to bolster his popularity. Unearthing the ambitions, emotions, and divisions that fuel Russian politics, this book illuminates the crossroads to which Putin has led his country and shows why his rule is more fragile than it appears.

Read more less

A rediscovery of patriotism as a virtue in line with the core values of democracy in an extremist age “Like you perhaps, I still regard myself as an extremely patriotic person. Which is why I so admired [this book]. . . . It explained my emotion to me, as it might yours to you." —David Brooks, New York Times “Smith superbly illuminates the distinctiveness of the American idea of patriotism and reminds us of how important patriotism is, and how essential to making America better.”—Leslie Lenkowsky, Wall Street Journal The concept of patriotism has fallen on hard times. What was once a value that united Americans has become so politicized by both the left and the right that it threatens to rip apart the social fabric. On the right, patriotism has become synonymous with nationalism and an “us versus them” worldview, while on the left it is seen as an impediment to acknowledging important ethnic, religious, or racial identities and a threat to cosmopolitan globalism. Steven B. Smith reclaims patriotism from these extremist positions and advocates for a patriotism that is broad enough to balance loyalty to country with other loyalties. Describing how it is a matter of both the head and the heart, Smith shows how patriotism can bring the country together around the highest ideals of equality and is a central and ennobling disposition that democratic societies cannot afford to do without.

Read more less

A chronicle of recent events that have shaken the world, from the author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century “What makes this manifesto noteworthy is that it comes from . . . an economist who gained his reputation as a researcher with vaguely left-of-center sensibilities but was far from a radical. Yet the times are such . . . that even honest moderates are driven to radical remedies.”—Robert Kuttner, New York Times As a correspondent for the French newspaper Le Monde, world-renowned economist Thomas Piketty has documented the rise and fall of Trump, the drama of Brexit, Emmanuel Macron’s ascendance to the French presidency, the unfolding of a global pandemic, and much else besides, always from the perspective of his fight for a more equitable world. This collection brings together those articles and is prefaced by an extended introductory essay, in which Piketty argues that the time has come to support an inclusive and expansive conception of socialism as a counterweight against the hypercapitalism that defines our current economic ideology. These essays offer a first draft of history from one of the world’s leading economists and public figures, detailing the struggle against inequalities and tax evasion, in favor of a federalist Europe and a globalization more respectful of work and the environment.

Read more less

An unflinching look at the most urgent humanitarian crises around the globe, from one of the world’s most daring philosopher-reporters“Call[s] on people not just to see the world, but to be moved and interested by what they find there, and to do something about it.”—Anne Applebaum, The Atlantic“Fierce and elegant, Lévy’s musings will be of profound interest to any reader of modern continental philosophy.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review Over the past fifty years, renowned public intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy has reported extensively on human rights abuses around the world. This new book follows the intrepid Lévy into eight international hotspots—Nigeria; Syrian and Iraqi Kurdistan; Ukraine; Somalia; Bangladesh; Lesbos, Greece; Libya; and Afghanistan—that have escaped global attention or active response. In a deeply personal introduction, Lévy recounts the intellectual journey that led him to advocacy, arguing that a truly humanist philosophy must necessarily lead to action in defense of the most vulnerable. In the second section, he reports on the eight investigative trips he undertook just before or during the coronavirus pandemic, from the massacred Christian villages in Nigeria to a dangerously fragile Afghanistan on the eve of the Taliban talks, from an anti-Semitic ambush in Libya to the overrun refugee camp on the island of Lesbos. Part manifesto, part missives from the field, this new book is a stirring rebuke to indifference and an exhortation to level our gaze at those most hidden from us.

Read more less

Why and how America’s defense strategy must change in light of China’s power and ambition—A Wall Street Journal best book of 2021 “This is a realist’s book, laser-focused on China’s bid for mastery in Asia as the 21st century’s most important threat.”—Ross Douthat, New York Times “Colby’s well-crafted and insightful Strategy of Denial provides a superb and, one suspects, essential departure point for an urgent and much-needed debate over U.S. defense strategy.”—Andrew F. Krepinevich, Jr., Foreign Affairs Elbridge A. Colby was the lead architect of the 2018 National Defense Strategy, the most significant revision of U.S. defense strategy in a generation. Here he lays out how America’s defense must change to address China’s growing power and ambition. Based firmly on the realist tradition but deeply engaged in current policy, this book offers a clear framework for what America’s goals in confronting China must be, how its military strategy must change, and how it must prioritize these goals over its lesser interests. The most informed and in-depth reappraisal of America’s defense strategy in decades, this book outlines a rigorous but practical approach, showing how the United States can prepare to win a war with China that we cannot afford to lose—precisely in order to deter that war from happening.

Read more less

A revolutionary study of nineteenth-century Parisian cartography and its role in shaping a modern conception of space

Read more less

A lively new biography of Tutankhamun—published for the hundredth anniversary of his tomb’s modern discovery The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 sparked imaginations across the globe. While Howard Carter emptied its treasures, Tut-mania gripped the world—and in many ways, never left. But who was the “boy king,” and what was his life really like? Garry J. Shaw tells the full story of Tutankhamun’s reign and his modern rediscovery. As pharaoh, Tutankhamun had to manage an empire, navigate influential courtiers, and suffer the pain of losing at least two children—all before his nineteenth birthday. Shaw explores the boy king’s treasures and possessions, from a lock of his grandmother’s hair to a reed cut with his own hands. He looks too at Ankhesenamun, Tutankhamun’s wife, and the power queens held. This is a compelling new biography that weaves together intriguing details about ancient Egyptian culture, its beliefs, and its place in the wider world.

Read more less

The first major publication to explore the prolific career of Kaffe Fassett, one of the most recognized names in contemporary craft and design Kaffe Fassett (b. 1937) is one of the most recognized names in contemporary craft and design with work encompassing knitting, needlepoint, quilting, textile design, mosaic, painting, and drawing. Fassett’s sense of color and pattern has inspired makers around the world; his early successes include knitwear designs for fashion designers such as Bill Gibb and Missoni, and in more recent years he has collaborated with the luxury fashion house Coach. His inimitable eye can translate the most everyday of details into the basis for one of his colorful, sophisticated, maximalist designs. This book explores Fassett’s career and work in context for the first time, highlighting and widening the scope of his output over more than five decades. Drawing on original artworks, photographs, and archival material, it illuminates the work of this distinctive, influential artist and designer. Essays from design and fashion historians sit alongside striking visual material and insightful interviews with Fassett that provide additional context about this prolific artist. Published in association with the Fashion and Textile Museum Exhibition Schedule: Fashion and Textile Museum, London (September 23, 2022–March 12, 2023) Dovecot Studios, Edinburgh (March 31–July 8, 2023) Millesgarden Museum, Sweden (September 2023–February 2024)

Read more less

An illustrated compendium of artworks from the ancient Americas Including Indigenous works from the southwestern United States, Mesoamerica, the Isthmo-Colombian Area, and the Andes of South America, this book showcases more than 100 masterpieces of art from the ancient Americas. These are presented in historical, archaeological, and artistic context with new photography and scholarship. The publication considers ceramics, metalworks, stone carvings, and textiles from an array of America’s earliest civilizations, including Ancestral Puebloan, Mexica, Olmec, Maya, Chavín, Inca, Moche, Wari, and more. Highlights include some exceptional rarities, including a Chavín crown with deity figures, a previously undefined style of four-panel Andean tunics, a Mixtec mosaic mask, a Maya lidded tetrapod bowl, and breathtaking gold jewelry from the Isthmo-Colombian Area.Distributed for the Dallas Museum of Art

Read more less

A New York Times best art book of 2022An A to Z exploration of the Enlightenment’s quest for understanding and change, as revealed in the era’s prints and drawingsAre volcanoes punishment from God? What do a fly and a mulberry have in common? What utopias await in unexplored corners of the earth and beyond? During the Enlightenment, questions like these were brought to life through an astonishing array of prints and drawings, helping shape public opinion and stir political change. Dare to Know overturns common assumptions about the age, using the era’s proliferation of works on paper to tell a more nuanced story. Echoing the structure and sweep of Diderot’s Encyclopédie, the book contains 26 thematic essays, organized A to Z, providing an unprecedented perspective on more than 50 artists, including Henry Fuseli, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Francisco Goya, Jean-Baptiste Greuze, William Hogarth, Giovanni Battista Piranesi, and Giambattista Tiepolo. With a multidisciplinary approach, the book probes developments in the natural sciences, technology, economics, and more—all through the lens of the graphic arts. Distributed for the Harvard Art Museums Exhibition Schedule:Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, MA (September 16, 2022–January 15, 2023)

Read more less

Nicholas Kenyon explores the enduring appeal of the classical canon at a moment when we can access all music—across time and cultures“Nicholas Kenyon is an amiable and enthusiastic guide to a thousand years of classical music.”—Neil Fisher, The Times“A wonderfully engaging survey. . . . It is what every music lover needs close by. . . . We are left in no doubt about music’s extraordinary power.”—Ian Thomson, Financial Times Immersed in music for much of his life as writer, broadcaster, and concert presenter, former director of the BBC Proms Nicholas Kenyon has long championed an astonishingly wide range of composers and performers. Now, as we think about culture in fresh ways, Kenyon revisits the stories that make up the classical tradition and foregrounds those that are too often overlooked. This inclusive, knowledgeable, and enthusiastic guide highlights the achievements of the women and men, amateurs and professionals, who bring music to life. Taking us from pianist Myra Hess’s performance in London during the Blitz, to John Adams’s composition of a piece for mourners after New York’s 9/11 attacks, to Italian opera singers singing from their balconies amidst the 2020 pandemic, Kenyon shows that no matter how great the crisis, music has the power to bring us together. His personal, celebratory account transforms our understanding of how classical music is made—and shows us why it is more relevant than ever.

Read more less

The fourth and final volume of Michel Leiris's renowned autobiography, now available in English for the first time, translated by Richard Sieburth

Read more less

An original, authoritative guide to the impact of grief on the brain, the heart, and the body of the bereaved "Dorothy Holinger's exploration of the contours of grief is wise, moving, thought-provoking, and, best of all, extraordinarily helpful. Beautifully written and humane, it is a balm for the bereaved."—Barry Bearak, Pulitzer Prize winner for international reporting “What’s central for Holinger is that turning feeling into words, and giving voice to buried emotions, acts to release tension. She is a passionate advocate for language as healer.”—Clair Wills, New York Review of Books Grief happens to everyone. Universal and enveloping, grief cannot be ignored or denied. This original new book by psychologist Dorothy P. Holinger uses humanistic and physiological approaches to describe grief’s impact on the bereaved. Taking examples from literature, music, poetry, paleoarchaeology, personal experience, memoirs, and patient narratives, Holinger describes what happens in the brain, the heart, and the body of the bereaved. Readers will learn what grief is like after a loved one dies: how language and clarity of thought become elusive, why life feels empty, why grief surges and ebbs so persistently, and why the bereaved cry. Resting on a scientific foundation, this literary book shows the bereaved how to move through the grieving process and how understanding grief in deeper, more multidimensional ways can help quell this sorrow and allow life to be lived again with joy. Visit the author's companion website for The Anatomy of Grief: dorothypholinger.com

Read more less

Exploring the art and life of this important American artist whose work bridged the gaps between abstraction, feminism, and Blackness “A deeply informative, inventive monograph that adroitly traces Pindell’s multi-media practice, the intermingling evolution of her aesthetic and political positions, and the critical context in which her work was received and evaluated.”—Blake Oetting, caa.reviews Howardena Pindell: Reclaiming Abstraction is a fascinating examination of the multifaceted career of artist, activist, curator, and writer Howardena Pindell (b. 1943). It offers a fresh perspective on her abstract practice from the late 1960s through the early 1980s—a period in which debates about Black Power, feminism, and modernist abstraction intersected in uniquely contentious yet generative ways. Sarah Louise Cowan not only asserts Pindell’s rightful place within the canon but also recenters dominant historical narratives to reveal the profound and overlooked roles that Black women artists have played in shaping modernist abstraction. Pindell’s career acts as a springboard for a broader study of how artists have responded during periods of heightened social activism and used abstraction to convey political urgency. With works that drew on Ghanaian textiles, administrative labor, cosmetics, and postminimalism, Pindell deployed abstraction in deeply personal ways that resonated with collective African diasporic and women’s practices. In her groundbreaking analysis, Cowan argues that such work advanced Black feminist modernisms, diverse creative practices that unsettle racist and sexist logics.

Read more less

A resplendent celebration of the spectacular fashion designs of Guo Pei, China’s first and preeminent couturier Guo Pei: Couture Fantasy is a journey into the imaginative world of Guo Pei, China’s first couturier and one of the world’s most innovative fashion designers. Guo Pei has astonished fashion audiences from Beijing to Paris for over 20 years and made headlines in the U.S. as the designer of Rihanna’s trailing yellow gown at the 2015 Met Gala. Known for dazzling designs which make the implausible possible, Guo Pei takes inspiration from sources as varied as China’s imperial heritage, European architecture, and the botanical world; she has been sought for commissions by celebrities, royalty, and the Olympics. With more than 200 color illustrations highlighting 60 of her exquisite creations, this sumptuous volume showcases the garments’ consummate craftsmanship, lavish embroidery, and unconventional dressmaking techniques, all of which are hallmarks of Guo Pei’s work. In addition to its visual splendor, the book features a Q&A with the designer, a facsimile sketchbook, and a chronology tracing her career from its start at the Beijing Industrial School of Design to celebrated couturier.Published in association with the Fine Arts Museums of San FranciscoExhibition Schedule:Legion of Honor, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (April 16–September 5, 2022)

Read more less

A compelling examination of French sculptor Auguste Rodin from the perspective of his enthusiastic American audience This exhibition catalogue explores the American reception of French artist Auguste Rodin (1840–1917), from 1893, when his first work entered a US museum, to the present. Its trajectory reaches from the collecting frenzy of the early twentieth century—promoted by philanthropist Katherine Seney Simpson and performer Loïe Fuller—to important museum acquisitions of the 1920s and 1930s. From there, it traverses the 1950s, when Rodin’s reputation flagged, through to the artist’s revival and recognition in the 1980s. Rodin’s promoters include a dynamic cast of characters, each of whom played a crucial role in cementing his status. The book traces this story through approximately 50 sculptures and 20 drawings that cover Rodin’s most iconic subjects and themes. They demonstrate his dexterity across media—his virtuosity in plaster, terracotta, bronze, and marble—as well as his expressive, colorful drawings, some of them relatively unknown, sparking new appreciation for his work and delight for readers.Distributed for the Clark Art InstituteExhibition Schedule:Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA (June 18–September 18, 2022)High Museum of Art, Atlanta (October 21, 2022–January 15, 2023)

Read more less

The first telling of the unknown story of America’s two-hundred-year history as a slave-trading nation “A work of impressive breadth, deep research, and evenhanded analysis.”—James Oakes, New York Review of Books A total of 305,000 enslaved Africans arrived in the New World aboard American vessels over a span of two hundred years as American merchants and mariners sailed to Africa and to the Caribbean to acquire and sell captives. Using exhaustive archival research, including many collections that have never been used before, historian Sean M. Kelley argues that slave trading needs to be seen as integral to the larger story of American slavery. Engaging with both African and American history and addressing the trade over time, Kelley examines the experience of captivity, drawing on more than a hundred African narratives to offer a portrait of enslavement in the regions of Africa frequented by American ships. Kelley also provides a social history of the two American ports where slave trading was most intensive, Newport and Bristol, Rhode Island. In telling this tragic, brutal, and largely unknown story, Kelley corrects many misconceptions while leaving no doubt that Americans were a nation of slave traders.

Read more less

This revelatory book shows how the influential and controversial Empress Dowager Cixi used art and architecture to establish her authority Empress Dowager Cixi (1835–1908), who ruled China from 1861 until her death in 1908, is a subject of fascination and controversy, at turns vilified for her political maneuvering and admired for modernizing China. In addition to being an astute politician, she was an earnest art patron, and this beautifully illustrated book explores a wide range of objects, revealing how the empress dowager used art and architecture to solidify her rule. Cixi’s art commissions were innovative in the way that they unified two distant conceptions of gender in China at the time, demonstrating her strength and wisdom as a monarch while highlighting her identity as a woman and mother. Artful Subversion examines commissioned works, including portrait paintings and photographs, ceramics, fashion, architecture, and garden design, as well as work Cixi created, such as painting and calligraphy. The book is a compelling study of how a powerful matriarch at once subverted and upheld the Qing imperial patriarchy.

Read more less

E. T. A. Hoffmann’s classic tales of Gothic horror and fantasy are presented in a new translation accompanying the beguiling drawings of Natalie Frank “Sumptuous. . . . [Natalie Frank’s] artwork . . . is gruesome perfection.”—Meghan Cox Gurdon, Wall Street Journal E. T. A. Hoffmann (1776–1822) was one of the greatest German Romantic authors of fantasy and a pioneer in the genre we now call Gothic horror. His innovative stories explore ideas of madness, genius, doppelgängers, artificial intelligence, and the boundaries between realities and dreams. Artist Natalie Frank and leading fairy-tale scholar Jack Zipes have joined forces in this lavishly illustrated volume of five of Hoffmann’s most influential tales: The Golden Pot, The Sandman, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, The Mystifying Child, and The Mines of Falun. In addition to offering fresh translations, Zipes introduces the project and sheds light on how Hoffmann’s lifetime of personal traumas shaped his writing. Frank’s richly rendered gouache and chalk pastels reveal Hoffmann’s worlds in full-page drawings and marginalia. Pivotal scenes of transformation, courage, love, desire, and betrayal are illustrated through a feminist lens, focusing on strong, self-aware female characters. A foreword by novelist Karen Russell delves into the influence the tales had on her own literary career and the ways in which she emulates Hoffmann today. The Wounded Storyteller will introduce Hoffmann’s timeless work to a new generation of readers.

Read more less

An "astute, challenging, and far-reaching” look (Kirkus Reviews, starred) at how F. Scott Fitzgerald’s vision of the American Dream has been understood, portrayed, distorted, misused, and kept alive “I found great pleasure in . . . Under the Red White and Blue . . . about the idea of the American dream, its allure, the exploitation of it.” —Percival Everett, New York Times Book Review, “By The Book” section Renowned critic Greil Marcus takes on the fascinating legacy of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. An enthralling parable (or a cheap metaphor) of the American Dream as a beckoning finger toward a con game, a kind of virus infecting artists of all sorts over nearly a century, Fitzgerald’s story has become a key to American culture and American life itself. Marcus follows the arc of The Great Gatsby from 1925 into the ways it has insinuated itself into works by writers such as Philip Roth and Raymond Chandler; found echoes in the work of performers from Jelly Roll Morton to Lana Del Rey; and continued to rewrite both its own story and that of the country at large in the hands of dramatists and filmmakers from the 1920s to John Collins’s 2006 Gatz and Baz Luhrmann’s critically reviled (here celebrated) 2013 movie version—the fourth, so far.

Read more less

Close technical examinations of the techniques and materials of Edward Steichen, Mark Rothko, Jules Olitski, Jasper Johns, and others are accompanied by essays that probe issues of conserving contemporary art Volume 5 of the National Gallery of Art’s biennial conservation research journal Facture explores issues associated with the conservation and technical analysis of modern and contemporary art. Focusing on works in a variety of media by celebrated artists such as Edward Steichen (1879–1973), Mark Rothko (1903–1970), Jules Olitski (1922–2007), and Jasper Johns (b. 1930), this publication’s seven essays offer expertise from conservators, scientists, and art historians, yielding exceptional insights into extraordinary works of art. As in all issues of Facture, the peer-reviewed essays, enlivened with spectacularly detailed photography, navigate interdisciplinary boundaries to examine artworks from technical, scientific, and art-historical perspectives. In this issue, the dialogue is further expanded to include contributions from artists, their families, and their foundations.Distributed for the National Gallery of Art, Washington

Read more less

Exploring how artists at midcentury addressed the social issues of their day—from Jacob Lawrence to Elizabeth Catlett, Rose Piper to Charles White This timely book surveys the varied ways in which Black American artists responded to the political, social, and economic climate of the United States from the time of the Great Depression through the landmark Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka decision. Featuring paintings, sculptures, and works on paper by artists including Jacob Lawrence, Horace Pippin, Augusta Savage, Charles White, Elizabeth Catlett, Norman Lewis, Walter Augustus Simon, Loïs Mailou Jones, and more, the book recognizes the contributions Black artists made to Social Realism and abstraction as they debated the role of art in society and community. Black artists played a vital part in midcentury art movements, and the inclusive policies of government programs like the Works Progress Administration brought more of these artists into mainstream circles. In three chapters, Earnestine Jenkins discusses the work of Black artists during this period; the perspective of Black women artists with a focus on the sculpture of Augusta Savage; and the pedagogy of Black American art through the art and teaching of Walter Augustus Simon. Published in association with the Dixon Gallery and Gardens Exhibition Schedule: Dixon Gallery and Gardens, Memphis (October 17, 2021–January 2, 2022)

Read more less