Search results for ""author art, culture"

Nobel Prize-winning novelist J.M. Coetzee's "Jesus" fictions constitute a trilogy of novels that have appeared over the last decade. They stand out from his earlier work in their difficulty, and in the central role they accord philosophy--in part through their interest in specific themes in which philosophy is interested, in part through their critical engagement with philosophy as a mode of intellectual activity, with a very particular role to play in the broader cultural concerns of modern Western Europe. Robert Pippin presents the first detailed interpretation of J.M. Coetzee's "Jesus" trilogy as a whole. In order to understand them, he treats the three fictions as a philosophical fable, in the tradition of Plato's Republic, More's Utopia, Rousseau's Emile, or Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra. In the trilogy's mythical setting, everyone is an exile, removed from their homeland and transported to a strange new place, with most of their memories of their homeland erased. Pippin treats these fictions as philosophical explorations of the implications of a deeper kind of spiritual homelessness--a version that characterizes late modern life itself--and he sees the theme of forgetting as a figure for modern historical amnesia and indifference to reflection and self-knowledge. This state of exile is interpreted as metaphysical as well as geographical. Pippin's insightful, careful reading of Coetzee suggests the limitations of traditional philosophical treatments of themes like eros, beauty, social order, art, family, non-discursive forms of intelligibility, self-deception, and death. And he wrings from the trilogy its intertextuality, and many references to the Christian Bible, Plato, Cervantes, Goethe, Kleist, and Wittgenstein, among others. Throughout, Pippin expresses the potential of literature to be a profound form of philosophical reflection.

Read more less

Life in ancient Greece was musical life. Soloists competed onstage for popular accolades, becoming centrepieces for cultural conversation and even leading Plato to recommend that certain forms of music be banned from his ideal society. And the music didn’t stop when the audience left the theatre: melody and rhythm were woven into the whole fabric of daily existence for the Greeks. Vocal and instrumental songs were part of religious rituals, dramatic performances, dinner parties, and even military campaigns. Like Detroit in the 1960s or Vienna in the 18th century, Athens in the 400s BC was the hotspot where celebrated artists collaborated and diverse strands of musical tradition converged. The conversations and innovations that unfolded there would lay the groundwork for musical theory and practice in Greece and Rome for centuries to come. In this perfectly pitched introduction, Spencer Klavan explores Greek music’s origins, forms, and place in society. In recent years, state-of-the-art research and digital technology have enabled us to decipher and understand Greek music with unprecedented precision. Yet many readers today cannot access the resources that would enable them to grapple with this richly rewarding subject. Arcane technical details and obscure jargon veil the subject — it is rarely known, for instance, that authentic melodies still survive from antiquity, helping us to imagine the vivid soundscapes of the Classical and Hellenistic eras. Music in Ancient Greece distills the latest discoveries into vivid prose so readers can come to grips with the basics as never before. With the tools in this book, beginners and specialists alike will learn to hear the ancient world afresh and come away with a new, musical perspective on their favourite classical texts.

Read more less

Winner, 2024 E. Gene Smith Inner Asia Book Prize, Association for Asian StudiesHonorable Mention, 2023 Joseph Levenson Prize Post-1900, Association for Asian StudiesIn the aftermath of the cataclysmic Maoist period, three Tibetan Buddhist scholars living and working in the People’s Republic of China became intellectual heroes. Renowned as the “Three Polymaths,” Tséten Zhabdrung (1910–1985), Mugé Samten (1914–1993), and Dungkar Lozang Trinlé (1927–1997) earned this symbolic title for their efforts to keep the lamp of the Dharma lit even in the darkest hour of Tibetan history.Lineages of the Literary reveals how the Three Polymaths negotiated the political tides of the twentieth century, shedding new light on Sino-Tibetan relations and Buddhism during this turbulent era. Nicole Willock explores their contributions to reviving Tibetan Buddhism, expanding Tibetan literary arts, and pioneering Tibetan studies as an academic discipline. Her sophisticated reading of Tibetan-language sources vivifies the capacious literary world of the Three Polymaths, including autobiography, Buddhist philosophy, poetic theory, and historiography. Whereas prevailing state-centric accounts place Tibetan religious figures in China in one of two roles, collaborator or resistance fighter, Willock shows how the Three Polymaths offer an alternative model of agency. She illuminates how they by turns safeguarded, taught, and celebrated Tibetan Buddhist knowledge, practices, and institutions after their near destruction during the Cultural Revolution.An interdisciplinary work spanning religious studies, history, literary studies, and social theory, Lineages of the Literary offers new insight into the categories of religion and the secular, the role of Tibetan Buddhist leaders in modern China, and the contested ground of Tibet.

Read more less

An artist and activist committed to the empowerment of women and girls has created a gorgeous illustrated volume, blending watercolor and short biography to showcase the contributions of more than fifty influential female leaders whose words and actions are a passionate call to arms.Distraught by the results of the 2016 election and the realization that the nation was not ready for its first female president, Kimothy Joy found herself poring over the biographies of brave women throughout history—those who persisted in the face of daunting circumstances—to learn from their experiences.Turning to art, Joy channeled her feelings to the canvas, bringing these strong women to life in bold watercolor portraits surrounded by inspirational hand-lettered quotes. With each creation, Joy found catharsis and hope. She shared her watercolors with her online community and encouraged everyone to raise their own voices and recharge for the battles ahead.Now, in this beautiful gift book, Joy has gathered her stunning illustrations and quotes and paired them with surprising, illuminating biographies of her subjects to inspire women of all ages, races, and backgrounds. That’s What She Said honors a powerful and diverse group of over fifty women—from Maya Angelou, Gloria Steinem, and Virginia Woolf to Sojourner Truth, Malala Yousafzai, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg—role models whose words and insights remind us that we must never give up the fight for a more just and equitable society.Reclaiming the derogatory cultural barb "that’s what she said," this stunning book celebrates strong female leadership throughout history and empowers current and future generations to find their voices and inspire change in their communities.

Read more less

Bangladesh has been shunned by tourists from the moment it was created in 1971. Henry Kissinger described it as a basketcase. Poverty and humanitarian disasters defined Bangladesh in the ensuing decades. When Rupert Grey arrived in Dhaka in 1992, a sign announced that arrivals were ‘Welcome to Bangladesh before the tourists get here’. They still haven’t. Grey first came to Bangladesh as a London lawyer armed with three FM2 cameras. Many journeys and 30 years later he is a photographer armed with a useful legal background. The catalysts were Chobi Mela, the festival of photography, and its founder Shahidul Alam, an acclaimed photographer, human rights activist and Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 2018. This book charts Grey’s love affair with Bangladesh, including an epic transcontinental journey through India to Chobi Mela in a vintage Rolls-Royce, later portrayed in the award-winning, Sharon Stone produced film Romantic Road. His photographs, mostly taken on film, speak powerfully of the cultural vitality and energy which Kissinger missed, and which inspired Grey’s Homage to Bangladesh. As a libel and copyright lawyer Rupert has represented national papers, politicians, bankers, celebrities and explorers. He serves on the board of a number of front-line charities in the arts, education, photography and marine exploration. He has travelled on foot and horseback, by dug-out canoe, dog sledge, camel, elephant, bush-plane and Land Rover to the wild places of the earth. His photographs have been exhibited in several countries including Bangladesh, and his articles have been widely published. He lives with his wife Jan in a remote thatched cottage in Sussex, England, with their three daughters nearby.

Read more less

This new, thoroughly updated second edition of Bradt's Ivory Coast remains the only English-language guidebook to focus solely on this culturally rich West African country, a place of crimson savannas, sublime mountains and cream-hued beaches that is becoming increasingly popular for ecotourism and wildlife, surfing and off-the-beaten track travel. Written in easy-to-navigate geographical structure, chapters on background and practical information are followed by dedicated sections on Abidjan and the surrounding area; the southeast, including Grand-Bassam and Assinie; the southwest, including Sassandra, San-Pe´dro and the Parc National de Tai¨; and the centre: Yamoussoukro, Bouake´, Daloa and Abengourou. Moving up the country, the Dix-Huit Montagnes area is covered, including Man and Touba, followed by a chapter on the North, including Odienne´, Korhogo, Kong, Parc National de la Comoe´ and Bondoukou. From wildlife and birdwatching to hiking, trekking, chocolate and twerking, Bradt's Ivory Coast lifts the lid on what gives this country its unique flavour. Tribal arts, vibrant reggae, Afrobeat and traditional folk-music scenes, and delicious Ivorian food are all covered, as are hotels, the extraordinary mud mosques of Kong and the far north, Drummologie and 'talking drums', football (the 2023 Africa Nations Cup will be held here), and unprecedented pricing and timetabling information for the full range of transport options. Having only recently re-opened for tourism, Ivory Coast is West Africa's hidden treasure. Packed with vivid descriptions, detailed maps and essential practical advice, Bradt's Ivory Coast is the ideal companion for a perfect trip, whatever your interest.

Read more less

Over the past few decades, alliance and networks have been generally examined individually. This Handbook sheds new light on this research by combining the two topics and focuses on highlighting their similarities.The expert contributors discuss topics surrounding the state-of-the-art in alliance and network research such as organizing opportunities in international entrepreneurship; transaction costs in alliances and joint ventures; diaspora networks; and national culture and international alliances. They go on to look at conceptual developments relating to born globals; subsidiary performance; internationalisation; and knowledge transfer and organisational learning. Finally, they present empirical evidence of international alliances and networks. They combine diverse types of studies including literature reviews, conceptual papers and empirical studies in order to provide the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the topic.Researchers with an interest in joint ventures and alliance and networks, along with students and academics of international business will find this book to be a valuable resource.Contributors: S. Andersson, U. Andersson, A. Arslan, G.B. Awuah, P Ekman, M. Elo, C. Erixon, N. Evers, P.N. Ghauri, M. Hilmersson, M. Hsia-Wen Ho, M. Johanson, V. Kaartemo, J. Larimo, C. López-Duarte, H. Lundberg, T. Mainela, H. Makkonen, M. Marinov, S.T. Marinova, L.-G. Mattsson, H. Merchant, K.E. Meyer, N. Mirc, N. Nummela, R. Olkkonen, U.F. Ott, S. Papaioannou, E. Pernu, V. Puhakka, P.A. Ryan, S. Saarenketo, A. Salmi, P. Servais, A. Smith, A. Thyr, L. Torkkeli, P. Very, M.M. Vidal-Suárez, Y. Wang

Read more less

Can we move beyond borders that divide us without losing our identity? Over the past decade, the yearning for rootedness, for being part of a story bigger than oneself, has flared up as a cultural force to be reckoned with. There’s much to affirm in this desire to belong to a people. That means pride in all that is admirable in the nation to which we belong – and repentance for its historic sins. A focus on national identity, of course, can lead to darker places. The new nationalists, who in Western countries often appeal to the memory of a Christian past, applaud when governments fortify borders to keep out people who are fleeing for their lives. (Needless to say, such actions are contrary to the Christian faith.) Is our yearning for roots doomed to lead to a heartless politics of exclusion? Does maintaining group or national identity require borders guarded with lethal violence? The answer isn’t artificial schemes for universal brotherhood, such as a universal language. Our differences are what make a community human. Might the true ground for community lie deeper even than shared nationality or language? After all, the biblical vision of humankind’s ultimate future has “every tribe and language and people and nation” coming together – beyond all borders but still as themselves. In this issue: - Santiago Ramos describes a double homelessness immigrant children experience as outsiders in both countries. - Ashley Lucas profiles a Black Panther imprisoned for life and looks at the impact on his family. - Simeon Wiehler helps a museum repatriate a thousand human skulls collected by a colonialist. - Yaniv Sagee calls Zionism back to its founding vision of a shared society with Palestinians. - Stephanie Saldaña finds the lost legendary chocolates of Damascus being crafted in Texas. - Edwidge Danticat says storytelling builds a home that no physical separation can take away. - Phographer River Claure reimagines Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince as an Aymara fairy tale. - Ann Thomas tells of liminal experiences while helping families choose a cemetery plot. - Russell Moore challenges the church to reclaim its integrity and staunch an exodus. You’ll also find: - Prize-winning poems by Mhairi Owens, Susan de Sola, and Forester McClatchey - A profile of Japanese peacemaker Toyohiko Kagawa - Reviews of Fredrik deBoer’s The Cult of Smart, Anna Neima’s The Utopians, and Amor Towles’s The Lincoln Highway - Insights on following Jesus from E. Stanley Jones, Barbara Brown Taylor, Teresa of Ávila, Oscar Romero, Martin Luther King Jr., Eberhard Arnold, Leonardo Boff, Meister Eckhart, C. S. Lewis, Hermas, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer Plough Quarterly features stories, ideas, and culture for people eager to put their faith into action. Each issue brings you in-depth articles, interviews, poetry, book reviews, and art to help you put Jesus’ message into practice and find common cause with others.

Read more less

Lonely Planet: The world's leading travel guide publisher Lonely Planet's Southeast Asia on a Shoestring is your passport to having big experiences on a small budget, offering the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, what hidden discoveries await you and how to optimise your budget for an extended continental trip. Watch the sun rise over Cambodia's temples of Angkor; hang out, hit the beach and learn to cook in Vietnam's cosmopolitan, buzzing Hoi An; and kayak around the turquoise waters of Laos' Si Phan Don. All with your trusted travel companion. Inside Lonely Planet's Southeast Asia on a Shoestring: Budget-oriented recommendations with honest reviews - eating, sleeping, sightseeing, going out, hidden gems that most guidebooks miss Extensive planning tools and budget calculators Highlights and itineraries help you tailor your trip to your personal needs and interests Insider tips to save time and money and get around like a local, avoiding crowds and trouble spots Essential info at your fingertips - hours of operation, phone numbers, websites, transit tips, prices Cultural insights provide a richer, more rewarding travel experience - covering history, art, literature, cinema, landscapes Colour maps and images throughout Covers Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Singapore, Vietnam Useful features: First Time Southeast Asia, Big Adventures Small Budget, Off the Beaten Track, Border Crossing, Splurge, and Responsible Travel The Perfect Choice: Lonely Planet's Southeast Asia on a shoestringis perfect for budget- and value-conscious travellers taking a big trip, and is packed with amazing sights and experiences, savvy tips and recommendations. After only a few of the destinations in this guide? Check out the relevant Lonely Planet destination guides. These are our most comprehensive titles, designed to immerse you in the culture and help you discover the best sights and get off the beaten track. About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, and in mobile apps, video, 14 languages, nine international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. 'Lonely Planet guides are, quite simply, like no other.' - New York Times 'Lonely Planet. It's on everyone's bookshelves, it's in every traveller's hands. It's on mobile phones. It's on the Internet. It's everywhere, and it's telling entire generations of people how to travel the world.' - Fairfax Media (Australia)

Read more less

Introducing Photographies East, Rosalind C. Morris notes that although the camera is now a taken-for-granted element of everyday life in most parts of the world, it is difficult to appreciate “the shock and sense of utter improbability that accompanied the new technology” as it was introduced in Asia (and elsewhere). In this collection, scholars of Asia, most of whom are anthropologists, describe frequent attribution of spectral powers to the camera, first brought to Asia by colonialists, as they examine the transformations precipitated or accelerated by the spread of photography across East and Southeast Asia. In essays resonating across theoretical, historical, and geopolitical lines, they engage with photography in China, Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand, and on the islands of Aru, Aceh, and Java in what is now Indonesia. The contributors analyze how in specific cultural and historical contexts, the camera has affected experiences of time and subjectivity, practices of ritual and tradition, and understandings of death. They highlight the links between photography and power, looking at how the camera has figured in the operations of colonialism, the development of nationalism, the transformation of monarchy, and the militarization of violence. Moving beyond a consideration of historical function or effect, the contributors also explore the forms of illumination and revelation for which the camera has offered itself as instrument and symbol. And they trace the emergent forms of alienation and spectralization, as well as the new kinds of fetishism, that photography has brought in its wake. Taken together, the essays chart a bravely interdisciplinary path to visual studies, one that places the particular knowledge of a historicized anthropology in a comparative frame and in conversation with aesthetics and art history.Contributors. James L. Hevia, Marilyn Ivy, Thomas LaMarre, Rosalind C. Morris, Nickola Pazderic, John Pemberton, Carlos Rojas, James T. Siegel, Patricia Spyer

Read more less

In this pathfinding book, based on original archival research, Marsha F. Cassidy offers the first thorough analysis of daytime television's earliest and most significant women's genres, appraising from a feminist perspective what women watched before soap opera rose to prominence.After providing a comprehensive history of the early days of women's programming across the nation, Cassidy offers a critical discussion of the formats, programs, and celebrities that launched daytime TV in America—Kate Smith's variety show and the famed singer's unsuccessful transition from patriotic radio star to 1950s TV idol; the "charm boys" Garry Moore, Arthur Godfrey, and Art Linkletter, whose programs honored women's participation but in the process established the dominance of male hosts on TV; and the "misery shows" Strike It Rich and Glamour Girl and the controversy, both critical and legal, they stirred up.Cassidy then turns to NBC's Home show, starring the urbane Arlene Francis, who infused the homemaking format with Manhattan sophistication, and the ambitious daily anthology drama Matinee Theater, which strove to differentiate itself from soap opera and become a national theater of the air. She concludes with an analysis of four popular audience participation shows of the era—the runaway hit Queen for a Day; Ralph Edwards's daytime show of surprises, It Could Be You; Who Do You Trust?, starring a youthful Johnny Carson; and The Big Payoff, featuring Bess Myerson, the country's first Jewish Miss America. Cassidy's close feminist reading of these shows clearly demonstrates how daytime TV mirrored the cultural pressures, inconsistencies, and ambiguities of the postwar era.

Read more less

INTRODUCED BY JAN MORRIS'[This] gloriously ornate account of that epic journey is a classic' ROBERT MACFARLANE'The feeling of being lost in time and geography with months and years hazily sparkling ahead is a prospect of inconjecturable magic.' In 1933, aged eighteen, Patrick Leigh Fermor set out on his 'great trudge', a year-long journey by foot from the Hook of Holland to Istanbul. Three decades later he wrote A Time of Gifts, the sparklingly original account of the first part of this youthful adventure, which took him through the Low Countries, up the Rhine, through Germany, down the Danube, through Austria and Czechoslovakia, and as far as Hungary.Alone, carrying only a rucksack and with a small allowance of only a pound a week, Fermor had planned to sleep rough - to live 'like a tramp, a pilgrim, or a wandering scholar' - but a chance introduction in Bavaria led to comfortable stays in castles, and provided a glimpse of the old Europe of princes and peasants.Hailed as a masterpiece, A Time of Gifts is in part a coming-of-age memoir, but it is also a rich and compelling portrait of a continent that - despite its resplendent domes and monasteries, its great rivers and grand cities - was soon to be swept away by war, modernisation and profound social change. 'Not only is this journey one of physical adventure but of cultural awakening. Architecture, art, genealogy, quirks of history and language are all devoured -- and here passed on -- with a gusto uniquely his' COLIN THUBRON, SUNDAY TIMES'One of the most romantic books of the twentieth century, Patrick Leigh Fermor's account of a long walk across Europe is also a literary treasure, a rich blend of action and observation' GUARDIAN

Read more less

'Milton Glaser's designs changed the way we see the world.' - Gloria Steinem An overview of the work of illustrator and designer Milton Glaser during the 1960s and 70s From 1954, when he co-founded the legendary Push Pin Studios, to the late ’70s, Milton Glaser was one of the most celebrated graphic designers of his day, whose work graced countless book and album covers, posters, magazine covers, and advertisements, both famous and little-known. Glaser largely defined the international visual style for illustration, advertising, and typeface design and interest in his legacy continues unabated, with modern creatives acknowledging his influence; for example, in 2014 Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner enlisted Glaser to design the ad campaign and branding for the show’s final season. His renowned work garnered solo exhibitions at the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Creator of the iconic ‘I love NY’ logo (featuring a heart symbol in place of the word ‘love’) and cofounder of New York magazine, Glaser received numerous accolades and lifetime achievement awards. Across thousands of works across all print media, he invented a graphic language of bright, flat color, drawing and collage, imbued with wit. This collection of work from Glaser’s Pop period features hundreds of examples of his design that have not been seen since their original publication, demonstrating the graphic revolution that transformed design and popular culture.

Read more less

The Eastern Fertile Crescent region of western Iran and eastern Iraq hosted major developments in the transition from hunter-forager to farmer-herder lifestyles through the Early Neolithic period, 10,000-7000 BC. Within the scope of the Central Zagros Archaeological Project, excavations have been conducted since 2012 at two Early Neolithic sites in the Kurdistan region of Iraq: Bestansur and Shimshara. Bestansur represents an early stage in the transition to sedentary, farming life, where the inhabitants pursued a mixed strategy of hunting, foraging, herding and cultivating, maximising the new opportunities afforded by the warmer, wetter climate of the Early Holocene. They also constructed substantial buildings of mudbrick, including a major building with a minimum of 65 human individuals, mainly infants, buried under its floor in association with hundreds of beads. These human remains provide new insights into mortuary practices, demography, diet and disease during the early stages of sedentarisation. The material culture of Bestansur and Shimshara is rich in imported items such as obsidian, carnelian and sea-shells, indicating the extent to which Early Neolithic communities were networked across the Eastern Fertile Crescent and beyond. This volume includes final reports by a large-scale interdisciplinary team on all aspects of the results from excavations at Bestansur and Shimshara, through application of state-of-the-art scientific techniques, methods and analyses. The net result is to re-emphasise the enormous significance of the Eastern Fertile Crescent in one of the most important episodes in human history: the Neolithic transition.

Read more less

This textbook is endorsed by OCR and supports the specification for AS and A-Level Classical Civilisation (first teaching September 2017). It covers Components 21 and 22 from the 'Culture and the Arts' Component Group: Greek Theatre by James Renshaw and Laura Swift Imperial Image by Robert Hancock-Jones Why was tragedy and comedy so central to Athenian life? How did drama challenge Athenians to reflect on their way of living? How did the emperor Augustus present himself as the restorer of Rome’s greatness? To what extent did he provide an example to later political figures as a promoter of his regime? This book guides AS and A-Level students to a greater understanding of these issues. The Greek Theatre chapter explores the festival context in which tragedies and comedies were performed, and then analyses three plays: Oedipus the King by Sophocles, Bacchae by Euripides and Frogs by Aristophanes. The Imperial Image chapter analyses the self-presentation of Rome’s most dynamic emperor, who claimed to have found Rome ‘a city of bricks, but left it a city of marble’. The ideal preparation for the final examinations, all content is presented by experts and experienced teachers in a clear and accessible narrative. Ancient literary and visual sources are described and analysed, with supporting images. Helpful student features include study questions, quotations from contemporary scholars, further reading, and boxes focusing in on key people, events and terms. Practice questions and exam guidance prepare students for assessment. A Companion Website is available at www.bloomsbury.com/class-civ-as-a-level.

Read more less

Whether you want to explore the Acropolis of Athens, watch the sunset in Santorini, or party in Mykonos, the local Fodor's travel experts in Greece are here to help! Fodor's Essential Greece: with the Best of the Islands guidebook is packed with maps, carefully curated recommendations, and everything else you need to simplify your trip-planning process and make the most of your time. This new edition has been fully-redesigned with an easy-to-read layout, fresh information, and beautiful color photos. Fodor's “Essential” guides have been named by Booklist as the Best Travel Guide Series of 2020!Fodor's Essential Greece travel guide includes: AN ILLUSTRATED ULTIMATE EXPERIENCES GUIDE to the top things to see and do MULTIPLE ITINERARIES to effectively organize your days and maximize your time MORE THAN 40 DETAILED MAPS to help you navigate confidently COLOR PHOTOS throughout to spark your wanderlust! HONEST RECOMMENDATIONS FROM LOCALS on the best sights, restaurants, hotels, nightlife, shopping, activities, and more PHOTO-FILLED “BEST OF” FEATURES on “Best Beaches in Greece,” “What to Eat and Drink,” and more TRIP-PLANNING TOOLS AND PRACTICAL TIPS including when to go, getting around, beating the crowds, and saving time and money HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL INSIGHTS providing rich context on the local people, art, architecture, cuisine, and more SPECIAL FEATURES on “The Acropolis: Ascent to Glory,” “Greece's Gods and Heroes,” “The March of Greek History,” “The Meteora Monasteries,” and more LOCAL WRITERS to help you find the under-the-radar gems GREEK-LANGUAGE PRIMER with useful words and essential phrases UP-TO-DATE COVERAGE ON: Athens, the Southern Cyclades including Santorini, the Northern Cyclades including Mykonos, Crete, Corfu, Rhodes, the Northern Aegean Islands, the Sporades, the Saronic Gulf Islands, Delphi, Central Macedonia, the Meteora Monasteries, and the Peloponnese. Planning on visiting more countries in Europe? Check out Fodor's Essential Italy and Essential Croatia.*Important note for digital editions: The digital edition of this guide does not contain all the images or text included in the physical edition.ABOUT FODOR'S AUTHORS: Each Fodor's Travel Guide is researched and written by local experts. Fodor's has been offering expert advice for all tastes and budgets for over 80 years. For more travel inspiration, you can sign up for our travel newsletter at fodors.com/newsletter/signup, or follow us @FodorsTravel on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. We invite you to join our friendly community of travel experts at fodors.com/community to ask any other questions and share your experience with us!

Read more less

However swiftly it passes, youth is always with us, a perpetual passing phase, an apprenticeship to the myriad ways of the world, subject of panegyrics and diatribes, romances and cautionary tales from antiquity to our day. This two-volume history is the first to present a comprehensive account of what youth has been in the West and what it has meant through the ages. Brought together by Giovanni Levi and Jean-Claude Schmitt, a company of gifted historians and social scientists traces the changing character and status of young people from the gymnasia of ancient Greece to the lycées of modern France, from the sweatshops of the industrial revolution to the crucibles of Nazi youth.Monumental in its scope, minute in its attention to detail, A History of Young People takes us into the sensational rituals surrounding youth in Roman antiquity (such as the Lupercalia, with its nudity and whipping) and into the chivalric trials awaiting the privileged young of the Middle Ages. Elisabeth Crouzet-Pavan and Michel Pastoureau explore the elusive question of what defines youth, a concept that over time has reached from infancy to the age of forty. Elliott Horowitz and Renata Ago consider the young in the context of the family--within the different worlds of European Judaism and Catholicism through the Renaissance. Sabina Loriga takes us through three centuries of military experience to temper and complicate our assumptions about the youthful face of war. Michelle Perrot focuses on working-class youth, and Jean-Claude Caron on the young at school. The obedient and the rebellious are here, the cherished and the sacrificed, the children catapulted into adult responsibility, the adults who have yet to forsake the protections of childhood. What emerges in this history as never before is a vast, richly textured picture of youth as a changing constant of culture, society, economics, politics, and art, and as a uniquely complex experience of acculturation in every life.

Read more less

Hailed by Peter Schjeldahl in The New Yorker as “the most original, controversial, and expensive American artist of the past three and a half decades,” Jeff Koons has come to reign as a master of the market, a wry puppeteer with a “formidable aesthetic intelligence.” His elaborate, exquisitely produced sculptures draw from a contemporary lexicon of consumerism — often featuring large-scale reproductions of toys, household items, or luxury goods — while simultaneously holding up a mirror to the very culture from which they are extracted. These references to popular media are evidenced not merely in his choice of subject matter but also in his visual techniques: his sculptures frequently comprise smooth, mirrored surfaces, and his paintings employ bright and saturated colors. Jeff Koons: Gazing Ball — the first catalogue on the artist’s work to be published by David Zwirner — was produced on the occasion of the major 2013 exhibition at the gallery in New York, which marked the world debut of his Gazing Ball series, a brand new body of work that occupies an important place in the trajectory of his practice. Conceptually derived from the mirrored ornaments encountered on many suburban lawns, including those of Koons’s childhood hometown in rural Pennsylvania, every sculpture is anchored by a blue “gazing ball” of hand-blown glass. These are situated atop large, white-plaster sculptures that have been alternately modeled after iconic works from the Greco-Roman era, including the Farnese Hercules and the Esquiline Venus, or after such quotidian objects from the contemporary residential landscape as a rustic mailbox, a birdbath, and an inflatable garden snowman. Created in close collaboration with Koons, this elegant publication echoes the classic design of a 1970 Picasso catalogue that the artist admires. Inside, vivid color plates of the sculptures in situ capture the stark contrast between the pristine whiteness of the plaster and the highly reflective spheres. In their perfect contours and smooth, glistening surfaces, the gazing balls implicate audience as well as context — mirroring both and offering playful yet powerful meditations on the dialogue between gaze and reflection. “While all of the sculptures are grounded in their own distinct narratives, derived from Art History and suburban towns,” writes Francesco Bonami in his catalogue essay, “the seemingly fragile and delicate gazing ball establishes that sense of uncertain equilibrium that exists between history and fantasy, magic and materiality, mass culture and exclusive beauty.”

Read more less

From the startingly distinctive achievements of the internationally renowned twin-brother painters Os Gemeos to the visual powers of the ubiquitous daredevil pichadores, Brazil's graffiti captivates with entirely fresh ideas, techniques and messages. Whether one’s taste is for the extraordinary creative extremes generated amid urban deprivation or for crafted murals at their most elaborate, Graffiti Brasil offers both stunning photography and in-depth history and insight. With graffiti worldwide becoming more homogenized, this book is a reminder of the strengths of creative independence and the rich fruits of cultural diversity.

Read more less

A visionary scientist, a supreme painter, a man of eccentricity and ambition: Leonardo da Vinci had many lives. Born from a fleeting affair between a country girl and a young notary, Leonardo was never legitimized by his father and received no formal education. While this freedom from the routine of rigid and codified learning may have served to stimulate his natural creativity, it also caused many years of suffering and an insatiable need to prove his own worth. It was a striving for glory and an obsessive thirst for knowledge that prompted Leonardo to seek the protection and favour of the most powerful figures of his day, from Lorenzo de’ Medici to Ludovico Sforza, from the French governors of Milan to the pope in Rome, where he could vie for renown with Michelangelo and Raphael. In this revelatory account, Antonio Forcellino draws on his expertise – both as historian and as restorer of some of the world’s greatest works of art – to give us a more detailed view of Leonardo than ever before. Through careful analyses of his paintings and compositional technique, down to the very materials used, Forcellino offers fresh insights into Leonardo’s artistic and intellectual development. He spans the great breadth of Leonardo’s genius, discussing his contributions to mechanics, optics, anatomy, geology and metallurgy, as well as providing acute psychological observations about the political dynamics and social contexts in which Leonardo worked. Forcellino sheds new light on a life all too often overshadowed and obscured by myth, providing us with a fresh perspective on the personality and motivations of one of the greatest geniuses of Western culture.

Read more less

Unmatched in his ingenuity, technical prowess, and curiosity, Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) epitomizes the humanistic ideal of the Renaissance man: a peerless master of painting, sculpture, cartography, anatomy, architecture – and more. Simultaneously captivating art historians, collectors, and the millions who flock yearly to admire his works, Leonardo’s appeal is as diffuse as were his preoccupations. His images permeate nearly every facet of Western culture – The Vitruvian Man is engraved into millions of Euro coins, The Last Supper is considered the single most reproduced religious painting in history, and the Mona Lisa has entranced countless artists and observers for centuries. This updated edition of our XL monograph is an unrivaled survey of Leonardo’s life and work, including a catalogue raisonné of all paintings. Through stunning full-bleed details, we experience every measured brushstroke, each a testament to Leonardo’s masterful ability. An expansive catalog of nearly 700 of Leonardo’s drawings further illuminates the breadth of his pursuits. From diagrams of intricately engineered machines to portraits of plump infants, they stand reflective of his boundless and visionary technical imagination, balanced with a subtle and perceptive hand, capable of rendering quotidian moments with moving emotional timbre. For the new edition, Frank Zöllner has written a new preface in which he considers the latest scholarly findings on Leonardo’s oeuvre and takes a critical look at the much-discussed painting Christ as Salvator Mundi, sold at auction for the record sum of around 400 million euros. Numerous illustrations have been replaced by new photographs.

Read more less

Most leadership research has been undertaken in corporate contexts and little attention has been given to leadership development in entrepreneurial and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This book argues that the study of entrepreneurs as leaders is a gap in both the leadership and the entrepreneurship literatures. The impact of leaders is a crucial factor in the success or failure of smaller entrepreneurial firms and has implications for our understanding of new venture viability and growth.Featuring conceptual and empirical chapters from a wide range of cultures and entrepreneurship and leadership ecosystems, this Research Handbook is the first of its kind to present a systematic overview of the entrepreneurial leadership field, providing a state-of-the-art perspective and highlighting unanswered questions and opportunities for further research. It consolidates existing theory development, stimulates new conceptual thinking and includes path-breaking empirical explorations.With its international perspective illustrating the practice of entrepreneurial leadership in a wide range of organizational contexts, the Research Handbook on Entrepreneurship and Leadership offers an essential reference to students and researchers in entrepreneurship and leadership alike.Contributors: A. Bagheri, S. Barnes, R.G. Bell, M. Brännback, A. Carsrud, M.-H. Chen, M.H. Cone, J. Croad, A. Gibb, E. Hamilton, P. Harrison, R. Harrison, G. Haskins, O.M. Hatem, S. Kempster, D.F. Kuratko, C. Leitch, A. Lincoln, M. McAdam, S. Mueller, Z.A.L. Pihie, D. Rae, M. Renko, M.A. Roomi, A. Röschke, L. Schjoedt, C. Skaveniti, R. Smith, S. Smith, V. Stead, V. Tzoumpa, V.S. Valencia, T. Volery, J.L. Whittington, H. Zhang

Read more less

This collection introduces, illustrates, and advances fresh ideas about creative practice inquiry in architecture. It concerns architectural knowledge: how architects can use their distinctive skills, habits, and values to advance professional insight, and how such insights can be extended to make wider contributions to society, culture, and scholarship. It shows how architectural ways of knowing and working can be mobilised as tools for research.Collected here are a series of creative practices that emerge out of architecture and actively engage with other fields and methods reaching across the academic landscape. Architectural inquiries collected in this book probe matters that lie beyond the obvious expectations, the conventions, the default, of the discipline. Drawing, borrowing, adapting, dramatising, perhapsing, monstering, experimenting, cartooning—the tools and methods of each inquiry vary but they all share a common outward gaze, engaging architectural ways of knowing with other disciplines and practices including the arts, biological sciences, ethnography, and technology. Chapters gathered here offer insight not only into incipient modes and tools of architectural research, but emerging ethical, practical, and philosophical positions intimately tied to the creative practices involved.Setting-out the idea of creative practice inquiry in architecture, this innovative volume offers a lively and resourceful contribution to a growing body of work on design as research. It will be of interest to: students keen to pursue architectural ways of thinking and writing; practitioners who want to use their distinctive professional abilities to contribute to architectural and scholarly knowledge; and academics and doctoral candidates keen to engage with the burgeoning scholarly field of design research.

Read more less

Alfarabi (ca. 870–950) founded the great tradition of Aristotelian/Platonic political philosophy in medieval Islamic and Arabic culture. In this second volume of political writings, Charles E. Butterworth presents translations of Alfarabi's Political Regime and Summary of Plato’s "Laws" , accompanied by introductions that discuss the background for each work and explore its teaching. In addition, the texts are carefully annotated to aid the reader in following Alfarabi’s argument. An Arabic-English/English-Arabic glossary allows interested readers to verify the way particular words are translated. Throughout, Butterworth’s method is to translate consistently the same Arabic word by the same English word, rendering Alfarabi’s style in an unusually faithful and yet approachable manner.Political Regime consists of two parts. One focuses on nature and natural existing things as well as the principles beyond nature that guide the existing things. In the second part, the exposition centers on human beings and their place in the larger cosmic whole as well as on how a proper organization of human life in political association provides the conditions whereby human beings might achieve their purpose.Summary of Plato’s "Laws" gives an account of the first nine books of Plato’s Laws. Alfarabi explains Plato’s art of writing in general and the method he follows in writing the Laws in particular. Unlike Alfarabi’s other works, which examine the place of legislation and laws in the broader context of political philosophy, the Summary is a more specialized study of the question of laws and how and why they are formulated, with a particular focus on the relevance of Plato’s investigation concerning Greek divine laws for the study and understanding of all divine laws.

Read more less

The Greek myths are timeless classics, whose scenes and figures have captivated us since ancient times. The gods and heroes of these legends hold up a mirror to the human condition, embodying universal characteristics and emotions, like love, hatred, fortune, jealousy, revenge, hubris, greed, or bravery. These traits are the basis for immortal dramas and rich narratives, as profound as they are entertaining, which form the bedrock of our culture and literature today and remain relevant and fascinating for all readers, young and old alike.This edition contains 21 of the most famed episodes from the Trojan War, the subsequent wanderings of Odysseus, and his long-awaited return to Ithaca. The texts are carefully compiled from the seminal work Sagen des klassischen Altertums (Gods and Heroes: Myths and Epics of Ancient Greece) by Gustav Schwab, and strikingly illustrated by 15 artists, among them outstanding representatives of the Golden Age of Book Illustration and the Arts and Crafts Movement, including Walter Crane, William Russell Flint, Newell Convers Wyeth, and Virginia Frances Sterrett.These illustrations are complemented by scene-setting vignettes for each story and a genealogical tree of Greek gods and goddesses by Clifford Harper. Placing the tales in a historical context, the book contains an introduction by Dr. Michael Siebler and is rounded off with an extensive glossary of the most important protagonists in the Greek myths. The heroism, tragedy, and theater of Greek mythology glimmer through each tale in this lavishly illustrated edition, awakening the gods and heroes to new life.

Read more less

"This adaptation for younger readers (Key Stage 2) will introduce them to this classic of world literature and to Babur’s exciting adventures of discovery and conquest." — The School Run "In a time where we are even more aware of the need for diversity and understanding of other traditions, this will make an excellent addition to any school library." — Margaret Pemberton "This dynamic retelling of the memoirs of Babur, founder of the Mughal empire and Uzbek national hero, features the triumphs and reverses of his military and political career, with richly coloured illustrations." — The Guardian "A perfect introduction to the Baburnama for young readers giving them a flavour of this classic of world literature and Babur’s exciting adventures of discovery and conquest." — Outside in World The memoirs of Babur (1483–1530), descendant of Genghis Khan and Timur (Tamburlaine) and founder of the mighty Mughal Empire, enjoy worldwide renown as the first true autobiography in Islamic literature and an absorbing account of conquest and wise rule, composed by a man whose erudition and statecraft have elevated him to the status of a national hero in the countries of Central Asia. Babur’s narrative describes not only the battles that propelled him to power, but the people, flora and fauna of the lands he ruled – taking us from Samarkand to Kabul to northern India. Anuradha's lucid and lively retelling of the Baburnama will introduce this classic of world literature to a new generation of young readers, for whom the story of Babur will serve as both a thrilling adventure and an exemplary tale. The Story of Babur: Prince, Emperor, Sage is published as the Republic of Uzbekistan undertakes an extensive programme of promoting and communicating its rich cultural heritage both within its own borders and to the rest of the world. The book’s publication will coincide with an exhibition on the Boburid dynasty of the Mughal Empire at the Smithsonian Institute, Washington DC. For ages 7-11 years. Text in French.

Read more less

The Bible For Dummies (9781119293507) was previously published as The Bible For Dummies (9780764552960). While this version features a new Dummies cover and design, the content is the same as the prior release and should not be considered a new or updated product. Discover the world’s all-time bestseller in an entirely new lightNinety percent of Americans own a copy of the Bible, and while it's the most widely read book, it's also the least understood. Regardless of your religion, understanding the Bible brings much of Western art, literature, and public discourse into greater focus—from Leonardo da Vinci's "Last Supper" painting to the Wachowski brothers' The Matrix movies. People have historically turned to religion to deal with tragedy and change, and with the right insight, the Bible can be an accessible, helpful guide to life's big questions. The Bible For Dummies appeals to people of all faiths, as well as those who don't practice any particular religion, by providing interfaith coverage of the entire Bible and the often fascinating background information that makes the Bible come alive. You'll find answers to such questions as: Where did the Bible come from? Who wrote the Bible? How is the Bible put together? Follow the history of the Bible from its beginning thousands of years ago as tattered scrolls to its status as the bestseller of all time. The Bible For Dummies covers these topics and more: Ten people in the Bible you should know The Hebrew Bible The Apocrypha's hidden treasures What's new about the New Testament Israel's wisdom, literature, and love poetry The Bible's enduring influence The prophets: more than fortunetellers Whether you're interested in broadening your spiritual horizons, uncovering the symbolism of Western culture, or gaining a deeper understanding of the book you grew up reading, The Bible For Dummies has all the information you need to navigate this ancient and fascinating book.

Read more less

For many years, kisses were the only sexual acts to be seen in mainstream American movies. Then, in the 1960s and 1970s, American cinema “grew up” in response to the sexual revolution, and movie audiences came to expect more knowledge about what happened between the sheets. In Screening Sex, the renowned film scholar Linda Williams investigates how sex acts have been represented on screen for more than a century and, just as important, how we have watched and experienced those representations. Whether examining the arch artistry of Last Tango in Paris, the on-screen orgasms of Jane Fonda, or the anal sex of two cowboys in Brokeback Mountain, Williams illuminates the forms of pleasure and vicarious knowledge derived from screening sex.Combining stories of her own coming of age as a moviegoer with film history, cultural history, and readings of significant films, Williams presents a fascinating history of the on-screen kiss, a look at the shift from adolescent kisses to more grown-up displays of sex, and a comparison of the “tasteful” Hollywood sexual interlude with sexuality as represented in sexploitation, Blaxploitation, and avant-garde films. She considers Last Tango in Paris and Deep Throat, two 1972 films unapologetically all about sex; In the Realm of the Senses, the only work of 1970s international cinema that combined hard-core sex with erotic art; and the sexual provocations of the mainstream movies Blue Velvet and Brokeback Mountain. She describes art films since the 1990s, in which the sex is aggressive, loveless, or alienated. Finally, Williams reflects on the experience of screening sex on small screens at home rather than on large screens in public. By understanding screening sex as both revelation and concealment, Williams has written the definitive study of sex at the movies.Linda Williams is Professor of Film Studies and Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley. Her books include Porn Studies, also published by Duke University Press; Playing the Race Card: Melodramas of Black and White from Uncle Tom to O. J. Simpson; Viewing Positions: Ways of Seeing Film; and Hard Core: Power, Pleasure, and the “Frenzy of the Visible.”A John Hope Franklin Center BookNovember424 pages129 illustrations6x9 trim sizeISBN 0-8223-0-8223-4285-5paper, $24.95ISBN 0-8223-0-8223-4263-4library cloth edition, $89.95ISBN 978-0-8223-4285-4paper, $24.95ISBN 978-0-8223-4263-2library cloth edition, $89.95

Read more less

A privileged peek at the homes and gardens of the exclusive Southern California enclave, Montecito "In Montecito Style, photographer Firooz Zahedi and writer Lorie Dewhirst Porter capture the sheer beauty of the West Coast town, known for incredible homes." - Galerie Magazine The seaside town of Montecito is often overshadowed by its neighbor Santa Barbara—which is generally how its residents like it. Though home and refuge to numerous celebrities, Montecito’s intentional cultivation of a low-key profile has allowed for a unique community to emerge, and with it, a multifaceted interior and garden design culture. Montecito Style: Paradise on California’s Gold Coast is the first book to present twenty houses and landscapes in an eclectic range of styles and rich architectural legacy that coalesce into a quintessential “California style.” The residences featured in this book reflect the diversity of design that has defined California living for more than a century: early standard-setters by George Washington Smith and an Andalusian-style abode by his protégé (and Santa Barbara’s first licensed female architect) Lutah Maria Riggs, Beaux-Arts mansions, converted carriage houses, nouveau palazzi, low-slung midcentury modern abodes, an iconic concrete-and-glass house from the 1970s, and even a studio apartment above a garage. With houses and gardens by prominent interior and landscape designers—from the home of living legend John Saladino, and recent projects by Richard Hallberg, Daniel Cuevas, Stacy Fausset, and Lee Kirch—Montecito Style provides an inside look at this coastal design haven. Heavily illustrated, Montecito Style features more than 250 photographs by celebrity and interiors photographer Firooz Zahedi, alongside captivating text by established design writer Lorie Dewhirst Porter, both longtime residents of the area. Zahedi’s photographs are alluring, and his passion for these homes and gardens is palpable, as well as the design elements and art collections of these creative homeowners. An informed foreword by Marc Appleton, an architect and California architectural history expert, also helps establish the local context for these homes. Montecito is the hidden Southern California treasure, and with Montecito Style, readers will experience peak interior inspiration and have unprecedented access to this truly special design haven in all its coastal glory.

Read more less

Tall buildings give tangible form to human aspiration. Since the Tower of Babel, they have served as powerful expressions of our knowledge and will. Their monumentality represents the optimism of society. 'HOK Tall Buildings' is a visually engaging, accessible reference guide highlighting some of the world's most innovative tall buildings. Written by global design, architecture, engineering and planning firm HOK, the book features creative conceptual designs, projects under construction and built high-rises worldwide. Throughout the book, central themes guiding the design of these tall buildings begin to emerge. These include a focus on creating high-performance, sustainable, iconic, efficient and mixed-use structures that increase the density urban environments. The global teams at HOK excel at designing intelligent, high-performance tall buildings that become symbols of their time and place. HOK Tall Buildings chronicles the firm's best recent designs for high-rises around the world, including: -In Saudi Arabia, an iconic centrepiece anchoring a new office district -In Azerbaijan, a flame-inspired trio of towers that transforms Baku's skyline -In South Korea, an iconic residential gateway to the neighbourhoods of Incheon's dynamic northern district Each high-rise profiled in the book is designed to blend human need, environmental stewardship, value creation, sense of place, science and art. Gain insight into the minds and approaches of HOK's global design teams as you peruse floor plans, sketches, renderings and photographs of dozens of dynamic tall buildings. Learn how an integrated design process enables teams to solve profound functional and technical challenges while igniting the imagination. Discover how designers of tall buildings can balance internal functions with the external demands of site, climate and culture to create memorable, sustainable structures that enrich people's lives. Illustrated throughout

Read more less

'This book is brilliant. Utterly, utterly brilliant. Apart from the epilogue, which is idiotic' Jeremy Clarkson'F*cking brilliant' Sarah KnightAN EXHILARATING JOURNEY THROUGH THE MOST CREATIVE AND CATASTROPHIC F*CK-UPS OF HUMAN HISTORYIn the seventy thousand years that modern human beings have walked this earth, we've come a long way. Art, science, culture, trade - on the evolutionary food chain, we're real winners. But, frankly, it's not exactly been plain sailing, and sometimes - just occasionally - we've managed to really, truly, quite unbelievably f*ck things up.From Chairman Mao's Four Pests Campaign, to the American Dustbowl; from the Austrian army attacking itself one drunken night, to the world's leading superpower electing a reality TV mogul as President... it's pretty safe to say that, as a species, we haven't exactly grown wiser with age.So, next time you think you've really f*cked up, this book will remind you: it could be so much worse...FURTHER PRAISE FOR HUMANS:'Very funny' Mark Watson'A light-touch history of moments when humans have got it spectacularly wrong... Both readable and entertaining' The Telegraph'Chronicles humanity's myriad follies down the ages with malicious glee and much wit ... a rib-tickling page-turner' Business Standard'A timely, irreverent gallop through thousands of years of human stupidity' Nicholas Griffin, Ping-Pong Diplomacy: The Secret History Behind the Game That Changed the World

Read more less

The must-have classic work on early Japanese photography!"Writer Bennett crafted this beautiful and educational book from a collection of 350 old and rare images captured by Western photographers. This book offers a glimpse of life in Japan during one of its most dramatic periods in history." —Shutterbug Magazine"The extensive collection of valuable photographs in this book and its text might be described as a visual record of our native land during that period, a record that has been lost to us since so many early photographs left Japan." —Message announcing Photography in Japan: 1853-1912 as the Winner of the 2007 International Award of the Photographic Society of JapanThis book presents a fascinating visual record of Japan and Japanese culture during its metamorphosis from a feudal society to a modern industrial nation—at a time when the art of photography was still in its infancy. The 350 rare images in this book, most of them published here for the first time, chronicle the introduction of photography in Japan and the history of early Japanese photography. These images are vital in helping us to understand the dramatic changes occurring in Japanese society during this critical period.Taken between 1853 and 1912 by talented Japanese and foreign photographers, these photographs document the history of photography in Japan in a comprehensive and systematic way, with extensive information about the photographers as well as the people and subjects illustrated. The images, whether sensational or everyday, intimate or panoramic, document a nation on the brink of abandoning its traditional ways and entering the modern age.

Read more less

America’s fascination with the stock market dates back to the Gilded Age.Winner of the BAAS Book Prize of the British Association of American StudiesAmericans pay famously close attention to “the market,” obsessively watching trends, patterns, and swings and looking for clues in every fluctuation. In Reading the Market, Peter Knight explores the Gilded Age origins and development of this peculiar interest. He tracks the historic shift in market operations from local to national while examining how present-day ideas about the nature of markets are tied to past genres of financial representation.Drawing on the late nineteenth-century explosion of art, literature, and media, which sought to dramatize the workings of the stock market for a wide audience, Knight shows how ordinary Americans became both emotionally and financially invested in the market. He analyzes popular investment manuals, brokers’ newsletters, newspaper columns, magazine articles, illustrations, and cartoons. He also introduces readers to fiction featuring financial tricksters, which was characterized by themes of personal trust and insider information. The book reveals how the popular culture of the period shaped the very idea of the market as a self-regulating mechanism by making the impersonal abstractions of high finance personal and concrete.From the rise of ticker-tape technology to the development of conspiracy theories, Reading the Market argues that commentary on the Stock Exchange between 1870 and 1915 changed how Americans understood finance—and explains what our pervasive interest in Wall Street says about us now.

Read more less

Shortlist, Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction Journey with No Maps is the first biography of P.K. Page, the brilliant twentieth-century poet and a fine artist. The product of over a decade's research and writing, the book follows Page as she becomes one of Canada's best-loved and most influential writers. "A borderline being," as she called herself, she recognized the new choices offered to women by modern life but followed only those related to her quest for self-discovery. Tracing Page's life through two wars, world travels, the rise of modernist and Canadian cultures, and later Sufi study, biographer Sandra Djwa details the people and events that inspired her work. Page's independent spirit propelled her from Canada to England, from work as a radio actress to a scriptwriter for the National Film Board, from an affair with poet F.R. Scott to an enduring marriage with diplomat Arthur Irwin. Page wrote her story in poems, fiction, diaries, librettos, and her visual art. Journey with No Maps reads like a novel, drawing on the poet's voice from interviews, diaries, letters, and writings as well as the voices of her contemporaries. With the vividness of a work of fiction and the thoroughness of scholarly dedication, Djwa illustrates the complexities of Page's private experience while also documenting her public emergence as an internationally known poet. It is both the captivating story of a remarkable woman and a major contribution to the study of Canada's literary and artistic history.

Read more less

The mathematics of ancient Egypt was fundamentally different from our math today. Contrary to what people might think, it wasn't a primitive forerunner of modern mathematics. In fact, it can't be understood using our current computational methods. Count Like an Egyptian provides a fun, hands-on introduction to the intuitive and often-surprising art of ancient Egyptian math. David Reimer guides you step-by-step through addition, subtraction, multiplication, and more. He even shows you how fractions and decimals may have been calculated--they technically didn't exist in the land of the pharaohs. You'll be counting like an Egyptian in no time, and along the way you'll learn firsthand how mathematics is an expression of the culture that uses it, and why there's more to math than rote memorization and bewildering abstraction. Reimer takes you on a lively and entertaining tour of the ancient Egyptian world, providing rich historical details and amusing anecdotes as he presents a host of mathematical problems drawn from different eras of the Egyptian past. Each of these problems is like a tantalizing puzzle, often with a beautiful and elegant solution. As you solve them, you'll be immersed in many facets of Egyptian life, from hieroglyphs and pyramid building to agriculture, religion, and even bread baking and beer brewing. Fully illustrated in color throughout, Count Like an Egyptian also teaches you some Babylonian computation--the precursor to our modern system--and compares ancient Egyptian mathematics to today's math, letting you decide for yourself which is better.

Read more less

'An immersive novel, steeped in the history and folklore of Crete: transporting, historically informative story-telling' Sunday Times'A moving, superbly written exploration of a family with dark secrets. Crete itself becomes one of the main characters in the story' Irish Times, Best Books 2021----------This was my home. This harbour and sea. These golden alleys. But the town I grew up in has disappeared.Broken by the death of her husband, Ri, a successful international artist living in London, returns to her ancestral home of Crete. The Greek island is known for its ancient myth and mass tourism, but when Ri returns she finds a secret, darker history. As the home she left deals with a looming Brexit, and the home she rediscovered grapples with a refugee crisis, Ri confronts her changing identity. Unearthing stories from her family's past leaves a permanent mark on her understanding of herself, her relationship to her country, and her art. Lyrical, unsettling and evocative, Daughters of the Labyrinth explores the power of buried memory and the grip of the past on the present, and questions how well we can ever know our own family.----------'Daughters of the Labyrinth is a novel about a daughter's passionate quest for the truth about what happened to her parents in Crete during the German occupation. It is also a sumptuous and sensuous evocation of Crete itself, its landscape and culture. Ruth Padel's brings a poet's eye to this world of great physical beauty and gnarled legacy' Colm Toibin

Read more less

Though blacks were not often seen on the streets of seventeenth-century London, they were already capturing the British imagination. For two hundred years, as Britain shipped over three million Africans to the New World, popular images of blacks as slaves and servants proliferated in London art, both highbrow and low. Catherine Molineux assembles a surprising array of sources in her exploration of this emerging black presence, from shop signs, tea trays, trading cards, board games, playing cards, and song ballads to more familiar objects such as William Hogarth’s graphic satires. By idealizing black servitude and obscuring the brutalities of slavery, these images of black people became symbols of empire to a general populace that had little contact with the realities of slave life in the distant Americas and Caribbean.The earliest images advertised the opulence of the British Empire by depicting black slaves and servants as minor, exotic characters who gazed adoringly at their masters. Later images showed Britons and Africans in friendly gatherings, smoking tobacco together, for example. By 1807, when Britain abolished the slave trade and thousands of people of African descent were living in London as free men and women, depictions of black laborers in local coffee houses, taverns, or kitchens took center stage.Molineux’s well-crafted account provides rich evidence for the role that human traffic played in the popular consciousness and culture of Britain during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and deepens our understanding of how Britons imagined their burgeoning empire.

Read more less

The Nazi conscience is not an oxymoron. In fact, the perpetrators of genocide had a powerful sense of right and wrong, based on civic values that exalted the moral righteousness of the ethnic community and denounced outsiders. Claudia Koonz's latest work reveals how racial popularizers developed the infrastructure and rationale for genocide during the so-called normal years before World War II. Her careful reading of the voluminous Nazi writings on race traces the transformation of longtime Nazis' vulgar anti-Semitism into a racial ideology that seemed credible to the vast majority of ordinary Germans who never joined the Nazi Party. Challenging conventional assumptions about Hitler, Koonz locates the source of his charisma not in his summons to hate, but in his appeal to the collective virtue of his people, the Volk. From 1933 to 1939, Nazi public culture was saturated with a blend of racial fear and ethnic pride that Koonz calls ethnic fundamentalism. Ordinary Germans were prepared for wartime atrocities by racial concepts widely disseminated in media not perceived as political: academic research, documentary films, mass-market magazines, racial hygiene and art exhibits, slide lectures, textbooks, and humor. By showing how Germans learned to countenance the everyday persecution of fellow citizens labeled as alien, Koonz makes a major contribution to our understanding of the Holocaust. The Nazi Conscience chronicles the chilling saga of a modern state so powerful that it extinguished neighborliness, respect, and, ultimately, compassion for all those banished from the ethnic majority.

Read more less

A superbly illustrated guide to 64 maps from all around the world! From examples of medieval Mappa Mundi and the first atlas to Google Earth and maps of the moon, this captivating maps book is a must-have for all history and geography enthusiasts and explorers! Embark on a visual tour of the world’s finest maps! This fascinating world atlas book: • Analyses each map visually, with the help of pull-outs and graphic close-up details • Traces the history of maps chronologically, providing a fascinating overview of cartography through the ages • Tells the story behind each map — why it was created, who it was for, and how it was achieved • Profiles key cartographers, explorers and artists • Draws together navigation, propaganda, power, art and politics through the world's greatest maps Maps are much more than just geographical data. They are an accurate reflection of the culture and context of different time frames in history. This remarkable geography book puts cartography on the map! It tells the stories behind great maps through stunning pull-out details and reveals how they have helped people make sense of the world. Embark on a global adventure of a lifetime with this world map book and see our planet like never before! On this mind-blowing journey, you’ll encounter maps that show the way to heaven, depict lands with no sunshine, and even the world ocean floor. With incredible secret stories from British historian Jerry Brotton and insight into how mapmakers have expressed their world views, Great Maps is a welcome addition to any armchair cartographer’s bookshelf.

Read more less

Netsuke have once again come to the fore in the popular imagination of the public. In part this is due to the phenomenal success of Edmund De Waal’s 2010 book, Hare with the Amber Eyes, which highlights a treasured netsuke collection that was challenged by war and the vicissitudes of time. Intricately carved from various materials including ivory, wood and metal, these small toggles served a practical purpose in Japan: a netsuke was used to fasten a man’s sash, an integral part of Japanese costume. Up until the seventeenth century netsuke were relatively insignificant objects that were rarely of artistic interest, but as time passed they evolved in terms of both materials and workmanship, and were then used by men to flaunt their wealth or as an expression of status. Today netsuke are considered an art form in their own right and are prized by collectors around the world. They are found in a variety of forms and depict a wide range of subjects – including figures of human and legendary form, ghosts, animals, botanical subjects and masks. Skilfully worked, these miniature carvings are of great artistic value, but they also provide a window into Japanese culture and society. This book brings together one hundred of the most beautiful and interesting netsuke from the extensive collection of the British Museum, each of which has its own special charm and story to tell. Uncovering the stories behind these netsuke and coupling them with stunning new photography, this book reveals why these tiny objects have captivated so many, the meaning they have held for those who wore them, and what they can tell us about Japanese everyday life.

Read more less

Ever since the International Monetary Fund’s first bailout of Greece’s sinking economy in 2010, the phrase “Greek debt” has meant one thing to the country’s creditors. But for millions who claim to prize culture over capital, it means something quite different: the symbolic debt that Western civilization owes to Greece for furnishing its principles of democracy, philosophy, mathematics, and fine art. Where did this other idea of Greek debt come from, Johanna Hanink asks, and why does it remain so compelling today?The Classical Debt investigates our abiding desire to view Greece through the lens of the ancient past. Though classical Athens was in reality a slave-owning imperial power, the city-state of Socrates and Pericles is still widely seen as a utopia of wisdom, justice, and beauty—an idealization that the ancient Athenians themselves assiduously cultivated. Greece’s allure as a travel destination dates back centuries, and Hanink examines many historical accounts that express disappointment with a Greek people who fail to live up to modern fantasies of the ancient past. More than any other movement, the spread of European philhellenism in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries carved idealized conceptions of Greece in marble, reinforcing the Western habit of comparing the Greece that is with the Greece that once was.Today, as the European Union teeters and neighboring nations are convulsed by political unrest and civil war, Greece finds itself burdened by economic hardship and an unprecedented refugee crisis. Our idealized image of ancient Greece dangerously shapes how we view these contemporary European problems.

Read more less

What is a woman? What is a man? How do they—and how should they—relate to each other? Does our yearning for "wholeness" refer to something real, and if there is a Whole, what is it, and why do we feel so estranged from it? For centuries now, art and literature have increasingly valorized uniqueness and self-sufficiency. The theoreticians who loom so large within contemporary thought also privilege difference over similarity. Silverman reminds us that this is but half the story, and a dangerous half at that, for if we are all individuals, we are doomed to be rivals and enemies. A much older story, one that prevailed through the early modern era, held that likeness or resemblance was what organized the universe, and that everything emerges out of the same flesh. Silverman shows that analogy, so discredited by much of twentieth-century thought, offers a much more promising view of human relations. In the West, the emblematic story of turning away is that of Orpheus and Eurydice, and the heroes of Silverman's sweeping new reading of nineteenth- and twentieth-century culture, the modern heirs to the old, analogical view of the world, also gravitate to this myth. They embrace the correspondences that bind Orpheus to Eurydice and acknowledge their kinship with others past and present. The first half of this book assembles a cast of characters not usually brought together: Friedrich Nietzsche, Sigmund Freud, Marcel Proust, Lou-Andréas Salomé, Romain Rolland, Rainer Maria Rilke, Wilhelm Jensen, and Paula Modersohn-Becker. The second half is devoted to three contemporary artists, whose works we see in a moving new light:Terrence Malick, James Coleman, and Gerhard Richter.

Read more less

In 1860, at the age of twenty-four, Winslow Homer (1836-1910) sold Harper's Weekly two dozen wood engravings, carved into boxwood blocks and transferred to metal plates to stamp on paper. One was a scene that Homer saw on a visit to Boston, his hometown. His illustration shows a crowd of abolitionists on the brink of eviction from a church; at their front is Frederick Douglass, declaring "the freedom of all mankind." Homer, born into the Panic of 1837 and raised in the years before the Civil War, came of age in a nation in crisis. He created multivalent visual tales, both quintessentially American and quietly replete with narrative for and about people of all races and ages. Whether using pencil, watercolor, or, most famously, oil, Homer addressed the hopes and fears of his fellow Americans and invited his viewers into stories embedded with universal, timeless questions of purpose and meaning. Like his contemporaries Twain and Whitman, Homer captured the landscape of a rapidly changing country with an artist's probing insight. His tale is one of America in all its complexity and contradiction, as he evolved and adapted to the restless spirit of invention transforming his world. In Winslow Homer: American Passage, William R. Cross reveals the man behind the art. It is the surprising story of a life led on the front lines of history. In that life, this Everyman made archetypal images of American culture, endowed with a force of moral urgency through which they speak to all people today. Includes Color Images and Maps

Read more less

Known for his orchestral, operatic and choral works, James MacMillan (b. 1959) appeals across the spectrum of contemporary music making. James MacMillan appeals across the spectrum of contemporary music making and is particularly celebrated for his orchestral, operatic and choral pieces. This book, published in time to mark the composer's sixtieth birthday, is thefirst in-depth look at his life, work and aesthetic. From his beginnings in rural Ayrshire and his early work with Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, through the international breakthrough success of The Confession of Isobel Gowdie,the continuing success of works such as the percussion concerto Veni, Veni, Emmaneul and his choral pieces, to his current position as one of the most prominent British composers of his generation, the book explores MacMillan's compositional influences over time. It looks closely at his most significant works and sets them in a wider context defined by contemporary composition, culture and the arts in general. The book also considers MacMillan's strong Catholic faith and how this has influenced his work, along with his politics and his on-going relationship with Scottish nationalism. With the support of the composer and his publisher and unprecedented access to interviews and previously unpublished materials, the book not only provides an appraisal of MacMillan's work but also insights into what it means to be a prominent composer and artist in the twenty-first century. PHILLIP A. COOKE is a Composer and Senior Lecturer and Head of Music at the University of Aberdeen. He has previously co-edited The Music of Herbert Howells for Boydell.

Read more less

This masterful synthesis of criticism and biography surveys all of Hermann Hesse's major works and many of his minor ones in relation to the intricate psychological design of his entire life history. Eugene Stelzig examines what it means to be an "autobiographical writer" by considering Hesse's fictions of the self as an exemplary instance of the relationship between life and art and between biography and autobiography. In a graceful and inviting style, he frees this major confessional writer from the confines of German culture and the status of "cult figure" of the 1960s, and situates him in the tradition of world literature and in a variety of literary, psychological, philosophical, and religious contexts. Three introductory chapters on autobiography and Hesse set the stage for a chronological study. Then follows a penetrating analysis of the balance between biographical fact and confessional fantasy in Hesse's long career, from the failed autobiography of his first literary success, Beneath the Wheel, through the protracted midlife crisis of the grotesque Steppenwolf period, to the visionary autobiography of his magisterial fictional finale, The Glass Bead Game. Originally published in 1988. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Read more less

The Pyramids on the Giza Plateau represent perhaps the most famous archaeological site in the world, capturing on tomb walls frozen moments from almost every aspect of life in ancient Egypt. This book, by one of the foremost experts on the history of Giza, explores new approaches to “cataloging” the site, highlighting efforts at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and Harvard University.The site experienced its first “golden age” as the burial place of three pharaohs of the Egyptian Old Kingdom (Dynasty 4, ca. 2640–2510 BCE). A second golden age came almost five millennia later, when the first modern excavators applied their newly devised archaeological craft to the Giza Plateau. Now, with the advent of many new technologies in the twenty-first century, the Giza Necropolis is available in two, three, and even four dimensions. Children and specialized scholars alike may study the material culture of this ancient civilization from afar, often with greater access than could be achieved in person. However, these new approaches do raise questions: Does 3-D modeling and animation truly improve scholarly comprehension and interpretation? Can interacting with animations still be called scholarship? Where is the border between academic knowledge and mere entertainment?Through specific case studies and an in-depth history of this important project, Peter Der Manuelian provides an excellent model for other digital visualization initiatives. He also offers more general philosophical reflection on the nature of visualization in archaeology and speculates about emerging technologies and how they may be useful in the future.

Read more less

Wander along Amsterdam's sparkling canals, soak up the village vibes and cosmopolitan culture, and experience Amsterdam like a local: on foot!*Walk through the city's coolest neighbourhoods like the Center, Westerpark, the Jordaan, De Pijp, and more, with colour-coded stops and turn-by-turn directions*Find your scene with top ten lists for restaurants, nightlife, museums, and more*Get to know the real Amsterdam: Stroll the canals and admire postmodern architecture or peruse unique boutiques in the buzzing central district. Make like a local and hire a bicycle, ride along busy boulevards, and break for a picnic at a public park. Sip a tripel or witbier at a traditional brewery or artisanal coffee at an outdoor café. Uncover the city's history in its many museums or check out contemporary art exhibits in industrial-style galleries. Feast on a farm-to-table spread at a trendy restaurant and dance the night away to DJ sets at the city's popular nightclubs*Escape the crowds at locally-loved spots and under-the-radar favourites*Explore on the go with foldout maps of each route and a removable full-city map, all in a handy guide that fits in your pocketWith creative routes, public transit options, and a full-city map, you can experience Amsterdam at your own pace without missing a beat.Hit the ground running with more Walks guides, like Moon Barcelona Walks, Moon Berlin Walks, Moon New York Walks, Moon London Walks, Moon Paris Walks, and Moon Rome Walks.

Read more less

Brilliant horsemen and great fighters, the Scythians were nomadic horsemen who ranged wide across the grasslands of the Asian steppe from the Altai mountains in the east to the Great Hungarian Plain in the first millennium BC. Their steppe homeland bordered on a number of sedentary states to the south - the Chinese, the Persians and the Greeks - and there were, inevitably, numerous interactions between the nomads and their neighbours. The Scythians fought the Persians on a number of occasions, in one battle killing their king and on another occasion driving the invading army of Darius the Great from the steppe. Relations with the Greeks around the shores of the Black Sea were rather different - both communities benefiting from trading with each other. This led to the development of a brilliant art style, often depicting scenes from Scythian mythology and everyday life. It is from the writings of Greeks like the historian Herodotus that we learn of Scythian life: their beliefs, their burial practices, their love of fighting, and their ambivalent attitudes to gender. It is a world that is also brilliantly illuminated by the rich material culture recovered from Scythian burials, from the graves of kings on the Pontic steppe, with their elaborate gold work and vividly coloured fabrics, to the frozen tombs of the Altai mountains, where all the organic material - wooden carvings, carpets, saddles and even tattooed human bodies - is amazingly well preserved. Barry Cunliffe here marshals this vast array of evidence - both archaeological and textual - in a masterful reconstruction of the lost world of the Scythians, allowing them to emerge in all their considerable vigour and splendour for the first time in over two millennia.

Read more less