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- Long Wait for an Excellent Book
- A beautiful exhibition
- Glitter and Doom
- Beautiful catalog for
- You can't go wrong with German Expressionism
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Glitter and Doom: German Portraits from the 1920s (Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications)
Sabine Rewald ,
Ian Buruma , and
Matthias Eberle
Manufacturer: Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0300117884 |
Book Description
In the 1920s Germany was in the grip of social and political turmoil: its citizens were disillusioned by defeat in World War I, the failure of revolution, the disintegration of their social system, and inflation of rampant proportions. Curiously, as this important book shows, these years of upheaval were also a time of creative ferment and innovative accomplishment in literature, theater, film, and art.
Glitter and Doom
is the first publication to focus exclusively on portraits dating from the short-lived Weimar Republic. It features forty paintings and sixty drawings by key artists, including Otto Dix, Max Beckmann, and George Grosz. Their works epitomize Neue Sachlichkeit (New Objectivity), in particular the branch of that new form of realism called Verism, which took as its subject contemporary phenomena such as war, social problems, and moral decay. Subjects of their incisive portraits are the artists’ own contemporaries: actors, poets, prostitutes, and profiteers, as well as doctors, lawyers, businessmen, and other respectable citizens. The accompanying texts reveal how these portraits hold up a mirror to the glittering, vital, doomed society that was obliterated when Hitler came to power.
Customer Reviews:
Long Wait for an Excellent Book.......2007-05-12
Finally an excellent review of what the first World War did to German culture and psyche. This book lays it all out. Hitler was a logical consequence. Unfortunately the Western world did not pay enough attention to these portentious signs. The book has beautiful color reproductions, great detailed commentary on each artist featured and enaough historical commentary to make it all plausible.
A beautiful exhibition.......2007-04-08
This is the catalogue for a beautiful exhibition held at the Met last year. The paintings reproduced here are among the best examples of the New Objectivity, a movement that was able to depict the atmosphere, the soul, the world of the Weimar Republic, that brief time span when pre-war Germany enjoyed freedom in the arts and in the minds. These gripping paintings show how ultimately doomed that world was and how the artists were the first to sense the tragic developments that were to succeed it. The front cover, a detail of one of Christian Schad's best known paintings, is a perfect illustration of a society that seems to have enjoyed life knowing that death would come too soon, with the end of that joyful and poetic decadence that was the Berlin of the 1920's.
Glitter and Doom.......2007-03-22
Twice viewed the exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum here in New York. German art in the 20s is raw, obscene and decadent. A raucus reflection on hard times there. They had just suffered WW1, in the midst of fascism, insane inflation, etc.
Highlight: Otto Dix is a wild artist, forever a favorite now. Also a DaDa artist.
I am a frequent art museum visitor. Therefore, in my opinion, this catalogue did the show great justice which is not aways the case.
Beautiful catalog for.......2007-03-08
The BEST museum show I have seen in a long time. Sabine Rewald is a truly great curator, the book is smart and well designed, great color reproductions.
You can't go wrong with German Expressionism.......2007-01-29
How can you say "no" to Otto Dix?? Well...you can't! The actual exhibit at the Met was good (although I thought it'd be bigger) and relatively informative, but the book gets into depths the exhibit couldn't. Ideally you should see the exhibit and thoroughly read the book. You can't quite get the experience of seeing the works within the book, and you can't exactly get the knowledge of just reading the little blurbs that are glued beside each piece in the exhibit.
The book explores the themes of German life before the world turned on itself and the second world war exploded. For the money it's worth the dive into the celebrated, vastly entertaining, stunningly morbid and little studied area of German Expressionism. It's not too late...go out and there and see the exhibit. And then buy the book, since that's what the Met would like you to do.
Amazon.com
When Mother Nature rages, the physical results are never subtle. Because we cannot contain the weather, we can only react by tabulating the damage in dollar amounts, estimating the number of people left homeless, and laying the plans for rebuilding. But as John M. Barry expertly details in Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How It Changed America, some calamities transform much more than the landscape.
While tracing the history of the nation's most destructive natural disaster, Barry explains how ineptitude and greed helped cause the flood, and how the policies created to deal with the disaster changed the culture of the Mississippi Delta. Existing racial rifts expanded, helping to launch Herbert Hoover into the White House and shifting the political alliances of many blacks in the process. An absorbing account of a little-known, yet monumental event in American history, Rising Tide reveals how human behavior proved more destructive than the swollen river itself.
Book Description
An American epic of science, politics, race, honor, high society, and the Mississippi River, Rising Tide tells the riveting and nearly forgotten story of the greatest natural disaster this country has ever known -- the Mississippi flood of 1927. The river inundated the homes of nearly one million people, helped elect Huey Long governor and made Herbert Hoover president, drove hundreds of thousands of blacks north, and transformed American society and politics forever.
A New York Times Notable Book of the Year, winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award and the Lillian Smith Award.
Customer Reviews:
History repeats itself........2007-08-20
I happened to read this book when I was home from work waiting for Hurricane Katrina to make landfall (I live in Baton Rouge, 80 miles North of New Orleans). It was an ironic that I read this book that day. I had no idea of the book's relevance to that day's events. John Barry documents the events and reasons leading up to the great flood of 1927 in incredible detail. Being from South Louisiana, I knew a little about the flood, but most of what I thought I knew was not correct. The facts of what the US Corp of Engineers did or did not do is readily available from a number of sources. The Corp of Engineer's competence or incompetence is subject to debate (Well, It was subject to debate until August 29, 2005). The real revelations as far as I am concerned are the cultural and economic factors that Barry weaves into an enlightening book. It shows how the powers that ruled New Orleans (Canal Bank, Whitney Bank, Hibernia Bank and the Times Picayune Newspaper) deceived and lied to maintain their power and riches at everyone else's expense. St Bernard Parish (County to most of you) was sacrificed by bombing the levee system below New Orleans to take the pressure off of the New Orleans levees (as it turns out, unnecessarily). The amazing part of the book is the "how it changed America" part. From the creation of the Federal based welfare system, Herbert Hoover's rise to stardom and the ultimate election of Huey Long as Governor of Louisiana (and had he not been assassinated, may be President of the United States), the 1927 flood changed America more than any event I can think of other than the Revolutionary War and Civil War. This is a GREAT book worth your time to read. It is said that in order to know the future, you must study the past. Too bad we're still not paying attention !!!!!!!!!!!
The Rising Tide.......2007-02-18
I've barely dipped into the first chapter of this, plus reading at random to wherever the book fell open, and I'm awed. Barry's attention to detail and exhaustive documentation of his sources are exemplary. It is also a darn good read, and it is his thoroughness which makes it that way -- the principal players stand out like characters in a good novel. There was recently a PBS special (I believe it was The American Experience) on the history of New Orleans, and although Barry appeared in it, not nearly enough attention was paid to the 1927 flood, especially to some of the most unsavory aspects such as the machinations of the local power structure. Other than the pleasure of reading this book, I highly recommend it because we had a replay of this in Katrina with a similar display of greed, insensitivity and incompetence. And if it can happen in New Orleans, it can happen anywhere!
The Great Flood.......2006-12-14
I had never heard of the Mississippi flood before picking up this book and I am surprised that I had never hard of it after reading about it. This is arguably the greatest natural disaster to hit the United States until Hurricane Katrina. To see the response of the government then and now there are shocking similarities The army corp of engineers makes a similar performance and it is through private enterprise and local political networks that areas are saved. One of the sadder points in the book is the treatment of African Americans and southern racism in this time period is clearly displayed in most areas. The flood which wiped out parts of Mississippi and spread down to New Orleans was catastrophic. Seeing the idea of detonating levees and sacrificing areas of save others were tough choices that have implications in the post Katrina world. This is a highly recommend book that will make one think about natural disaster response from a truly catastrophic event.
They're Gonna Wash Us Away - The Rest of the Story.......2006-11-02
Randy Newman told the story of the great Louisiana flood of 1927 in a few memorable but not very historically accurate verses. Barry tells it with painstaking research and narrative of 75 years surrounding and including 1927. He opens with the civil engineering debate that raged for years about how to "control" the Mississippi River--levees or controlled drainage. Once the flood happens he focuses on how people dealt with it as it was happening (race relations in the early 20th century were sorely tested) and afterwards (St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes, having been sacrifice to "save" New Orleans, were left almost low and dry when it came time to distribute money for recovery---sound familiar?) One memorable theme is that nature is unsympathetic to political compromise. Barry rivals David McCullough in the genre of popular history writers.
Outstanding Piece of Work in History, Politics and Humanity.......2006-10-26
Mr. Barry has done an exceptional job of weaving the elements of modern life together, natural disaster, power, money, politics, race together to tell an ingrossing and disturbing story, one that is a relevant today as it was when it happened in the late twenties. America is still affected by what happened then and faces many of the same challenges today--Katrina and whenever or whereever there is great human suffering brought on by natural disaster. (Just wait until the New Madrid earthquake occurs again. That may be the only natural disaster that could rival this flood and its effect on our nation, society and culture.)
Power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely, and money--having it--makes that corruption and the arrogance that comes with it, even more dangerous, despicable and deadly. We face all of those issues and threats today, and it is not limited to a political party, but rather to class,to wealth and, sadly and alarmingly, to those we "elect" to represent and protect us.
This book is a sobering look at America as it was, and, sadly, as it is. Political parties do not matter....This not about man's highest, nor is it about man's lowest. It is about man as he is...
Book Description
Depression Glass is as popular as ever and the glass from the 1930s through the 1960s seems even to be gaining ground. Collectors have depended on Gene Florence's books since 1972 for accurate information and values. His new Glassware Pattern Identification Guide, a book that has been needed for many years, will make a great companion for his other books. It includes every pattern featured in his Collector's Encyclopedia of Depression Glass, Collectible Glassware from the 40s, 50's, and 60s, and Collector's Encyclopedia of Elegant Glassware, as well as many more - nearly 400 patterns in all. A gorgeous close-up photograph of a representative piece for every pattern shows great detail to make identification easy. With every pattern, Florence provides the names, the company which made the glass, dates of production, and even colors available. This new guide will be the ideal reference for all glass collectors and dealers, as well as the novice, and a great resource for years to come. AUTHORBIO: A collector since childhood, Gene Florence's hobby of buying and selling glassware turned into a full-time career. First writing a book on Depression Glass, Florence has gone on to author many popular glassware titles including books on Depression Glass; Occupied Japan Collectibles; Kitchen Glassware; Very Rare Glassware; 40s, 50s, 60s Glassware;Elegant Glassware; Stemware; Glassware Pattern Identification; Anchor Hocking's Fire-King; Glass Candlesticks; and Salt Pepper Shakers. REVIEW: This book saves collectors untold hours of research trying to identify things in their inventory. Hundreds of glass patterns are shown in detail for easy reference.
Customer Reviews:
Great.......2007-01-19
The book was very helpful, great photos, nicely laid out. Buyers should definately know, however, that it is a book of more rare pieces.
Extremely helpful.......2007-01-11
The drawings and pictures were so helpful when I was trying to identify glassware. It's a keeper.
Florence's Glassware Pattern Identification Guide: Easy Identification for Glassware from the 1920s Through the 1960s.......2007-01-10
Large clear color photographs make pattern identification easy. Each page includes information such as pattern name, company, dates of production, colors, and number of items in the line. The Florences also indicate the cutting or etching patterns, which are often hard to identify, with photos large enough for the etchings to be seen. I turn to this one often; it's been invaluable in identifying some of my more obscure patterns. This is a must book for glassware collectors!
excellent.......2006-11-12
this is a very informative book. came in great shape and within a few days.
This Vol IV has very rare patterns, should be noted.......2006-11-07
The earlier volumes have the more common patterns, title should reflect this. I, like others, have never seen more than a couple of these pieces. A good book otherwise, though would have liked to know which items are available in each pattern instead of just the number of items in each. It is difficult to determine if you would like to collect a certain pattern otherwise. Book seems to hint that more information is known, but just not included. In nearly all cases, the pictures are excellent. Index includes previous volumes, a great help.
Book Description
There is always another old dress lurking around the corner, waiting to be "rescued", says Kristina Harris. A cornucopia of 403 full-color photographs, of fun, sophisticated, frivolous, and glamorous fashions on live models include rich satin evening gowns, fun flapperish beaded dresses, sleek and classic suits, knickered and skirted bathing suits, distinctive cloche hats, beaded bags, elaborate shoes, and a splendid host of accessory items. From whimsical anecdotes to wonderful historical details that help bring the era alive, this book conveys a vivid picture of the women of Jazz and Big Band era. Garnish this with specific and sound advice on using style, construction, and other details to value, identify, date, and further enhance items in your collection. A value guide is included to help experienced collectors and novices alike as they search for new discoveries. For everyone who has admired the fashions of the 20s, 30s and 40s, this book will be treasured possession.
Customer Reviews:
A Thorough Review of the Era.......1998-12-23
A must-have basic reference for women's fashions of the era. Lots of full color photos with detail shots, and all clothes are shown on real people. Good collecting and care tips, too
Where did they get those gorgeous models?.......1997-11-16
Clear, concise protrayl of beautiful and not-so-beautiful fashions of the 20s-40s. The pricing guide is helpful when buying or selling vintage clothing.
Customer Reviews:
very cool book.......2004-11-18
Basically A Stitch in TIme is full of reprints of period knitting and crochet patterns along with the picture that appeared with the pattern when it was first published. SInce handcrafts tend to be time less (ie a sweater looks the same now as it did 100 years ago) I have to commend Waller on compiling this. The patterns here have a good amount of period feel to them. You get shoulders so high and pointed that they look as if they could take and eye out, a whole section on one piece swim suits and more interesting sleeves and collars than I can count.
I particularly liked the section on hats. Many of them are asymmetrical and parallel what ever style hat was popular at the time. No berets and skullcaps fit all approach here.
This is a really neato book. The patterns are very distinctive. I recommend it if you are curious about older patterns or want to make something that doesn't fit the normal knitting mold.
Book Description
Kevin Starr is the foremost chronicler of the California dream and indeed one of the finest narrative historians writing today on any subject. The first two installments of his monumental cultural history, Americans and the California Dream, have been hailed as "mature, well-proportioned
and marvelously diverse (and diverting)" (The New York Times Book Review), "rich in details and alive with interesting, and sometimes incredible people" (Los Angeles Times), and "a luminous and delightful saga that will become an American classic" (W. Jackson Bate). Now, in Material Dreams, Starr
turns to one of the most vibrant decades in the Golden State's history, the 1920s, when some two million Americans migrated to California, the vast majority settling in or around Los Angeles.
Although he treats readers to intriguing side trips to Santa Barbara and Pasadena, Starr focuses here mainly on Los Angeles, revealing how this major city arose almost defiantly on a site lacking many of the advantages required for urban development, creating itself out of sheer will, the Great
Gatsby of American cities. He describes how William Ellsworth Smyth, the Peter the Hermit of the Irrigation Crusade, propounded the importance of water in Southern California's future, and how such figures as the self-educated, Irish engineer William Mulholland (who built the main aquaducts to Los
Angeles) and George Chaffey (who diverted the Colorado River, transforming desert into the lush Imperial Valley) brought life-supporting water to the arid South. He examines the discovery of oil ("Yes it's oil, oil, oil / that makes LA boil," went the official drinking song of the Uplifters Club),
the boosters and land developers, the evangelists (such as Bob Shuler, the Methodist Savanarola of Los Angeles, and Aimee Semple McPherson), and countless other colorful figures of the period. There are also fascinating sections on the city's architecture (such as the remarkably innovative Bradbury
Building and its eccentric, neophyte designer, George Wyman), the impact of the automobile on city planning, the great antiquarian book collections, the Hollywood film community, and much more.
By the end of the decade, Los Angeles had tripled in population and become the fifth largest city in the nation. In Material Dreams, Kevin Starr captures this explosive growth in a narrative tour de force that combines wide-ranging scholarship with captivating prose.
Customer Reviews:
Starr Hits His Stride..........2004-03-17
Starr hits his stride in this, his third in his epic series on the history of California. At last, Starr is free to focus on the subject that any reader can tell is "near and dear" to his heart: The emergence of Los Angeles as a full blown titan of a city. Although the subtitle to this book is "Southern California Through the 1920's", once again, it would be be more appropriate to hone in on the main subject and retitle the book "Los Angeles and Two Chapters on Santa Barbara Through the 1920's".
Again, not that I'm complaining. Perhaps because of Starr's intent focus on a single city, his talent really shines in this volume. This is one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in the last year.
The first section of the book deals with Southern California and Water. His sub chapter on the Imperial Valley is a real barn burner. I've never read such a complete account of the events in Imperial Valley in the early 20th century, and I would recommend the book for that reason alone.
The second and third sections tackle the emergence of Los Angeles society. Here, Starr goes on the offensive, tackling the idea that L.A. is a cultural wasteland. You can almost hear the voice of a professor lecturing undergraduates. Starr starts at economic institutions, discusses the people of Los Angeles and ends with a discussion of cultural institutions. The end of the third section deals with the "Santa Barbara" alternative.
For me, these two chapters were the least enjoyable in the book.
Fortunately, Starr rebounds with his treatment of literary and "biblio" society in LA. These chapters make for fascinating reading, and were a high point of the entire series. I certainly did not know that LA was a center of the rare book trade!
Vibrant and detailed analysis of the rise of institutions.......1997-09-05
I was a student of Dr. Starr's in the USC Master of Real Estate Development program in the early 1990's. Dr. Starr's analysis of California during the period is both thorough and enlightening. Dr. Starr gives particular emphasis to the Los Angeles element of California growth, with particular analysis of the Department of Water and Power, the Los Angeles Police Department, and, perhaps not coincidentally, the University of Southern California and its training of careerist professionals rather than academics. I highly recommend this work, and by linkage, any of Dr. Starr's works
Book Description
New definitions of American femininity were formed in the pivotal 1920s, an era that vastly expanded the "market" for sexually explicit displays by women. Angela J. Latham shows how quarrels over and censorship of women's performance -- particularly in the arenas of fashion and theater -- uniquely reveal the cultural idiosyncracies of the period and provide valuable clues to the developing iconicity of the female body in its more recent historical phases.
Through disguise, display, or judicious appropriation of both, performance became a crucial means by which women contested, affirmed, mitigated, and revolutionized norms of female self-presentation and self-stylization. Fashion was a hotly contested arena of bodily display. Latham surveys 1920s fashion trends and explores popular fashion rhetoric. Resistance to social mandates regarding women's fashion was nowhere more pronounced than in the matter of "bathing costumes." Latham critiques locally situated contests over swimwear, including those surrounding the first Miss America Pageant, and suggests how such performances sanctioned otherwise unacceptable self-presentations by women.
Looking at American theater, Latham summarizes major arguments about censorship and the ideological assumptions embedded within them. Although sexually provocative displays by women were often the focus of censorship efforts, "leg shows," including revues like the Zeigfeld Follies, were in their heyday. Latham situates the popularity of such performances that featured women's bodies within the larger context of censorship in the American theater at this time.
Customer Reviews:
Too Academic and Without Focus.......2007-05-22
I got this book and I have to say that I read the introduction off of Amazon and wanted to read more stories such as that of the author's Grandmother. The book was WAY too dry and academic which is not necessarily a problem but the author seems to have lost focus. By the closing of the book, the author seemed not to be sure just how to tie up the book. While some aspects of the book were interesting with very good illustrations within, other aspects such as the end chapters dealing with the bathing suit controversies and the chorus girl criticism seemed overwrought with angry feminist analysis from the author. It seemed as if one was trying to figure out if this was the author's own personal opinion or one based off of careful research into the topic. The author was trying to make the case that the 1920s was not an age of hedonistic freedom that is sometimes presented in other books on that time the fact is that from much of her illustrations and footnotes it can clearly be seen that in contrast to the age previous (the Edwardian) age the 20s was in fact an age of Hedonism which has of course been exposited in other books only to come to an end with the economic crash of the 30s. The author failed also to actually analyze the biographies of actual "flappers", chorus girls and others to actually posit her thesis which really failed miserably. Her analysis was simplistic.
Great cover and Illustrations ... but too academic.......2006-07-08
This book reads like a dissertation. It's a great topic, and the cover and title promise much more than it delivers. I strongly suspect this was the author's dissertation project. That's fine because it's well-researched, and the author definitely is an expert on women in the 1920s. But it's a wet subject, and the auther serves it up dry. There's good information in here, but it'll be slow going. On the positive side, there are many great black-and-white illustrations.
An interesting look at life for women in the 1920s........2002-01-05
The author's basic premise is that in the 1920s, women used display to resist, while at times seeming to conform to, those who would have squeezed them into the molds of how society would have them appear. In the first few chapters, she does a good job of this. Especially insightful is the example of her own grandmother, who as a young woman in this time period, disguised both her bobbed hair and her married state so that she could continue in her chosen profession as teacher.
However, in the latter two chapters of the book, the author seems to focus more on the exploitation of women by the theatre industry and it's effects. In this, she seems to stray too far from her theme. It would have been better if she had had more examples like that of her grandmother which supported her theme, rather than diverging off of the topic.
I really do recommend this book at least for the initial chapters, which are an interesting look at the attitudes of an era that has been very much stereotyped. It gives you an idea of the some of the restrictions that would have been felt by a woman who was, not a Gretta Garbo or Clara Bow, but an average person trying to live from day to day....
Book Description
Adventures of a Hollywood Secretary is an insider's view of the film studios of the 1920s--and the first from a secretary's perspective. Rich in gossip, it is also an eyewitness report of Hollywood in transition. In the summer of 1924, Valeria Belletti and her friend Irma visited California, but instead of returning home to New York, the twenty-six-year-old Valeria decided to stay in Los Angeles. She moved into the YWCA, landed a job as Samuel Goldwyn's personal and social secretary and proceeded to trip over history in the making. As she recounts in her dozens of letters to Irma, Valeria Belletti encountered every type of Hollywood player in the course of her working day: moguls, directors, stars, writers, and hopeful extras. She shares news about Valentino's affairs, Sam Goldwyn's bootlegger, the development of the "talkies," her own role in helping to cast Gary Cooper in his first major part and much more--often in hilarious detail. She writes of her living and working conditions, her active social life, and her hopes for the future--all the everyday concerns of a young working woman during the jazz age. Alternating sophistication with naiveté, Valeria's letters intimately document a personal journey while giving us a unique portrait of a fascinating era.
Customer Reviews:
Fascinating Letters for Those Interested in the Period.......2007-02-07
Valeria Belletti was an energetic, intelligent young woman who came to Los Angeles from New York and worked as a secretary to some of the most powerful and interesting people in Hollywood in the late 1920s. During this period, she wrote dozens of letters to her best friend, describing not only her experiences at the movie studios, but her personal feelings and day-to-day life in southern California and on an extended trip to Europe. These letters make up the bulk of this short book, which left me liking Valeria very much and wishing there had been more. Well-written background notes are provided by editor Cari Beauchamp.
While Beauchamp supplies some valuable padding-out of the events and personalities Valeria described, she tends to give the compilation a modern feminist point of view the author of the letters did not seem to have in mind. In contrast, the letters indicate that rather than being the victim of an "iron ceiling" (Beauchamp's term), Valeria, although a high school dropout, had opportunities to grow professionally beyond being a secretary, but chose not to pursue them. Furthermore, rather than half-heartedly marrying a man she was "only fond of" (Beauchamp again) as a sort of economic expedient in an oppressive patriarchal society, Valeria was an independent woman who went where she wanted to go and did what she wanted to do. She had no trouble supporting herself comfortably, and she enthusiastically married a man of modest economic means, of whom she wrote, "The more I'm with him, the more I love him."
I have the paperback edition and find it odd that the name of Valeria Belletti, the delightful author of the letters comprising this book, does not appear on the front cover or the spine, while Beauchamp's name is displayed in large print. For enthusiasts of early Hollywood or 1920s southern California, Valeria's letters are well worth reading, while taking her editor's feminist leanings with a large chunk of salt.
HOLLYWOOD HISTORY AT ITS BEST.......2006-07-04
Fabulous Book. If you want to know the inner-workings of the star-studded Hollywood Machine in the 1920's then this is the book for you. An insider's account with all the trimmings. Cari Beauchamp does it again. BRAVA!
Fascinating... to a point........2006-06-14
This is a very fascinating book if you're into Hollywood history, specifically of the 20's. Although written as letters to a friend, they a lot like a diary, and as such it's a look at Hollywood of that era from a viewpoint we've never seen: the regular employee. There are plenty of books by and about the stars, directors, executives, etc., but this is the first one from a secretary, and while that may not sound as exciting as, say, a book about Buster Keaton, it really is interesting.
What's great is that these were just casual letters, not something their author (Valieria Belletti) expected anyone but her friend to read, consequently she speaks her mind with an openness and honesty you just won't get from someone who's expecting to be quoted. The letters are full of comments and incidents about major stars and directors, but are presented in a casual way, not jazzed up as they would be upon later reminiscence or if they were being told in an interview.
The only thing I didn't like, and this is to be expected from the private letters of one young woman to another, is that the "search for a husband" stuff gets a bit tiresome. It's still interesting in terms of being a window on the mores and social life of the time, and therefore some readers might find it better than the movie studio parts, but I came at the book through an interest in the movies not an interest in how women dated in the 20's. (As I said though, I did find this stuff interesting, it's just that it started to occupy more space than the studio stuff. And in Valieria's defense, it sounded like she was wearying of it after a while too.)
So I'm glad I read the book and I definitely recommend it, just don't expect wall-to-wall insights and revelations about Hollywood. Not that I expected that, but just be sure you don't either.
A Must Read for Anyone with an Interest in Vintage Hollywood.......2006-05-20
This book is not only for film buffs, it is a window to a world that is long gone. It is a bird's eye view of Hollywood at the end of the silent era and transitioning into the age of the talkies.
Aside from the great Hollywood dish, of which there is plenty, Belletti was remarkably candid and refreshingly not star struck. Although, I must confess that I can totally relate to having a crush on Ronald Colman. In the end it is the delightful, matter of fact, take no prisoners Valeria Belletti that you come so much to admire in reading her letters. She was a wonderful letter writer and these letters are, indeed, treasures. At the turn of each page you are delighted anew with some insight or adventure. She was one spunky girl and wrote letters that are filled with details of her days and nights in Hollywood. We need to bless her beloved friend Irma for saving these letters and presenting them to her many years later.
We must also thank Cari Beauchamp for bringing these letters to light and annotating them carefully with her own delightful and informative prose. As I said before, this is a window to a lost world. More than that, it is a celebration of an independent young woman making her way in a man's world and celebrating her life at the height of the jazz age. This will be a volume I will turn to again and again. Don't miss it, this will brighten the gloomiest and dampest spirits on a rainy day.
Customer Reviews:
An excellent study of the flaming youth.......2004-11-12
This well researched and well written study of young people in the 1920's is indespensable to anyone who is interested in the social history of the period. It examines all facets of the "flaming youth" of the period, and offers careful analysis of the people and period. Ms. Fass uses a broad range of original sources to construct her detailed work. Despite it's breadth and depth, it is also easy and fun enough for anyone to read.
This book is absolutely indespensable to anyone who enjoys Fitzgerald, the history of young people, 20th century social history, or the 1920's.
THE ABSOLUTE BEST STUDY OF ITS KIND.......2001-02-12
When I was writing my book COMPLICATED WOMEN, I started looking for books that talked about what was happening with youth in the early part of the 20th century. THE DAMNED AND THE BEAUTY had everything I needed to know. Fass's research is thorough and impeccable, and she's a fine writer. I leaned heavily on this book and on Fass's research. I read other books, plenty of them, but kept coming back to this one. Anyone interested in the 1920s should read this. No scholar who writes about the 20s should dare pass this up.
Customer Reviews:
Great compact reference for an antiques dealer.......2007-03-23
This book was recommended to me by a dealer specializing in depression glass at a glass show, and I was not disappointed. Clear color photographs with company names, dates, color range, and prices listed in a small size book that is easy to tote around. My favorite part is the section on reproductions in the back of the book, not found in some of the other glass books I own! This is the second copy I have purchased (it comes out every two years) just to keep abreast of the reproductions, since it is sold at such a great price!
Excellent inside and out.......2007-03-09
This book came with much needed information. Definitely great for identification purposes of almost all there is was out there!
Excellent portable reference book!.......2003-05-23
This book has almost 200 different patterns of depression glass and price lists for them. The pictures are excellent and the size makes it perfect for throwing in a bag or backpack while browsing at flea markets or yard sales. The author, Gene Florence does refer to another of his books which is larger and more in depth if you need more info, but this is my first book on depression glass and I find it has what I need at this point. Of special note is his section on reproductions and how to spot them - very helpful. I highly recommend this book.
Books:
- Golden Straw
- Hanky-Panky Crazy Quilts
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
- History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)
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