Book Description
In the spring of 1970, artist Ralph Steadman went to America in search of work and found more than he bargained for. At the Kentucky Derby he met a former
associate of the Hell’s Angels, one Hunter S. Thompson. Their working relationship resulted in the now-legendary Gonzo Journalism.
The Joke’s Over tells of a remarkable collaboration that documented the turbulent years of the civil rights movement, the Nixon years, Watergate, and the many bizarre and great events that shaped the second half of the twentieth century. When Thompson committed suicide in 2005, it was the end of a unique friendship filled with both betrayal and understanding.
A rollicking, no-holds-barred memoir, The Joke’s Over is the definitive inside story of the Gonzo years.
Customer Reviews:
Steadman + Thompson = Fun For All!!!.......2007-10-02
Having been an HST fan for decades now, this book combines many elements
that make this duo a must have for Thompson fans of all levels;think about it: You have the Gonzo genius of Hunter S. Thompson,and the illustrator
of these 'Adventures' not from HST, but the same incidents as viewed by the
one man fortunate(?) enough to go the distance to cover the story. A unique
twist on the escapades of Dr. Gonzo. These two men shared much more than
two people using their collective genius for journalistic purposes;these men
almost seemed(to me) to need each other, and their collective talents to such a bizarre level that these guys in many ways became so influential to more than just a journalistic quest-a pairing so unique that such a combination in all probability will never happen again(unless it
came down to absolute 'ripping off' of the style they created. This book
should be a 'must have' for anyone intelligent enough to see what was really going on. After reading this book, one can finally comprehend
'When the going gets tough, the weird turn pro'. The good Doctor will be sorely missed, but thankfully Ralph Steadman is still around to carry the torch in some way. The world lost a true genius, but the one redeeming
factor is that now the metaphysical has a monster to deal with, and I think HST will derive great pleasure in that!! BUY THIS BOOK;YOU CANNOT
BE DISAPPOINTED!!!!!!!!
Better than an unauthorized biography........2007-09-11
Mr. Steadman tells it like it is, even when there is obvious animosity between himself and HST. Some great pictures I hadn't seen before, although I wish they had been reproduced full page size. The stories are good and give some interesting insight into (attempting) to work with HST. Overall a good read, if you're a fan of either of the men you will enjoy this book and be glad it is in your personal library. To no fault of Mr. Steadman, reading this book did bum me out a bit that we have no more new HST work to read ever again. I still remember turning on the news that fateful February morning...
A good book that ultimately becomes just a little annoying.......2007-07-12
Ralph Steadman paints a very interesting portrait of his long-time colleague and collaborator, HST, warts and all. The book is for the most part an enjoyable and interesting read, and I would tend to put more stock in Ralph's biography versus those written by any others given the nature of their relationship. However, in some places the book seems a little disjointed. In the end, I found myself growing annoyed with Ralph's writing style (which comes off a bit like "trying too hard" and merely a cheap imitation of Hunter's unmatched skill) as well as his description of Hunter's faults, which start to sound a little too much like whining.
Intimate and revealing.......2007-05-14
Thompson's life is difficult to seperate from his gonzo essa, and is often viewed as fiction. Steadman's retelling of their turbulent friendship clears away a great deal of the confusion about this brilliant and difficult icon; twenty-five years of alternating conflict and cameraderie allows a more human and focused view of an explosive and unique man. In the end Thompson's mythical persona is enhanced rather than diminished by the humanizing and honest eye of Ralph Steadman, illustrating the reality of trying to mainttain a friendship with the perverse and explosive Thompson. He does Thompson the honor of addressing him honestly; sugar coating his memory would be an unforgivable offense in the Doctor's own books.
good times.......2007-05-09
Great book!! Nice to hear from Steadman. I'm almost 50 and have been a fan of Ralph's and the good doctor since I'm 13. Painfull at times to read laugh out loud funny at otherrs. Thanks Mr. Steadman for showing me this side of HST and yourself. Jo Sullivan
Book Description
The buzz created by the hardcover of this "engaging, tart, saucy, and very frank memoir" (Liz Smith) ran from a first serial in W to an "Absolut Doonan" ad to Hollywood film rights. For twenty years Simon Doonan, the creator of the hottest window displays in the world at Barney's New York, has collaborated with the biggest names in fashion and the most notorious names in art. Whether he's making fun of blondes, sending up Sigmund Freud, or creating caricatures of celebrities, his work has been fearless and entertaining kitsch. Confessions of a Window Dresser illustrates his work in glorious full-color photographs and wickedly witty commentary on the trends and people of the fashion and entertainment world. Here's a dazzling gift of glamour, laughter, and fashion history.
Customer Reviews:
Totally brill, and he makes you laugh, too.......2006-06-03
Not really sure how Simon Doonan managed to fail the Eleven Plus; he's (among other geniuses) a Comic Genius. Confessions of a Window Dresser has (surprisingly!) turned out to be an excellent read-aloud.
Mr. Doonan's life is awfully fascinating even without the window dressing (hehe), but if you're interested in display in general, and window dressing in particular, I recommend this book as a Must Have. The archived photos merit close study.
I received the paperback version as a gift. Sadly, it's true about the binding, so the copy i bought for my baby brother is hardcover, built to last!
Pluses & Minuses.......2005-07-19
This book is a ride for sure, an artistic roller-coaster with a nice beginning, no ending and a meandering middle. I think it would be appropriate to call this book self-absorbed and it is up to you to decide if that is what you want to read. Some of the problems I encountered: First, I really should have bought the hardcover; the [paperback] book literally fell apart in my hands. By page six, the cover was off and soon after that I was picking little bits of glue off my lap. About one third the way through the book, I gave up and tried to stay ahead of the mess by picking the glue off the binding myself. I have read hundreds of books, many of them paperbacks, and I have probably never seen a book so poorly bound; by the end of the book it started to look and feel like a newspaper! Additionally, for what is mostly a color-picture book the quality of paper used is also astonishingly low; the total lack of quality of this book is depressing. Perhaps this is what you get when you manufacture in China and don't have someone watching who speaks Chinese.
Second, I found the text of this book hard to follow. The whole thing should have been arranged better, the captions for the volumnous pictures were all ploped down in paragraph-form and the main text was constantly cut up for random, unpredictable, lengths by the pictures. On the other hand, with careful reading I thought the captions explained the pictures very well.
Third, I would have liked to learned more about his early career in London and L.A. It felt to me that the middle of the "how-I-got-to-where-I-am" story was a soft, like part o the story was missing. Overall, I enjoyed the story.
Wise advices by Doonan himself..........2002-06-20
Fashion Marketing is everywhere, especially in Fashion Windows where's the retailer's most economical form of advertising; bring glamour, fun, theatre and art to the streets, while visibly expressing the store's image. Of his approach to visual merchandising, Simon Doonan brings a wealth of personal experince and insight to these window displays. The ones who are interested in Fashion Windows, Fashion Marketing and Fashion Advertising, must have this book. (P.S. I bought this book from Amazon and received it at the right time and with no harm. Thanks Amazon.com )
A Fascinating & Colorful Memoir.......2001-10-13
I bought this book for a gift, but was so intrigued by Doonan's windows I had to read it myself. From the minimal and sometimes upsetting displays of his early years to the more recent, gaudy and pop-influenced windows of Barneys, Doonan's book shows and tells the craft, work, and often times controversy that went into his displays. An incredible glimpse of one man's work, and the importance of a store display to grab and interact with the customer. Never bores, never falters.
"The Lucky Leprechaun".......2001-08-31
Simon Doonan gives us a gift in this delectable bon-bon of a book! The self-professed "Lucky Leprechaun", Doonan proves it does indeed take more than luck-it takes talent, drive, and vision to become a success. Dispelling the myth that all "window dressers" are poisonous, bitter, queens, this insanely funny, engaging, and gorgeously illustrated biography is the perfect late summer book. A must read!
Amazon.com
The richly illustrated At Home with Beatrix Potter will delight the many admirers of the artist and writer of children's books. Her beloved characters--Peter Rabbit, Jemima Puddle-Duck, and their whimsical friends--were inspired by the English countryside, which she grew to love during summer vacations as a girl. In 1905, at the age of 40, Potter bought Hill Top Farm overlooking Esthwaite Water in the Lake District, a region of hills and lakes famous for its glorious landscapes. She continued to buy property in the area with her royalties, and by the time she died 37 years later, she had amassed over 4,000 acres. She fought vigorously to preserve the beauty of the Lake District and its rural ways, leaving her estate to the National Trust, Britain's leading conservation agency. This book, written by an official of the Trust, is a tribute to the jewel of the estate, 17th-century Hill Top Farm. Potter restored and furnished it as a showcase of English country ways, though she actually lived in a large cottage nearby. Her substantial collection of Lake District antiques reflected the influential Arts & Crafts movement, which emphasized the integrity of handmade objects in a period of increasing mechanization. The book takes us on a tour of the farm, alternating the artist's original photographs and watercolors with photographs of the building and countryside as they look today. Several two-page spreads of the garden in early summer and the Lake District in late autumn are especially beautiful. Unpretentious, solid, charming, understated: At Home with Beatrix Potter embodies the rustic virtues that Beatrix loved. --John Stevenson
Book Description
The creator of Peter Rabbit, Samuel Whiskers, and Jemima Puddle-Duck, Beatrix Potter (1866-1942) is one of the best-loved children's book authors of all time. Yet few in America are aware of the role she played in protecting some of England's most beautiful landscapes and in designing romantic interiors and a lovely garden at Hill Top, her beloved Lake District farmhouse.
Taking the reader through her picturesque house and the breathtaking scenery around it that inspired many of her famous stories, this charming book is the first to look at the intimate connection between the English countryside and Potter's work. Her own exquisite sketches and watercolors, as well as personal ephemera, appear alongside specially commissioned full-color photographs, revealing a home filled with treasured old furniture and beautiful objects and celebrating an artist-storyteller whose legacy as a conservationist at last receives the attention it deserves.
Customer Reviews:
A place I'd like to visit.......2007-08-24
What a beautiful book. Clear, inviting photos, and interesting information. A book you will enjoy reading and sharing.
Ten stars.......2003-01-05
Being the big fan of Beatrox Potter, the woman and not just the author I was overjoyed to get this as a gift recently and the book is a treat for the eyes. While it has pages and pages of stunning photographs as well as her own water colours, it is the text and complete history of her farms that is awesome.
That and reading and seeing photographs of her as well as her farms and reading why she bought each property and the breeds of sheep she raised was of special interest to me. I loved seeing the inside of her farms, although I had seen the inside of a few, via the National Land Trust to whom she left her properties.
I loved the photographs of Beatrix and how she was so eccentric, kind yet firm and a woman ahead of her time. And it was nice to read that she was a true homestead style woman who had the waste not want not mentality, as well as a deep appreciation for quality and hated to see old bridges torn down for modern ones, although she was quick to make sure the stones and plants, wood and other things being discarded by some, didn't end up in some dump area but were recycled into new walls and buildings and plantings on her property.
This is a book a cottage gardener, keeper of sheep. painters, stone masons and anyone who loves working with their hands will love. As well as sincere environmentalists and organic gardeners and farmers.
A DELIGHT FOR THOSE WHO LOVE BEATRIX POTTER'S BOOKS.......2000-04-07
AT HOME WITH BEATRIX POTTER is a delight to the eye and the spirit for those who love this children's author and her "little books." It is written by Susan Denyer of Britain's National Trust. (Potter's property was left to the National Trust.) The focus of the book is Hilltop Farm, the first farm Beatrix Potter acquired. Although she lived across the road in Castle Cottage, Potter often used Hilltop for its library, guestroom, and workplaces. She also used it to display her "treasures." This book reveals her love of nature, the English Lake District, and of old things--carved dressers, chests, spinning wheels are a few of the "gems" portrayed. Two-page color spreads convey the beauty of the Lake Area, where Potter became a major landowner, sheepfarmer, and a happily married woman. It is wonderful to see the original places, buildings, and objects that she incorporated into her books (examples are shown side by side). The book's layout, photographs, and design are first-rate. Reading this book reminded me of THE PRIVATE WORLD OF TASHA TUDOR and its wonderful photographs by Richard Brown. Like Tudor, Potter drew what she knew and preferred country to city life. (Tudor also was a working farmer in New Hampshire.) Finally, this book presents information about Beatrix Potter and the things and people she loved in an informative and respectful way. This book is not a biography, and Denyer avoids the biographer's temptation to "sum up" or "explain" Beatrix Potter. Rather, we draw our own conclusions after being exposed to the things Potter loved. The select bibliography at the book's end provides a list of works on and by Potter (her journals and letters have been published) that is very helpful to those who want to know more about this author. This is a book to treasure.
Blend of Biography, Original Sketches and Scenic Photography.......2000-04-04
This book is a balanced combination of biographical information, Beatrix Potter's sketches and paintings, and exceptional scenic photography of the Lake District she helped preserve. It also details the exterior and interior of a house she owned which provided the backgrounds for many of her book illustrations. The side-by-side comparisons were interesting, even though the house seemed to be more of a showpiece than her actual residence. (Thus, the book title is somewhat misleading.) I found this book to be of exceptional quality and, although the text was sometimes overwrought with property, town and house names, the book includes many captioned photos and a map that allow the reader to appreciate the area in which she lived.
Book Description
How would you like to create your own impressionist landscape, a van Gogh still life, or a surrealist Salvador Dali dream world? Or perhaps a classic Ansel Adams photograph of Yosemite or an authentic-looking 19th century Daguerrotype? You can do all of that and more with Photoshop Fine Art Effects Cookbook.
The book tells you all you need to know to turn your original digital photographs into images that mimic the styles of great photographers and painters. From advice on how to develop an eye for appropriate subject matter to 62 detailed recipes that demonstrate exactly how to create an "original" van Gogh, Vermeer, Edward Weston, or Andy Warhol (among others), this book is an authentic guide to understanding and simulating the work of great artists-and a whole lot of fun.
- Analyzing the styles of great artists: format, composition, angles of view, color palettes, and image textures
- Shooting for digital manipulation, working non-destructively, making your own brushes and patterns
- Creating Daguerrotypes, cyanotypes, stop-motion photographs, cross-processed images, Polaroid transfers, and infrared effects
- Mimicking photographic styles from the pre-Raphaelites and the Naturalists to Jerry Uelsmann and David Hockney
- Exploring painting and printmaking techniques from Rembrandt to Warhol: Dutch portraits, 18th century landscape painting, Japanese woodblocks, Impressionism, Pointillism, Fauvism, Art Nouveau, Cubism, Futurism, Surrealism, and Pop Art
Packed with step-by-step instructions, an inspirational selection of full-color digital imagery, and authoritative information and advice, Photoshop Fine Art Effects Cookbook is the ultimate guide to creating convincing digital masterpieces in the styles of many of the world's greatest artists.
Customer Reviews:
Rhondda Boy.......2007-06-11
I would like to thank John Beardsworth for writing this book as it has given me much pleasure in replicating his creations and following his recipes are so easy. The quality of the printing of the book is superb.I look forward to hours of enjoyment making my own paintings.
Lots of errors.......2007-04-15
The concept is interesting & it is fun to try the different recipes, but many many errors mar the book. Also, some the instructions are less than clear.
Waste of money.......2007-04-04
There are many web sites with better information. Take a look on them.
Great recipes, easy steps, wonderful results........2006-07-09
This book puts you on the fast track to grafting the styles of famous artists into your own work through more than five dozen easy-to-follow recipes. Not surprisingly, you'll find yourself learning more than you originally expected to about Photoshop.
not-so-fast ..........2006-05-04
Earlier this year I reviewed what many will see as the companion volume to this book ("Photoshop Blending Modes Cookbook for Digital Photographers"), written by the same author. Unfortunately, the newer publication is less useful. It seems to have been written on a pretext that it's clever to be able to duplicate what traditional artists can do. This seems - from my own personal viewpoint - to be greatly undervaluing the power of Photoshop (and similar software). Practitioners of digital fine art should (really, constructively) be looking to explore what the principles of prior and traditional art can mean within a new domain.
Plus, the book gets off to a definitely poor start. The second and longer of two introductory sections is titled "The Tricks of the Trade". Well it would be better if just some of the "tricks" had been explained in full and more accurately. Say, how to make a selection in Photoshop from the best available precursor (a black-and-white alpha channel). Or say again, how to make tonal corrections to the original photograph using a luminance mask. Then again, the first (and shorter) of the introductory chapters, titled "The Artist's Eye", is just a teaser. This topic - pre-visualizing what can be achieved as an output image when composing the original photographic input - could have benefited from a much more detailed explanation/argument. Indeed, it could even merit an expansive concluding chapter (but the book doesn't have one of those at all ....). This is, after all, at the very core of what the user could harness to any given artistic objective.
Additionally, I think that it's strange that a book such as this simply makes no reference at all to what could be printed from the recipes it contains. Some of the finished (output) images might look quite intriguing as 3 by 5 inch reproductions in the book - but does the methodology hold up if you're targeting a 20 by 36 inch output (say) on a large format printer? And what to do if that's not the case? Finally, and in common with the earlier companion volume, this book suffers from strange and inconsistent layouts of screenshots and text, plus all sorts of technical and editing omissions/errors (which include, for example, having the wrong screenshot in the wrong recipe - see p.108).
Book Description
This book represents the work of every LIFE magazine staff photographer from the 20th century, as well as a handful of others closely affiliated with the magazine, including Alfred Eisenstadt, Margaret Bourke-White, Gordon Parks, Eugene Smith, and Joe McNally. THE GREAT LIFE PHOTOGRAPHERS presents the most iconic images of the past century, as well as little-known gems from the LIFE archives.Many of these images are markers of the major milestones of history--the first pictures from inside the womb or from outer space, Robert Capas falling soldier, and memorable scenes from Tiananmen Square. Defining celebrity portraits of Sophia Loren, Marilyn Monroe, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson are also featured. This startingly rich collection of both color and black-and-white photographs is a vivid fulfillment of Henry Luces charge: To see life; to see the world....To be amazed!
Customer Reviews:
Life Photographer's Collection.......2007-01-22
Beautiful, moving book about many of this centuries greatest people. Wish it were a larger book.
A superb retrospective of the golden age of photo journalism.......2007-01-04
It's not fashionable these days to speak of Henry Luce as great because his political views weren't left-wing. But the truth is Luce was a brilliant man who built a publishing empire based on delivering information in a concise way. His empire began with Time, then Fortune and next Life, a magazine that told its stories through pictures. (Sports Illustrated and the abominable People followed, the latter after Luce's death.)
Life editors perfected the photo essay. To do this, they hired some of the finest photographers in the world. This work showcases the work of 99 of those photographers in 698 color and black-and-white photos.
It is a glorious work. Life photographers were perfectionists. The technicians at the Life labs who printed their work were perfectionists. The editors who selected, cropped and laid out the work of the photographers and lab techs were perfectionists.
The result was for nearly sixty years a collection of some of the finest photography created in the 20th Century. It is sad that public tastes changed, that television overwhelmed the desire to leaf through the pages of magazines like Life.
The news in those days was largely captured in the still photograph. And here many of them are. The young Shah of Iran talking with Wendell Wilkie, the 1940 Republican Presidential candidate on a flight somewhere. An iconic photo of fashion-plate Jacqueline Kennedy and nattily-clad toddler son John, Jr. walking along the ocean in Palm Beach. American soldiers passing by a fallen comrade on a brige across the Roer River.The dazzingly beautiful 16 year old Elizabeth Taylor and incredibly intense 24 year old Marlon Brando two years before his first film role. The crowded Saturday night main street in small town Franklin, Indiana in 1940. All these and more were grist for the weekly Life Magazine, the equivalent then of a dozen or more cable television stations today.
It isn't mentioned in this book how many photos exist in the Life archives. Probably a million and maybe far more. But these 698 are a fair representation of the skill, talent and greatness of the 99 Life photographers seen here. (Not included are the many free-lancers whose work also appeared in Life.)
For anyone who appreciates photography as an art, this is a must-have.
Jerry
Captured: compassion and compositions........2004-11-14
On page 558 of this stunning photo book there is a studio shot taken in 1960 by Bill Sumits of thirty-eight Life photographers, surely the only time in history that so many great photographers have been together in one place and it is amazing to think that the ninety-nine featured in the book were all on the staff of this one publication.
The book is arranged alphabetically and each photographer gets between five and eight images plus their photo and short hundred or so word biography. Now it's possible to see who took so many images that defined a moment and became classic examples of photojournalism and also to see other examples of their great work. John Loengard's introduction does not say so but I assume all the photos did appear in Life and they cover the years from 1936 (when the title started) to 1997. The book is well designed with mostly one photo per page (well printed in 175 dpi) and a caption and nicely some photos get longer captions where a photographer reveals some background detail about their images.
There are a lot of news type photos here, especially from the Second World War years but equally as many taken from the photo-essay style work that Life became famous for. Others show celebrities and ordinary folk going about their lives. These photos are so good that you have to stop and really take notice of what they are telling you. I think this wonderful book is a strong visual reminder of how great Life was.
***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
Average customer rating:
- Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other
- Interesting Read
- There'll always be an England
- Not that interesting
- Also Horrified
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The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family
Mary S. Lovell
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
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Similar Items:
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The Pursuit of Love & Love in a Cold Climate: Two Novels
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Hons and Rebels (New York Review Books Classics)
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Decca: The Letters of Jessica Mitford
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The House of Mitford
ASIN: 0393324141 |
Book Description
"The Mitford girls were probably the most spectacular sister act of the twentieth century."—Vogue
This is the story of a close, loving family splintered by the violent ideologies of Europe between the wars. Jessica was a Communist; Debo became the Duchess of Devonshire; Nancy was one of the best-selling novelists of her day; the ethereally beautiful Diana was the most hated woman in England; and Unity Valkyrie, born in Swastika, Alaska, would become obsessed with Adolf Hitler. 24 b/w photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other.......2007-04-02
Mary Lovell's interesting book on the Mitford sisters (and on Tom, the ill-fated brother) is a guilty pleasure indeed. Lovell has a completely new take on things that urges us to find Diana Mosley a brave 20th century heroine who fought for what she believed in and whose imprisonment during the first part of World War II was a shocking act of injustice comparable to the internment of Japanese-Americans in prison camps in the USA. Revisionist much? Yes, indeed, and that's part of its fascination. Lovell seems most determined to set on its ear David Pryce-Jones' biography of Unity Mitford. Unity, the tortured British Nazi who set her cap on the biggest Nazi of them all, Adolf Hitler, here emerges as the funniest and cutest of all the funny and cute sisters. Yes, Lovell admits, she should not have laughed when Hitler boasted of forcing a party of Jews to cut a sward of German lawn with their teeth alone--that was cruel and unMitfordlike. But outside of that, did Unity really do any actual harm? Lovell says no.
Meanwhile there is a continual hum of approval for Debo, Duchess of Devonshire, and her substantial work keeping together her husband's ancestral estates. For Lovell, preservation work of a zillionaire's estate merits the highest commendation.
Decca (Jessica) Mitford, comes off the worst, and her elopement with Spanish Civil War buff, and her first cousin, Edmond Romilly, shows how unfeeling she was to her mother and father, and she stayed a Communist for years and years (until 1958) when she should have abjured the party years ago. Well, she should never have joined up in the first place.
Many reviewers praise Lovell's evenhandedness and lack of judgement, but I haven't seen a trace of an even hand. In one telling passage Decca is stuck overnight in an Alabama church with Martin Luther King Jr, while Ku Klux Klan and 1,500 other white protestors surround the church with tear gas. "The uproar," Lovell writes, "had been caused by the surprise appearance at the event of the Freedom Fighters, a sort of flying squad pf black youths on motorcycles, who were much feared by whites in the Southern states." Oh so that's why it happened, eh? Why not just say, "The uproar has been caused by racism"? That's shorter and much more on point than your ridiculous "Freedom Fighter" excuse.
Debo and Pam aren't in the book that much, and Pam is like the invisible woman. When she goes gay ("she's become a you-know-what-bian," Decca writes to her husband) Lovell makes absolutely no comment, though she analyzes every little variation on the Mitfords' uncountable family nicknames. It's obviously not important to her, but it leaves the reader thinking, well, Pam is really a bore, which is terribly unfair to Pam (she whom her sisters called, "Woman," for she was the best of all of them) who deserves a biography of her own, one in which the biographer didn't wish her away with a "well done, Pam" from time to time.
That said, the book is like a big box of delicious candy and you just can't stop eating it till all of the sisters die (but one) and we are left contemplating the terrible, wonderful legacy of an aristocracy who could do whatever they pleased and managed to get it wrong 95 per cent of the time, empty candy wrappers scattering in the breeze. I loved it, pretty much.
Interesting Read.......2006-08-27
I loved the way the author achieved combining the personal lives of the Mitford family and the history of the times. In hindsight, it's easy to say that Diana and Unity should have been smarter about Hitler. But it was a time when he almost had a whole continent enamored with his achievement shown by the economic advances of Germany. No one in the free world acted on the atrocities that happened on his watch because these acts were incomprehensible at the time..so how could the two Mitford sisters, Diana and Unity even anticipate the horrors that he was finally associated with. They were attracted to the glamour, the power, the popularity and intelligence they believed Hitler had. Were they wrong?? Yes...but at the time it seemed like he was the rescuer, and I thought that Lovell was very fair portraying the situation..never revealing her feelings about this. It was a beautifully researched book which presented the sisters and family as very real..even Tom, who was absent during the time doinng his wartime duty, but portrayed as a very influentuial and loved character in the family. I thoroughly enjoyed this book..I became very attached to all of the sisters for different reasons..and I loved Sydney and thought she imparted a great sense of confidence for her girls to develop their independent selves..
There'll always be an England.......2006-05-20
The Mitfords were an aristocratic but not very wealthy English family. The family was so dominated in the early 20th century by six sisters that it's easy to overlook that there was also a son among the siblings. Perhaps it was the upper class rural isolation in which the children were raised that made several of them so headstrong, eccentric, and well over the top.
A biographer just couldn't make up this material. We have a Hitler-loving Nazi sympathizer, a Communist freedom fighter, a talented novelist, a sister who leaves her husband to marry the leader of the British fascist party, and a duchess.
The lives of several sisters are played out in public view, and the British press couldn't get enough of the pretty Mitford girls. The surprise is that one or two of the children have led reasonably "normal" lives.
The poor father, the publicity-shy Lord Redesdale, is overwhelmed by his children's behavior and spends a lot of time in the Canadian wilderness digging for gold.
The family story is told with the cooperation of the last surviving sister, Deborah, who became the Duchess of Devonshire. The author respected Deborah's wish that the author be reasonably respectful of the family members.
This restriction has a beneficial effect on the telling of the story. The book is devoid of cheap shots and amateur psychoanalysis. The facts themselves are sensational enough.
But the author is also prevented by this constraint from delving into the character of the father, Lord Redesdale. The facts related in the story suggest to this amateur psychoanalyst that in addition to being an eccentric, he was somewhat unbalanced.
Anyone who has been mortified by their own eccentric and embarassing family will enjoy seeing that it could be worse.
Not that interesting.......2006-03-26
Yes, these sisters are all rich and/or famous, but I found it very hard to care. Maybe because I found them boring. I'm too old to care about Paris Hilton and too young to find the era these sisters lived in very interesting.
Also Horrified.......2006-03-21
Like "Horrified" above, I was appalled by the glibness with which this book rationalized Diana's support of fascism (and Nazism). The author treats Diana and Unity's commitment to fascism as an understandable flaw (rather like a tendency to split infinitives or something), even going so far as to try to play down Mosley's politics.
As someone who has read Mosley's book, I was simply astonished at Lovell's treatment of him and Diana. Lovell mentions that people have a tendency to fall in love with Diana and forgive her everything; clearly, that's what Lovell did.
Amazon.com
A benchmark for intelligent, engaging nonfiction, this superbly designed book is written and illustrated with a lushness that takes the breath away. Robert Cumming is chairman of Christie's education department: he knows his art history. But he also knows how to seduce you with the sheer beauty of the material, and the well-placed pointer to telling details. Fifty double-page spreads cover artists from da Vinci and Rubens to Monet, Picasso, and Pollock. Each spread is a concentrated master-class on the life, the style, and the influence. Check out the luminous full-color reproductions of "Bacchus" and "The Conversion of St. Paul," then read the opening sentence above them--"One of the few great artists to have a criminal record, Caravaggio was violent, loutish, and frequently under arrest"--and see if you can resist the temptation to read on. Great Artists is a dream of a book that adults and their older children will fight over. (Ages 12 to adult) --Richard Farr
Customer Reviews:
Not What I Expected.......2006-08-12
I bought this book to help in our artist appreciation with my primary children in our home school. I don't have a problem with nudity in art work, and am willing to discuss and explain the reasons for nudity to my children. However, the book is overwhelmingly filled with nudity. At least twenty pages have rather large pictures of nudes and many are in seductive poses. I do not feel comfortable allowing my children to freely browse through this book and felt that the authors could have chosen different pieces of work that could have equally displayed the works of the artists.
I hoped for more.......2005-10-23
I was hoping for a book which helped the reader SEE the actual paintings of the masters. The particular brushstroke that made the painting interesting. The unusual shade or hue of color that made the flower come out of the painting. That sort of book. It is not. Still it has good illustrations and good information about the artists it covers.
Great Artists: Lives of 50 painters.......2005-07-26
This art book is a great bargain for the quality of the reproductions is very good. The writing is excellent.
A gorgeous and informative book!.......1999-03-30
This oversized book has dovoted 2 pages to each important artist from the 1400's to Jackson Pollock. As with all D-K books, the reproductions are wonderful and the information is fascinating. The arthor gives a mixture of facts about the artist's life, painting of the period, key works of the painter, and other events happening in the world at the time. I love this book!
Attractive Overview.......1999-03-29
Teachers commonly say that they learn more about a subject from teaching it than from being a student. In part this is because so much of what we practice is unspoken and intuitive, while teaching requires a certain explicitness and may be most effective when the essence of a subject is portrayed in a simple, impassioned, and powerful way. As a result, one can often learn a lot from brief, introductory overviews of a subject, as is the intention of this attractive, large-format picture book. Several years ago, the author (who is head of the education division at ChristieÕs) wrote Annotated Art (1994), a companion volume in which diagrams, close-ups, and marginal notes were used to analyze 45 key paintings; and, since then, a similar book was produced by the same publisher about the history of architecture (Neil Stevenson, Architecture (1997)). In this third volume in the series, 50 more paintings (different from those in the earlier book), are arranged chronologically, displayed, and discussed in annotations, using introductory paragraphs, marginal notes, biographical highlights, related works, quotes by and about the artists, and short lists of non-art concurrent events. While the result is necessarily superficial, it is also a welcoming, valuable way to be introduced to art history. (Review from Ballast Quarterly Review, Vol 14 No 2, Winter 1998-99)
Book Description
Lowe takes us along the rugged eastern coast, from St. Andrews up to Montrose and Cruden Bay and Royal Aberdeen, "from heather, whin and sand, to points north," to Nairn and Dornoch. Then to the west coast, to Prestwick and Troon. It's not only the courses themselves that Lowe illuminates along the way, but the winding roads, the ancient villages, the farms and whiskey distilleries, and the people who call this land their home as well. Each step of his pilgrimage is given its due.
Customer Reviews:
Scottish Golf Links.......2007-07-23
A wonderful collection of photographs of golf courses. If you have been there to play them, this is a terrific way to reminisce
5 Stars from someone who's been there!.......2007-01-09
I purchased this book for my father who visits Scotland to golf each year. He LOVED the book. He said, "it really captures the feel of walking the courses". He is excited to go back this Spring and look at them in a new light since noticing things in the book. A great gift for the golfer in your life!
Visual Feast of Scottish Links Golf.......2006-08-28
Great volume on the essential key links courses in Scotland. The text is fine and to the point. There's some interesting insight especially into the history of golf (St.Andrews and Dornoch in particular), but nothing overboard.
I also think it was a good idea to divide the golf into regions. It makes the courses more approachable plus you get to appreciate the slight nuances from one region to another.
The bottom line is this book is about the photography with the avid golfer in mind. Simply fantastic pictures. I'm an amateur photographer and I can tell you Ian spent an enormous amount of time putting these photos together. On almost every shot, it's clear he had to wait for the right time of day and the right moment to capture the dramatic setting with clouds/sun/wind/shadows in the foreground/background. In addition, he more often than not is using a vantage point to the direct benefit of the golfer. By this I mean you will appreciate the difficulty, challenge, and strategy of a given hole or set of holes from Ian's chosen vantage point and framing. Tremendous aerial shots as well. What I really thought was done well was the combination of key hole reviews (from Kyle Philipps of Kingsbarns fame) and multiple vantage point pictures. Together they really worked well to paint a picture for the golfer planning to play any one of these courses.
When all is said and done, you owe it to yourself to pick up this volume before heading across the pond. In fact, bring it with you, so you can compare your experience to the book itself. You won't regret it.
The only slight negative I would give to the book is the sometimes poor print reproduction of some of the quality photographs. Not the photographer's fault, but the publisher's.
Must Read.......2005-12-10
If you have, or have dreamed of traveling to Scotland, you must read this book. The photos are magnificent. I have played many and the book brings back such fond memories. Will play more next year as we return.
Stan
Fantastic Photos.......2005-10-19
This book is simply wonderful. Why it took three months to get to me I will never know, but the wait was worth it. The photos are first rate and give the reader the true feeling that he is walking these legendary fairways. For anyone who has ever played in Scotland or who dreams of doing so, this book is for you. You will not be dissappointed!
Book Description
With these words to Boswell, Samuel Johnson dismissed Lady Di Beauclerk, the wife of one of his closest friends, a woman of the highest rank, the daughter of a duke, who had forsaken her reputation, her place in society, her children, and her role as lady-in-waiting to the Queen for love.
Born Lady Diana Spencer in 1735, the eldest child of the third Duke of Marlborough, she was expected rigidly to follow a traditional path through life: educated in the fashion considered suitable for a girl, and married to a man of the appropriate rank for a duke's daughter. But finding herself in a desperately unhappy marriage to Viscount Bolingbroke, Lady Di overturned convention. She left her husband, maintained a secret relationship with her lover, Topham Beauclerk, hid the birth of an illegitimate child, and eventually helped to support herself by painting.
Lady Di Beauclerk was a highly gifted artist who was able to use her scandalous reputation as an adulteress, aristocratic woman to further her career as a painter and designer. She painted portraits, illustrated plays and books, provided designs for Wedgwood's innovative pottery, and decorated rooms with murals. Championed by her close friend Horace Walpole, whose letters illuminate all aspects of her life, she was able to establish herself as an admired artist at a time when women struggled to forge careers.
Carola Hicks provides an enthralling account of eighteenth-century society, in which Lady Di encountered many of the most eminent artistic, literary, and political figures of the day. Improper Pursuits is an absorbing study of a singular life.
Customer Reviews:
Not quite a biography..........2004-01-28
This interesting but uneven book is purportedly about Lady Diana Spencer, an 18th Century English aristocrat who suffered through two unhappy marriages (the first ended through the scandal of divorce). She made a minor reputation for herself as an artist at a time when society ladies did not work. As a biography, the book is not a success since we learn very little about the character of Lady Di, her likes and dislikes, her goals and accomplishments. But as a portrait of British nobility, "Improper Pursuits" is often fascinating. Society was filled with venal, brainless and irresponsible young men, obsessed with gambling and exemplified by Lady Di's first husband, Lord Bolingbroke, nicknamed "Bully" on the one hand. On the other hand are the creative and intellectual giants, including Dr. Johnson and the ever-present James Boswell, Garrick and Sheridan, who were friends with Lady Di's second husband, Topham Beauclerk. The highly eccentric Horace Walpole flutters through the book, charming and likeable and maddening in equal parts.
As the author describes this society, it was clearly male-dominated and little space was left where women could flourish equally. Carola Hicks makes a mighty effort to bring women into the story, describing the household and social skills they were required to learn (and nothing further) but they are so overshadowed by the men that there is a feeling of desperation as the author tries to flesh out the story and throws in everything but the kitchen sink. For example: where did upper class ladies buy their paintbrushes in London? Nonetheless, many of the characters she describes are fascinating and a particular London in the time of George II and George III is nicely delineated. Lady Di remains as two-dimensional as her own drawings of cherubs, though. After reading "Improper Pursuits,"the reader realizes that the subject of the book will be more remembered for her friends than for herself.
Book Description
A large-format collection of Edward S. Curtis's stunning, evocative, and wildly popular portraits of Native Americans. These indelible portraits of Native Americans by Edward S. Curtis, made at the dawn of the 20th century, have become among the most avidly collected, published, and sought-after emblems of early encounters with American Indian life. There is no more comprehensive record from the period of the diverse Native peoples. EDWARD S. CURTIS: THE great warriors is drawn from the collection of Christopher Cardoza and will feature iconic Curtis pictures as well as several little-known gems. Many have never been published as large-format folio prints. This will be one of several thematic books; the next one, slated for Spring 2005, will be a collection of Curtis's portraits of Native American women.
Customer Reviews:
Beautiful Photographs!.......2006-12-26
This is a beautifully photographed book by a photographer with obvious reverence for the American Indian.
Edward S. Curtis by Hans Christian Adam.......2000-07-20
The author, Hans Christian Adam, is clearly an admirer of his subject, Edward S. Curtis. Curtis, who lived from 1868-1952, devoted his life to photographing the American Indian. In this book, Adam has included 172 pages of Curtis' most impressive photos along with 15 pages of text and a paragraph by Theodore Roosevelt on Curtis. Adam gives a clear picture of Curtis as a man as well as a photographer. In his photos, Curtis shows the life,customs,history,legends and religion of the Indians. To quote Adam: "Curtis wanted to make up for the injustices that members of his race had inflicted on the Indians". The high quality, large format, sepia photos are magical and leave a lasting impression on the viewer. The best part of the book is the photos. The only thing I do not like about the book is that the text is in English, German and French. This takes up space, but it does not detract from the photos and text. This book will make the reader want to see more photos by Curtis.
Books:
- The Perfect Paragon (Agatha Raisin Mysteries)
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower
- The PMP Exam: How to Pass On Your First Try (Test Prep series)
- The SPEED of Trust: The One Thing that Changes Everything
- Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller--Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century
- This Human Season
- Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition)
- Understanding Exposure: How to Shoot Great Photographs with a Film or Digital Camera (Updated Edition)
- Untitled
- When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life's Sacred Questions (Plus)
Books Index
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