Memorials Books

"guud san glans, Robert Davidson" is the full name of a contemporary Haida artist whose work was exhibited at Reed College in 1991. His work is in the Haida tradition: totem poles, but with modern techniques. For example, traditional totem poles were hollowed out, but many of his are in the round, meant to be self standing. Very attractive and desirable art, with cultural significance as well.

This book consists primarily of photographs taken by an English doctor from 1975 to 1990 at and near war cemeteries and memorials related to World War One. There is a good text, which gives the background for the events which led to the cemeteries and memorials depicted. The photos are sobering, and if you are a student of photography would be of great interest. I sometimes thought the photos were designed more to show off the photographer's skill than to depict what was to be seen--which I confess is what I was looking for in the book, since I have never seen on the ground the awesome sights related to the First World War, and I suppose I never will. I did not appreciate this book as much as I did a book by Rose E. B. Coombs: Before Endeavours Fade: A Guide to Battlefields of the First World War, which I read on 4 May 1991 and which I thought was almost as worthwhile as going to France to see the sites discussed for myself. Garfield's book has many poignant quotes, but unfortunately does not have a bibliography of any kind.

In this practical, yet deeply enriching study of the Old Testament feasts, we see types of present grace and coming glory.

Foundations of Dance/Movement Therapy: The Life and Work of Marian Chace is an excellent example of the mind/body connection that our society does not recognize. Marian Chace was the first person to explore the use of dance in helping to work through problems. The book focuses on Chace's history and how dance/movement therapy came to exsist. Sections of the book are devoted to modern dance therapists views of Chace's work and what it was like to work with Chace for some of them. Some chapters include journal entries written by Chace herself. A large portion is devoted to the basic principles of dance/movement therapy and how it is used in our modern society. One essay also discusses the use of psychoanalytic theory in dance/movement therapy. I highly recomend this book if you have any interest in psychology, dance therapy, dance or if you are looking for an alternative type of therapy. Dance therapy has proven to be very useful over the years, starting with the amazing work that Chace accomplished in her years as a dance/movement therapist.

If you are familiar w/ Sandzen's work, then you know his masterful hand in art extends to painting, lithography, etching and wood/linocut prints. A relatively unknown artist, but not for long. Sandzen's work has been gaining in popularity over the past 5-10 years. This book illustrates a few examples, but the real value is in the catalog of prints. This catalog is a complete inventory of every print made, the date it was created, the edition size, and the print size. The print size is especially important for collectors as some of Sandzen's prints were mass printed in slightly smaller sizes but look strikingly like originals(A very important detail for buyers of Sandzen's artwork). this book is a must for the collector only,....look to other books for juicy photos and a more extensive biography.

Good value and just what I was looking for but wish union name and number was not on the wood.

This volume on "The Jefferson Memorial" by Joseph Ferry for the American Symbols and their Meanings series is as much a mini-biography about Thomas Jefferson as it is a look at the history of the memorial. Ferry begins with the idea of finding A Fitting Tribute for Jefferson and covers some of the early ideas for doing so when Congress established a Commission to plan, design, and build a memorial. The architect John Russell Pope submitted the deisng, based on the Pantheon of Rome, which Jefferson maintained was the perfect model of a circular building. However, Pope was given the task without the Commission holding a nationwide competition, which would have struck Jefferson as undemocratic, but which we today would recognize as the way politics works in Washington, D.C.

A Notable Career covers the highlights of Jefferson's ear political life while The Politician deals with his two terms as President and afterwards. The Memorial tells some interesting tales of the planning and construction of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, including how several Japanese women chained themselves to cherry trees that were to be destroyed to make room for the memorial and the statute of Jefferson by Rudolph Evans showed up four years after the monument was dedicated on the 200th anniversary of Jefferson's birth because of metal rationing during World War II. The final chapter looks at the Words of Jefferson, which makes sense since some of his most memorable words, including a quotation from the Declaration of Independence, are carved around the statue in the memorial.

Consequently, young readers of this book will find it is half about Jefferson and half about the Memorial. I was a bit surprised at this balance after reading the volume in this series on the Lincoln Memorial, however if students pay attention they can make the connections between Jefferson's life and some of the specifics of the memorial. The book is illustrated with some of buildings designed by Jefferson, including his home at Monticello, so you can see the influences on the memorial. What there is to know about the Jefferson Memorial is pretty much in this book, such as the fact the statue looks right at the White House (although there is no explanation for the things behind the feet of Jefferson's statute; the last time I visited the memorial the guide was making a point of asking if anybody knew what they might be and I was hoping the answer would pop up in this book).

Other volumes in this series look at other buildings such as the Alamo and the White House as well as symbols like the Bald Eagle, the Liberty Bell, and the Pledge of Allegiance. There are twenty volumes at this point, which means, given the standard class size in elementary schools throughout the land, that teachers could have students work individually or in pairs and account for all of these American symbols for class posters or reports.

In this novel the wife of Canadian poet Jamie Mangan has just walked out on him and he feels totally abandoned and lost. He decides to go back to his homeland, Ireland, and to look into his family origins, especially that of his look-alike poet grandfather. What he discovers is not so encouraging: he meets relatives who are pretty low in character; but he also meets the 18-year-old Kathleen, with whom he becomes totally smitten. He is not too sure what to make of this Mangan inheritance, some of it rather motley, but he also comes to realize that it's what he does in his life that will ultimately define who he is. Moore has often been concerned with characters and their search for identity in his fiction, and Jamie's search is made quite fascinating and enlightening by the author.

A Sufi classic here translated from Persian by Professor Nicholson (Translator of the Mathnawi amongst other things) needless to say, when you know that this is the same person who has translated the Mathnawi you know that it is a reliable translation.

The book itself deals with the principles of Sufism, some early and later day Sufi masters along with some of the original Sufi orders, their names, meanings behind their names and practices.

An interesting and useful work on Sufism well translated.

W.S. Merwin curated single poems from the works of poets who had lived and died during his lifetime and published them under the title LAMENT FOR THE MAKERS: A Memorial Anthology. Himself a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1971, Merwin begins this tasty anthology with an extended poem in which he memorializes (or rather crystallizes) each of the twenty-three poets he has selected. Though not his best poem, it is an apt introduction to works by TS Eliot, WH Auden, James Merrill, Ezra Pound, Sylvia Plath, Robert Graves, Elizabeth Bishop, William Carlos Williams, etc. Reading poems selected by a poet is a lesson in itself. This small anthology will encourage readers, new to some of the poets here, to pursue more complete anthologies (the isolated works are not among the poets' best). A nice bedside book for ending the day in beauty.