Literature in Art Books

Scott Vicker's new book about the depiction of Native Americans in art and literature in a thorough and academically rigorous account, yet quite readable. The book helps one to understand how the depiction of Indians has been influenced by the economic and social needs of the dominant white culture, whether that be the dehumanizing of Indians to justify wiping out their cultures, or their romanticization to attract tourists to their lands and make money selling their art. Vickers also brings to attention several writers, for example Frank Waters, who have attempted to deeply understand the culture they are depicting and to create multidimensional characters that provide the reader with a window into the true lives of Native Americans. Seeing how the depiction of Indians has progressed toward a more authentic and self-expressed picture over the last 50 years provides some uplift to counteract the rather depressing story of the books first half. (This book sco! res an impressive 9.5 on the PC scale.) Overall, Vicker's book avoids excessive academic jargon and provides insight for people who are interested in literature and art that depicts Native American's, but may not have thought too deeply about how such depictions have been influenced by the paradigms of the time. The reader may occasionally feel frustrated when Vickers discusses artwork without reproducing it in his book, but this minor problem does little to mar an otherwise outstanding text.

If there is a bit of irony in my review title, so be it. This book is based on a Phd. dissertation that caught the attention of William Tabernee. Tabernee was working on Montanist archealogy, and along came this. How the connection was made, I do not know. However, what we get here is a closely reasoned academic monograph that is not exactly in tune with Roman Orthodoxy. The author, Dr. Bulter, teaches at the Southwestern Baptist Seminary. The book was published by the Catholic University of America Press. That combination was enough to get me to fork up a substantial amount of money for this slim volume.

By the numbers, including all the scholarly work on the topic from the sources of the 19th Century, the author makes his points. He misses nothing that I know of, and his work takes into account all the sources that you and I cannot lay our hands on. Priced by the footnote, this book is probably a massive bargin. The bibliography of ancient and secondary works on the topic is complete as of the present. The conclusions drawn are clear. The entire orginal document on the passion of Perpetua and Felicita is a Montanist writing in all its three parts. This is argued beyond a doubt based on current scholarly knowledge.

The Roman Church has a great deal to answer for as regards the modification of Primitive Christianity to suit its episcopal needs. That the C.U.A. published this is refreshing. And, the book convincingly pushes the perception of the gifts of the Holy Spirit up into the middle of the 3rd Century B.C.E. This is a must read for anyone interested in the historical manifestations of the Holy Spirit in early Christianity. For indeed, it was "Christianity" that this book is speaking of by the late Second Century CE. And, by this time, the Roman Church had institutional needs of its own. The distortion of the legacy of Perpetua and Felicita to meet the needs of the patriachcal Roman Church and its cessationist position is clearly explicated in this essential work.

Coetze does not make the usual direct statement on the role of the writer and the situation of mankind. Instead he tells a story of Robinson Crusoe returned to England after the long years of exile, observing and reflecting upon the worlds around him. He sees the cruelty of life in a story of ducks entrapping fellows of their own species. He tells stories of the great plague, one moving one of a father who bring provisions for his wife and family but cannot come to be with them because they are already infected by the plague. Robinson tells of his writing and his slow coming to the task and continuing even in his old age. The solitary Cruesoe is perhaps the figure for Cooetze himself, the writer , seeking to connect with and yet deeply isolated from all of mankind.

Its funny to say, my name is Genji Jacques. Yes i am telling the truth, I am not Lying. I am surprised to see my name in the web site, its great. Anyways I just want to say that the book was inspirational and I am sure I will read other novels on my name. Thanks, Genji Jacques

I have these authors' earlier books on selecting nonfiction, which are terrific. But this one is better because it not only gives guidelines for making wise choices, but also offers lots of good, practical ideas for using your choices to teach reading, writing, and content-area subjects. The ideas can be used in whole-class, small-group, and one-on-one instruction. Plus, there's a clear opening section on the underlying principles behind the ideas. These authors know what they're talking about--and clearly have spent time in classrooms.

Nearly every Norman Rockwell coffee table book includes his famous "Four Freedoms" paintings. Most tell the basic story behind the works -- how the artist was inspired by President Franklin Roosevelt's State of the Union speech of 1941, how he sought without success to find sponsorship by a government agency, and how the paintings were originally published in four issues of Saturday Evening Post magazine in 1943. This generously illustrated volume by Stuart Murray and James McCabe tells a much more complete -- and much more fascinating -- story.

The two authors begin with President Roosevelt and the genesis of the Four Freedoms speech and the Atlantic Charter. They trace the creative process that resulted in Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech," "Freedom of Worship," "Freedom from Want," and "Freedom from Fear."

Beyond the paintings themselves, Murray and McCabe break new ground. They describe in detail how the paintings were published (first in the magazine and then by the Office of War Information) and how they toured the nation. The first exhibition was in Hecht's Department Store in Washington, with Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas speaking. The paintings and posters sold many war bonds, and the two authors well describe the organization and spirit of wartime bond marketing.

Looking beyond the artist, Murray and McCabe describe the enthusiastic reception of the paintings by the American public, quoting reviews, commentaries, and letters written by ordinary Americans. Rockwell had correctly sensed that Americans wanted more than words to understand the war aims of the United States and the United Nations. His great gift to the American people was to first visualize the rich ideals that President Roosevelt had described, and then to render them on canvas in an accessible way.

This book has valuable appendices. It is the only volume I have seen that includes the essays and stories that accompanied the paintings in four issues of the Saturday Evening Post. They complemented the paintings, and although they bear the marks of their decade, they are still powerful.

In the short story ("parable") that accompanied "Freedom of Speech," Booth Tarkington imagined that the young artist Adolph Hitler and the young journalist Benito Mussolini met "in a small chalet on the mountain road from Verona to Innsbruck." In a conversation they admitted their will to power, and the need for a "purge." Tarkington well understood fascism.

Stephen Vincent Benet's essay on "Freedom from Fear" traced the increasing connectedness of the world's nations (what we now call "globalization," evident even then) and how it can strengthen or weaken human freedoms. He portrayed the halting, slow, and difficult advance of freedom in the face of fear, signified in 1943 by aerial bombardment.

The essay by Carlos Bulosan -- an immigrant from the Philippines, then an itinerant worker on the West Coast who had to be tracked down by the Post's editors -- on "Freedom from Want" is a moving call for social justice. Its strong New Deal sound reminds this reader of Henry Fonda's peroration at the end of "The Grapes of Wrath."

The powerful and stirring essay by Will Durant that accompanied "Freedom to Worship" described how religion strengthens American society. He rightly criticized German, Japanese, and Italian fascism for their opposition to faith. The leaders of the Axis powers, he wrote, "leave their people no religion but war, and no God but the state."

The book also includes the long, thoughtful, and challenging essay that accompanied the separate printing of the paintings by the Office of War Information. Less memorable and less lasting are five essays specially commissioned for this book by John Frohnmayer, Theodore H. Evans, James MacGregor Burns, Brian Urquhart, and William J. vanden Heuvel.

The United States is once again at war. Terrorists on one side, the men and women in our armed forces on the other -- both know that America's freedoms are somehow at the heart of the conflict. This book can prompt our generation to consider how the "Four Freedoms" and other American ideals bear on the struggle.

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What this book imparted to me was the sense of awe Ms. Goldman sustains throughout the research process. She succeeds in humbling me with the acheivements of our children.

Novel Verdicts is a must reference guide for the legal thriller lover. Each book has been analyzed in detail, with a comprehensive index- by title, author and subject. A most comprehensive guide for legal thrillers. Myself being an ardent devotee of the genre and the Sr. Associate reviewer for legal thrillers and the author of A FICTION OF LAW, a bibliographic work on the popularity of the legal thriller genre through the masters of the genre- featuring 350 authors and 1500 books, let me say- this book is a must reference for the connoisseur of the legal thriller genre....

"O California!" bestows a glimpse of what prehistory California was like before its wild nature so quickly vanished. The reader of this weighty coffee table-sized book, enjoys a journey back in time through excerpts of the diaries of Spanish padres, essays and memoir of American settlers and literature by early California authors. Each excerpt is accompanied by historical California landscape paintings.

"O California!" tours seven geographical regions of the state: San Francisco northward through Marin and Sonoma, Mt. Diablo eastward through the San Joaquin Valley, The High Sierras and Yosemite, The Southern Sierra and the Deserts to San Gorgonio Pass, The Peninsula south of San Franciso down to the Salinas Valley, Morro Bay to Los Angeles, and The Southern Coast of Orange and San Diego counties.

A lengthy preface by Kevin Starr, an essay by Paul Mills, and an editor's note by Stephen Vincent can be enjoyed as upfront reading to set the tone in enjoying the following historic descriptions and visuals, or they can be skimmed past in the reader's eagerness to get to the content, and read as an afterword - all three should be read though. The Bibliography and Index make for almost as interesting a read as the rest of the book - perhaps it all depends on how much of a California history geek is the reader.

This is a fine addition to the canon of California history books. "O California!" is set-apart from the others by its lack of interpretation of events, instead allowing the personal truth, the eyewitness accounts describe what California was like. The oversize-ness make this more of an art book than a textbook - A keeper to hand down through your own California generations, so that the young ones to follow us may also enjoy a glimpse of a once-free California.

A clear, persuasive, and scholarly book that sheds light on the profound archetypal motifs and ideas found in Isaiah 14. Shipp has done an outstanding service in furthering the understanding of this biblical text.