Style Guides Books

Joining others in Greenwood's excellent college-level history series Guides to American Roots Music', FOLK MUSIC: A REGIONAL EXPLORATION covers all aspects of American folk traditions, from differing styles ranging from blues ballads to hollers and erotic songs, to instruments, regional differences in folk music, and the evolution of songs. A thorough exploration of major and minor genres and sub-genres keeps FOLK MUSIC an in-depth study worthy of college-level classroom attention for any American music history course.

Right now, Amazon and competitors are only able to get this book through used channels, but it is worth it. This book got me through college and every department wanting a different citation style. It is spiral bound, lays flat and includes the three major styles: MLA, APA and Chicago (aka Turabian). If you need a reference guide for writing papers, this is the best i've seen.

I needed to learn Fortran quickly and this book helped me to do it in 5 hours flat. Just type in all the worked out examples and you are on your way. The book is also a good reference.

This short book served as a catalogue for an exhibition at the Tate in London in 1999 and is one of the more sensitive explorations into Francis Bacon's artistic thoughts. Though known to approach unfixed canvas (in his much talked about trashy studio) with brush and paint and palette knife in hand and attack his story until it was complete, Bacon actually spent a considerable amount of time sketching ideas which often became his huge scaled painting. David Sylvester opens this Pandora's box with a pithy introduction and Matthew Gale presents a sophisticated, scholarly examination of this heretofore unknown aspect of Francis Bacon. The plates of the sketches, all included in the atalogue, prove startling even to the most ardent Baconophile. This is a treasure chest of nascent thought and aborted ideas.....and makes for splendid reading.

Saw this book for less than 4 $ used this is one of the truley great buys on Amazon . Large books 10.5 x 13 aprox 304 pages several fold outs one the Waterlilly brings the picture out to 25 inches X 4 1/2 format makes you want to go see the real one at Musee de I'Orangerie even the architectural drawing of it are in the book . I read this book from cover to cover . I even bought a second copy .

From Front Jacket:


"Celebrating the first major display of painting to come to Britain from the USSR, this book covers three centuries of French art, from the Rococo and the Age of Enlightenment to the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist periods.

The Russian interest in French art began in the reign of Peter the Great. It continued under Catherine the Great, who established the Hermitage to house her own collection of paintings by Watteau, Fragonard, Greuze and other leading French artists. Her enthusiasm for French art was shared by Russian aristocrats, whose collections are now also in state museums.

The end of the 19th century saw a new phase of Russian connoisseurship devoted to French avant-garde. Two celebrated collectors, Ivan Morozov and Sergei Shchukin, bought important works by Cezanne, Matisse and Picasso, and their recognition of these artists, who at that time were not widely appreciated, accounts for the significance of the Russian modern collections.

In this book all the 38 pictures in the exhibition are illustrated in color. Soviet curators have written catalog entries to the paintings, and also an introduction which describes their acquisition by Russian collectors."

This handsomely produced Abrams book catalogues the key works of Netherlandish Art held by New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Published as an accompanying volume to the great exibition of the same title, which was on display from September 1998 through the beginning of January of 1999, this work, in the words of the publisher, "Presents an overview of of one of the great epochs of Western art as seen through the extensive collection of the Metropolitan Museum...(this epoch) encompasses a century and a quarter of unparalleled artistic innovation and achievement realized in the geographic area of modern Belgium and the Netherlands."

Abrahms has turned out a lavish book, with 312 illustrations, 152 in full color, and they certainly are undeniably a high point. However, the book also contains four long essays leading off, and then the Catalogue proper has a series of discussions by Maryan W. Ainsworth. There is a concluding essay by Nadine M. Orenstein on "Bruegel, the Land, and the Peasants."

Concluding this scholarship are sixty further pages with additional works, glossary, and a enormous bibliography. The index and credits end the tome. The extraordinarily far-ranging bibliography certainly impresses - it would give pause to even the most jaded student of Art History.

The level of writing varies - sometimes we are back at the bad old days of Abrahms art books, where somewhat obvious generalized and subjective impressions pass for thinking, but usually the works are treated with serious criticism. Important works receive a justly deserved high level of attention. The editing nicely keeps pictures and text in sync.

The Museum's unequalled collection of Gerald David is certainly a high spot of the catalogue; theirs is the largest holding of David's work in the world. Professor Ainsworth, who has written a 1994 book on Petrus Christus, and who is responsible for much of the Catalogue text, has also written another full book on Gerald David - Gerard David A Purity of Vision in an Age of Transition If you like the David section you might consider taking a long look at this work.

One caveat: If you are primarily looking for a book filled with images of the major works of the period first, and erudition second, you might consider looking at the much less expensive book,Early Flemish Painting It's a great book, and certainly makes a wonderful addition to any collection of art books.

"Amreica" is spelled incorrectly (i hope)! (And I haven't read the book, so don't publish this review, please!)

Whether you're a furniture designer, interior decorator, or just like to be "in the know" about putting together your own house, this book provides a visual encyclopedia of styles and design periods, and details all the elements that go into a piece from types of legs and feet to decoration like fluting or ormolu. Truly an essential resource!

From the inside panel:
As Furniture & Furnishings examines and illustrates all the major items and objects of modern furniture with more than 1400 text entries and 1000 key line illustrations. The text and illustrations complement each other, so that the reader can begin with either the object or the word.

All the main types of each object of furniture are featured, together with their methods of construction, their parts and their decoration, both formal and surface.

Even more information is provided by an illustrated timechart of furniture periods, brief biographies of 70 furniture designers, and descriptions of more than 100 furniture styles.

This book is packed with great information about all aspects of the music industry, from "how to" basics for getting the best sound for any style of music, to recording tips, to insider dirt on the way music is marketed in modern times. Whether you're a DJ, and "singer songwriter" or a member of a rock hard punk band, there's something in this book for you. I read it in one sitting, and can't wait to use the practical knowledge I've gained to further my music career. Look for me at the very top!