Washington Books

I had my boys read this before going to Washington DC. It gave them insight on what to expect. I have also shared it with others who are taking their children or homeschooling.

I liked the story line and the tourist perspective. It is a great resource for teaching about different places. Wish there were more along this line.

Karen

This book is about Ms.Rooney's class who goes to Washington,D.C. It is great!

Catherine is middle aged and Christopher a young man but she is brave enough to accept the challenge and the unexpected gift life has in store for her. Love is more important than the disapproval and the hypocrisy of society. An intelligent,well written,subtle novel,which is also extremely modern.

Elizabeth von Arnim is one of the few authors in the early 20th century who wrote novels, like "LOVE" from Virago Modern Classics that challenged virtually every sacred cow and convention. And her prose is not only brilliant, as is the story here, but there are moments of such entertaining hilarity as well. If you did not know when this book was written, one would guess it had just been released! Also, literary genius can run in families, like this author. She was Katherine Mansfield's cousin and did try to help Mansfield with health and money woes when Katherine's own immediate family refused to do so. This was truly an extraordinary woman-artist-pioneer in literature as exemplified by this very book. Well worth the read, time and money - and her other classic "Vera" - is just as much as page-turner and a masterpiece.

Winner of the 2001 Spokane Prize for short fiction, Love Among The Greats by Edith Perlman is an enthralling and enthusiastically recommended anthology featuring characters ranging from children, to the elderly, toy makers, lovers, invalids, schmoozers, angels, and others. The captivating and superbly crafted portrayals of human dilemmas and enduringly powerful bonds developed in each of these outstanding stories combine to fashion a common, compelling theme that will keep the reader thoroughly hooked from tale to tale.

Edith Pearlman's writes of people and places, varied in geography, time and circumstance. She hits the emotional center every time with a simplicity and intelligence that surprises and touches. I love short stories and Edith's are right on. From Jerusalem to Boston, from university scholar to a waitress in Maine, these stories and their characters are eccentric or off beat and unexpected. A woman loses her gay Jewish husband and replaces him with an African American pediatrician, a heterosexual, yet still so different from her that her loneliness pierces the reader's heart. Read these stories for their intelligence and their warmth. ...

This is really a great story. I read this book in about 12 hours(yes I deprived myself of sleep). I advised every romance novel reader to partake is this groovy love story. I say groovy because the characters were wealthy but the stilled behaved, talked, and interacted like commmon folk. I definately appreciated that, this book proves you can believe in love and not be all corny and uptight. Muhsin was the best representation of a stong, down, hardworking black brotha. He took control but he knew when to back down and become patient. Duchess was strong but not overly strong where she would'nt allow herself to love or be loved. THIS IS A REALLY GOOD BOOK!!!!!!

To say I loved this book is an understatement. I truly enjoyed it so much that I actually wrote to the author. I fell in love with the hero and heroine immediately. Not only were they two beautiful people their friends and associates in the book also had quite a storyline. In my opinion it was a very well rounded story told by Ms. Washington of betrayal, loyality, trust and of course love. The descriptive tone made me feel such a part of their lives. I look forward to the next book........

Virtually all editions of Macbeth will have at least some annotations. Rummaging through five different editions, I preferred the Yale University Press version, edited by Burton Raffel, as having the most comprehensive and comprehensible notes, as well as an excellent introduction to Shakespeare's play. Raffel not only explains the meanings of obscure words, but also gives brief notes pertaining to relevant history, geography, stage directions, etc, that are rarely addressed as fully by other editors. In addition, Raffel frequently gives the proper way to stress the syllables in a line when reading it aloud, which can be extremely helpful. (However, in most places these stresses need to be very subtle, so that you don't sound like "taDUM taDUM taDUM".) And Yale's page layout is among the clearest that I've seen.

(To find this edition: at Avanced Search, enter ISBN 0300106548; or, enter Macbeth as title, and either Raffel as author or Yale as publisher.)

As a bonus, this edition includes at the back a long essay on the play by Harold Bloom. This is not an uninteresting commentary, but Bloom desperately needs a good editor. His essay is not only at least three times longer than it should be, but is startlingly repetitious. Yale would have been wise to have asked Bloom for a rewrite.

William Shakespeare's tragedy "Macbeth" was performed at the Globe Theater in 1605-06. The "Scottish" play was a calculated to be pleasing to James I, who took the throne of England after the death of Elizabeth Tudor in 1603. It was not simply that the play was set in the homeland of the Stuarts, but also that when Banquo's royal descendants are envisioned the last of them is the new King. (Note: Shakespeare does a similar sort of tribute to Queen Elizabeth when in the final act of "Henry VIII" the the Archbishop prophesizes great things for the infant Elizabeth. However, not only is there doubt that Shakespeare was the sole author of that particular history, it was not produced until 1612-13, ten years after Elizabeth's death.)

The play chronicles Macbeth's seizing the Scottish throne and his subsequent downfall, both aspects the result of blind ambition. However, one of the interesting aspects of "Macbeth" for me has always been its take on prophecy, which is decidedly different from the classical tradition. In the Greek myths there is no escaping your fate; in fact, one of the points of the story of Oedipus as told by Sophocles is that trying to resist your fate only makes things worse (the original prophecy was that Oedipus would slay his father; it was only after Jocasta sought to have her son killed to save her husband that the prophecy given Oedipus was that he would slay his father and marry his mother). In the Norse tradition prophecy is simply fate and manhood demands you simply resign yourself to what must happen.

But in "Macbeth" there is a different notion of prophecy that is compatible with what is found in the Bible: specifically, the idea that human beings simply cannot understand God's predictions. This is the case both with those who failed to understand the prophecies that foretold the birth of the Christ but also the book of Revelations, where the fate of the world is detailed in complex and essentially uncomprehensible symbolism. When Macbeth is presented with the first set of prophecies by the three witches, he is understandably dubious: he will become thane of Cawdor and then King, while Banquo will beget kings. However, when the first prophecy comes true, Macbeth begins to believe that the rest of the prophecy may come true. His fatal error, at least in the Greek tradition, is that he does not allow fate to bring him the crown, he takes active steps by slaying King Duncan. He compounds this error by projecting his ambitions onto Banquo; although Macbeth has Banquo killed, his son escapes to keep the prophecy intact.

Now the witches's prophecies are deceptively clear: no man born of woman may harm him and he is secure until trees start walking. Macbeth, who now believes in the inevitability of prophecy, fails to understand the fatal concept of loopholes. Thus, the nature of prophecy becomes an integral part of the play's dynamic.

A fascinating account of sometimes terrifying experiences of two professors teaching inmates in a maximum security prison. The eagerness of these inmates, some of them murderers, and the easing, if only momentary, of their seething animosity toward each other, was a surprising outcome. Even more surprising was their keen understanding of Shakespeare's deeply analytical stories of human trials and tribulations. All of this in an atmosphere of ever-impending violence, fights, and riots.

This thought-provoking and innovative book recounts the actual experience of two teachers, one a professor of English at a liberal arts college, the other a television producer, director, and writer, who brought Shakespeare and filmmaking skills to inmates in Washington State Penitentiary. The narrative moves back and forth between the two authors. We share in the initiation of Roberta Davidson into a teaching environment unlike anything her education at Princeton or her previous teaching experience at a private college had prepared her for. Davidson explains how she gradually developed her ability to use Shakespearean plays, with their insights into human nature, their examination of the individual psyche, and their exploration of the origins and effects of violence, to help inmates come to terms with their past and to work to create a more constructive future. At other times, through interviews John Kerwin carried out with many of the inmates, we are brought into the psychological world of individual prisoners, hearing both their accounts of the crimes they committed, and their assessment of their struggles to survive in prison. Kerwin, who taught filmmaking skills to inmates, also recounts his experience with a Native American powwow in the prison, powerfully narrating the role it played in helping prisoners reconfigure their lives. Readers will share in the many challenges the authors must face just to access the prison classroom, challenges that include dealing with a resistant prison administration and with students who behave in unanticipated ways.

Macbeth for Murderers pulls no punches. It directly faces and grapples with the crimes committed by the inmates the authors taught. It also openly discusses the difficulty of communicating under extremely adverse conditions. Davidson often foregrounds her discomfort as she worked not only to encourage her students to interact constructively but also to see the relevance of literature to their lives. At the same time, the book calls into question the goals of the current prison system. The programs that Kerwin and Davidson participated in were ultimately cancelled, leaving prisoners without a creative outlet into which they could channel their imaginative energies. The remarkable intellectual and psychological growth they mark in many of their students makes this decision highly questionable.

This book is appealing on many levels. The fascinating stories of the prisoners will be appealing to true crime buffs. The descriptions of teaching methodologies under adverse circumstances will be captivating to both students and teachers alike. And it is, above all, a human interest story about the way in which the creative arts - literature and film - can change lives regardless of circumstances. I highly recommend it.

With its slightly tongue-in-cheek title, "Made in Japan" is a nice, beautifully printed art book focusing on the heyday of the creative art print (sosaku hanga) from the immediate postwar years until the late 1960's. Originally intended as an exhibit catalog for a 2005 exhibition by the same name at the Milwaukee Art Museum, it stands on its own just fine as well (except for a little blurb frustratingly listing the exhibited pieces not shown herein). It also works well as a bit of art history, including as it does two interesting articles by Alicia Volk and Helen Nagata. The latter takes a careful look at the complex, ambiguous relationship between creative print artists and Ukiyo-e, a premodern tradition of mass production from which they stridently distinguished themselves even as it subtly influenced and informed some of their work. The former focuses on the role of this art form in Japanese-American relations in fascinating detail, discussing among other things the initial enthusiasm for prints on the part of American Occupation officials in the late 1940's, the efforts of people like James Michener and Oliver Statler to draw attention to these prints as a form of fine art both in America and Japan itself, and Japanese artists' intentions and motivations for using their works as a medium of cultural diplomacy between the two recently belligerent nations within the context of the Cold War. Volk does a wonderful job too of attending to the historical context and to the sociopolitical realities involved without being reductive or cynical.

And that's just the beginning. What about the actual art itself? The majority of the book is indeed dedicated to presenting a selection of 78 prints (actually more, for in a few cases there's a set of several prints under an overarching series title) by 59 artists, all in full color. Most artists are represented by one or two works as is appropriate to such an overview, though a few major figures in the field get more of a spotlight, especially the ever favorite Munakata Shiko. The prints are also organized in roughly chronological order and according to themes (nature, process and materials, abstraction, things Japanese, and pop and conceptualism), which aids one in appreciating and distinguishing the different artists and their styles as well as the gradual development of this art form during the decades in question. If the book has one imperfection, it's that some of the illustrations are a bit small. The format of the book makes this a necessary evil perhaps, though the decision-making process behind which prints get a single full page and which get crowded together with two or three others seems a tad arbitrary. So be it, though. One minor nitpick aside, this thin little volume is an immensely interesting and visually stunning look at one surprisingly significant aspect of modern art in Japan.

P.S. For a fine book on this subject published during the actual time period when Japanese creative prints were at their peak of popularity, check out CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE PRINTS.

In the rebuilding of Japanese society in the years after its defeat in World War, there was a "creative print movement [that] brought modern European artistic attitudes such as self-expression and formalist innovation to the Japanese woodblock print, a medium that had been rooted in the mass-production of popular images for several hundred years." The latest stages of this movement are becoming more widely known in the United States with the popularity of the Japanese manga and anime. The predecessors of this recent Japanese art are seen in the colors, designs, collages, subjects, and treatments of the post-war prints in this volume. One or two prints of 59 artists are shown in the main section of about 70 pages. These range from dark, tangled visions from having witnessed the devastation from the atom bombs to abstract designs to brightly-colored, comically erotic figures. Biographical sketches of the 59 artists follow the main section.

"Works of art give joy because they are so well made." This is a paraphrase of a quote from Bill Reid, the gifted Haida sculptor who led the way for today's carvers.

This book is incredible. Every carving, every piece of art is incredibly well made (as is the book itself). If you're interestd in either New Zealand (i.e. Maori) or Northwest Coast art (i.e. totem poles), you should buy this book. The pictures alone are worth it.

If it's a contemporary selection of works from native peoples of New Zealand and the Northwest coast which is needed, MANAWA: PACIFIC HEARTBEAT fits the bill perfectly: it presents modern Maori and Northwest Coast art, covering the history of major exposure of modern young artists to the world and including an excellent representative sampling of their achievements in striking color photos. 31 Maori and 15 Northwest Coast artists are presented to represent over three decades of works and events around the theme. The gorgeous color photos of over sixty selected pieces created especially for MANAWA make for an exceptional presentation.

Diane C. Donovan, Editor
California Bookwatch

Photographs by Edward Curtis of faces of Native Americans of both sexes and all ages are used to enter into and round out a consideration of the nature and course of the Indian culture in different respects. Curtis's photographs are so accomplished, impressive mostly in a iconographic way, and often evocative that they usually call for little related text. The majority of photographs in this volume could be appreciated standing alone; and many will find them unfamiliar as they are close-ups of faces rather than Curtis's more familiar tableaus of scenes or small posed groups. But in this work, the more intimate photographs of the faces appropriately tie in with many vignettes on individual Native Americans illustrating the traditional way of life and how the respective individuals were affected by changes from American westward exploration and settlement. Other sections of text go over Curtis's photographic project and the worldwide impact of European settlement and colonization on indigenous peoples as a context for the stories of the individual Native Americans. The approach adds greater depth to Curtis's photographic opus while making the point that the photographs also provide to some degree an anthropological record of a dying way of life, a value Curtis was not much aware of when taking the numerous pictures mostly in the latter 1800s and which is generally little-recognized even today.

Upham and Zappia have paired a haunting group of Native American photographic portraits by Curtis with a selection of Native stories that Curtis collected. The authors' introductory chapters reveal the broad range of their research, which they present concisely, to provide a thoughtful historical context for the primary materials. The Gilcrease Museum of Tulsa, in association with the Washington State University Press, has produced a book that is not only intelligent; but the symphony of brown tones in the prints throughout make it coffee-table beautiful.

I used this map recently on a week-long trip to Washington, and I found it to be incredibly helpful. Being able to see nearby restaurants and shops right on the map without having to pull out a guidebook was so convenient. Short of a handheld, interactive GPS with Internet access, this is the most helpful pocket-sized resource for sightseeing and navigating around I have ever used. And it's made of a rip-resistant thick paper, so it'll stand up to multiple trips. Highly recommended!

MapEasy Guides are wonderful whether you are traveling to Washington, D.C. or living there. From the best known attractions to delightfully obscure places this map guide gives all users the best there is to offer of the area. Even as a many-year resident of the area MapEasy has guided me, my family and friends to new and interesting places!