Italy Books

A wonderful work in all respects - scholarship, printing, presentation, photography. Some of the paintings are more like wall paper samples, the paper and printing is that good.

Another great work in the Getty catalog. A must have for any serious student of Roman Art/Architecture.

I saw a copy of Domus while in Naples and knew I would have to order a copy when I returned home. The book is beautifully produced with an excellent essay by Donatella Mazzolini on the architecture of Roman houses, focusing on those under discussion in Pompeii, Herculaneum and Rome. This is followed by an essay by Umberto Pappalando on the Domus Romana, focusing on the development of houses and gardens. As good as these essays are it is the pages dealing with the houses themselves that is jaw-dropping. The houses are arranged in sections following the development of the Roman domus and include color pictures and diagrams of the houses. There are short introductions to the homes followed by a portfolio section consisting of close up pictures of the frescos printed on non-glossy textured paper that gives a better impression of how the painting appears to the observer. These reproductions are superb.

The choice of buildings is impressive. There are far too many to list but among them are: from Pompeii the House of the Faun, the House of Julius Polybius, the Villa of Mysteries, the House of the Golden Bracelet, the House of the Tragic Poet and the House of the Labyrinth; from Herculaneum: the Samnite House, the House of the Skeleton, the House of the Grand Portal, the Collegium of the Augustales; from Rome: the House of the Griffins, Livia's House on the Palatine and at Prima Porta and the Domus Aurea. The Villa of Poppea at Oplontis gets special attention in the book, and a fresco from the house appears on the cover.

This book is a must for anyone interested in ancient Roman houses and their decoration. If you have even visited Pompeii, Herculaneum and the other villas destroyed by Mount Vesuvius you will enjoy this book.

I'm extremely impressed. I think this book would make an outstanding addition to any Renaissance-lover's, or garbaholic's, bookshelf.

It is not about how to make Italian-persona clothing. Instead, it focuses on how Florentines of the Renaissance used clothing to make social statements. Along the way, it examines some things that garbmakers would like hearing about (one table lists various color combinations found in gowns and linings), but mostly, it's about the sociology of fashion.

Chapters:

* Craftspeople and tailors (including how clothes-making guilds were organized and the role women played in these guilds)
* Tailoring Family Honor (how Florentines viewed honor and how they thought honor was expressed through clothing)
* Family Fortunes in Clothes (how much they spent, and a bit about the secondhand clothes market)
* The making of wedding gowns (you'll love learning how many opinions went into one and how totally political it all was)
* Trousseaux for Marriage and Convent (how they differed, and lists of what went into each)

And stuff about sumptuary law, information about layers of clothing, types of dyes (and an examination of mourning clothes), types of fabric, and clothes as depicted in art -- and how art might have distorted how people really wore clothes. Embroidery is also covered.

Needless to say, the painter Ghirlandaio features pretty prominently here. There are also b/w repros of portraits, unfortunately not super well detailed, but there are a few here I haven't seen before. There are also appendices that are very useful -- lists of currency and measures, categories of clothiers, yardage required for various garments, glossaries of what yardage terms meant, and a HUGE bibliography and glossary of terms.

It isn't a physically large book, clocking in at around 300pp, but it's very rich in detail, and the writing is pleasant to read. I'd definitely recommend this book to anybody wanting to immerse in the period -- and DEFINITELY for any Renaissance costumers out there. It might not be a bad idea to have some basic grounding in the period before reading this, but it's written well enough that if any is required, it isn't much.

It's surprising to note that professor Carole Collier Frick's DRESSING RENAISSANCE FLORENCE: FAMILIES, FORTUNES AND FINE CLOTHING is the first in-depth study of the Renaissance fashion industry. Here are insights into the social and political meaning of clothing in Florence, with black and white photos throughout displaying changing styles and fashion innovations, visual impressions and how family fortunes were invested in wardrobes. A fascinating college-level study, recommended for any collection strong in fashion or Renaissance history.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

With this unique collection of flip books, one of the artists with the best senses of humor in photography has excelled himself ! If you are a collector of fine photographic works in prints or in books, you've got to get this set. How the heck they got a master to do a set of flip books is a mystery, but it's a prized set in this house. Too much fun.
Damon
[...]

I love this book, I love the concept and the way it is executed. Finally a new dimension for Erwitt's great photography .... a breath of fresh air. Why are books all the same when something like this is possible? A great gift for any occasion and a good dose of italian spirit !

This is the perfect biography for anyone wanting to learn more about a great man, one of the greatest physicists. Enough of his physics were mentioned or included to make it non-trivial to me (junior astrophysics major, with Fermi distribution functions currently flying out of my ears) and yet I would have no compunctions handing this book to my little cousins in elementary school if they needed to read/write a book report on the life and accomplishments of one of the greatest and most influential scientists of our era. In fact, I would say that is the preferred audience, all physics students have heard of Fermi, but most children (and indeed, most adults) are unaware of his contributions to the way we see the world around us, and to history. All of that is here, in this biography easily accesible to anyone.

I'm the author of this book. I sought to show how physics is done and how one of the greatest scientists of our time used his fine mind and friendly yet competitive ways to succeed. I believe I've made Fermi, the man, and the physics he did accessible to a wide range of readers. Don't be put off if you found physics hard in school -- this isn't like that, and it ain't brain surgery.

Fermi was famous for being one of those very rare physicists who are good at both theory and experiment. That helped as he and his team did the neutron experiments that led to his 1938 Nobel Prize. After a dramatic escape from fascist Italy, he and his family emigrated to America. There he went on to create the first nuclear chain reaction (on December 2, 1942) and to play a major role in the development of the atom bomb. After helping to win World War II, he helped set sensible science policy and did more great physics. His name is enshrined in the element Fermium, in the Fermi National Accelerator Lab, and in some of the most impotant concepts of physics.

This book is a good way to learn about a great man and about the way the physical world works. I hope you'll enjoy it; let me know what you think of it.

This is a splendid review of nine centuries of Etruscan cultural, economic, social and artistic history. Designed for the educated nonspecialist, it has beautiful photos in both black/white and color of art works held in museums throughout the world: the most wide-ranging collection I have ever seen in one volume. The author, an expert in her field, writes clearly and well about the latest archaelogical evidence (up to the book's publication in 2000), and its relevance to our understanding of Etruscan life. Well recommended to anyone with an interest in this field.

In Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural History, noted educator and Etruscan scholar Sybille Haynes treats the reader to a comprehensive and superbly presented survey of Etruscan civilization from its origin in the Villanovan Iron Age (9th Century B.C.E.) to its absorption by Rome (1st Century B.C.E.). The thoroughly "reader friendly" text combines well-known aspects of the Etruscan world with new archaeological discoveries and insights into the role of women in Etruscan society. Etruscans are also contrasted to the Greeks (whom they often emulated) and to the Romans (who both admired and disdained them). Etruscan Civilization is a complete and compelling portrait of both a long-ago people and their antiquarian culture. Readers will enjoy Haynes' in-depth examination of how Etruscans access to mineral wealth, trade routes, and agricultural land were effected by distinct regional variations. The informative, insightful text is enhanced with profuse illustrations of ancient Etruscan art and cultural objects. Organized chronologically and thematically, interweaving archaeological evidence, a splendidly presented analysis of social structures, detailed descriptions of trade and burial customs, and an insightful examination of Etruscan pottery and art, Etruscan Civilization is a "must" for personal, professional, and academic library collections and Etruscan studies reading lists.

On of Blackwell Publishers' outstanding "The Peoples of Europe" series, Grame Barker and Tom Rasmussen's The Etruscans is a complete and superbly presented history of the Etruscan peoples, a society and culture that flourished on the Italian peninsula before the founding of Rome. The city states of the Etruscan civilization were based in west-central Italy around the area of modern Tuscany. Etruscans were sophisticated and innovative, and dominated the region from the eight century to the fourth century BC, when they were conquered and absorbed by the emergent Roman Republic. Shortly after the Roman conquest, an understanding of the Etruscan language and writings were lost and not to be recovered until the second half of the twentieth century. Very highly recommended and accessible reading, The Etruscans incorporates the findings of extensive archaeological investigations which, combined with a clearer understanding of Etruscan inscriptions, has now made possible a full and engaging overview of the Etruscan economy, society, culture, and history.

When I took a survey course on the history of Western Art, the instructor passed over the Etuscans in about 15 seconds. I belive he showed us one slide of the elaborate tomb of an Etruscan man who was reclined in death on the lid of his sarcophogus. In the instructor's mind, the Etruscans formed a brief interlude somewhere between the Greeks and the Romans.

My second encounter with the Etruscans came when I read D.H. Lawrence's book on his travels in Italy. In this book, Lawrence includes an extensive section on his visits to the Etruscan sites in Italy. Lawrence viewed the Etruscans with sympathy, and interestingly, THE ETRUSCANS takes off from Lawrence's book. Each section of this history is introduced by a passage from Lawrence who felt the Etruscans had been badly described by the Greeks and the Romans.

THE ETRUSCANS is a history book in the series on 'The Peoples of Europe' and the third in this series of synopses on various European ethnic groups that I have read. I intend to read more. I am not interested in becoming an expert on every group, but these books provide me with an overview that allows me to determine which distinct groups I might want to study futher.

Barker and Rasmussen have taken a wholistic approach in developing their text. They eschew the boundaries of traditional discplines without destroying the integrity of each of these various appoaches. They use all "sources, whether written records, inscriptions, monuments or excavated data..."

The book is laid out by topic, and the discussions in each section are drawn from the work of scientists and historians who have deciphered text (tomb inscriptions and other preserved written material including the "histories" of the Romans and the Greeks) and subtext (geological formations, pottery shards; bone fragments from slaughtered animals; flora including petrified seeds; remains of metal implements, tools, jewelry, etc.; remains of various structures including houses, boats, etc.; disturbances in the terrain resulting from the construction of canals, roads, walls, mines, farms, and necropolises).

The tale Barker and Rasmussen piece together is amazing. Scientists and historians know much more than they did about the Etruscans owing to recent advanced work involving forensics type investigation. The authors suggest much more can be known if additional steps are taken in the study of preshistoric Etruscan sites, i.e. researchers need to adapt the advanced techniques used in other places like Israel.

The Etruscans apparently weren't great artists like the Greeks but they made a number of material advances the Romans simply incorporated and claimed as their own inventions. For example, recent archeological research shows the Etruscans were engineers who invented the means of moving water via canals and irrigation channels long before the Romans built their aquaducts.

The Etruscans created a civilization that lasted longer than many others formed in Western Europe (800 B.C. to 300 B.C) and even after they were "incorporated" by the Romans they continued to make substantial contributions to the surrounding economy.

Apparently, the Etruscans were an archaic people, native to the part of Italy where their remains can be found. Although their language seems to be unlike that of most other historic Europeans the discovery of a Phoenician/Etruscan rosetta stone has allowed researchers to untangle a number of words, including the names of many of those laid to rest in the ornate tombs I was shown so long ago.

There are thousands upon thousands of people who could use this information in America alone! Anyone who can provide easily understandable information and the hope of getting a handle on a person's weight will find an eager audience, not just in the U.S., but around the world.

The author is to be congratulated on a worthwhile effort to satisfy that need.

The manuscript flows well, and the author obviously knows the subject matter inside and out. It's also useful information, a sort of owner's manual of a person's emotional being.

This book, by David Freedberg, tells the fascinating story of Freedberg's discovery, on a tip from the notorious spy and brilliant art historian Anthony Blunt, of a group of amazing antique drawings stashed away in an obscure cupboard in Windsor Castle. The images, gracefully drawn and beautifully colored, depicted a bizarre range of flora and fauna: deformed lemons with claw-like legs, flamingoes, dramatic portraits of badger faces, strange plants...

The discovery marked the beginning of a great adventure told in the book--of Freedberg's search for and discovery of the source of the drawings: a 17th-century gang of noblemen and eccentrics based largely in Rome who took as their mission nothing less than the discovery, analysis, and visual record of all natural knowledge. They called themselves the Accademia Lincea, or Academy of Lynxes. This was the age of Galileo, who was in fact a member, and whose work the Lincea edited and published. With the aid of microscopes, telescopes, and other instruments, the Lincea and their peers began to develop a picture of the natural world in all its details that profoundly challenged traditional views of Heaven and Earth, supported by the Roman Catholic Church.

Freedberg's manner is at once learned and accessible. He tells a gripping story of a group of fascinating characters, some brilliant, some insane, and their grand projects, including a decidedly obsessive interest in bees. Lavishly illustrated in color and black-and-white, this is surely one of the most attractive, novel, and important works of history this year.

Rich in breathtakingly beautiful illustrations (83 color plates, 89 halftones) "The Eye of the Lynx" is a must-have for those with a penchant for science and its history.

We are told that author Freedberg, an art history professor and director of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University, once happened upon a neglected cupboard in Windsor Castle holding hundreds of intricately precise drawings of plants and animals dating from the Old and New Worlds. He was acting on the word of Anthony Blount, an art historian and British spy. These drawings had been hidden and forgotten since the days of King George III.

Later, after coming across countless more throughout Europe, Freedberg discovered their provenance - a small 17th century scientific group. Based in Italy it was called the Academy of Linceans for Lynx-eyed.

This optimistic organization set as their goal the representation of all nature in pictures. The mighty task of the Linceans is recounted for the first time in English in this wondrous book. They, unlike their predecessors, focused on internal structures rather than external appearances.

For its time, one of the most outre ideas proposed by the Linceans was the microscope. They simply turned Galileo's telescope around and exposed a once invisible world.

Freedberg has rendered an enormous service in bringing to light this integral portion of the development of visuals as related to natural history.

- Gail Cooke

This book gives a concise history of Mussolini and the first Fascist regime. The book starts with an introduction by Adolph Caso describing his childhood memories growing up in an Italian village during the wartime years, his family's experience and his observations on moving to America.

The text proper summarizes Mussolini's early political associations, the state of Italy beginning some time prior to World War I and conditions following that conflict. The reader is introduced to the thinkers and activists who formulated the various doctrines that influenced Mussolini although eventually he adhered to none of them as originally conceived.

Mention is made of the other great dictators and `isms' of this period and the reader is reminded that bad as he was and although not hesitant to use violence to achieve his objectives, Mussolini did not engage in mass killings, nor did he institute the concentration camps or gulags of other regimes.

Mussolini formed a compact with the Vatican with which he restored relations and did not appear to be antagonistic to religion. He was not a racist although when he became a dependent and lackey of Hitler during World War II, he did promulgate anti Semitic laws. Prior to this Jews held prominent positions in his regime.

The author does a commendable job of laying out the conditions under which Fascism (or other `isms') arises and from time to time the reader may find some of the comparisons with our present situation disturbing. However, the book closes with a reassuring conclusion in this regard and points out how the Constitution and our system of checks and balances create a considerable obstacle to any individual or party seeking to establish a totalitarian regime in this country.
Dave Cohen

Put together a young serious historian and a "been-there; done-that" publisher, and you have an impressive interesting book entitled Fascist Italy: A Concise Historical Narrative. The book, written by 28-year-old Cristogianni Borsella, in my opinion, reveals a well-versed, knowledgeable, and dedicated author with an excellent writing and presentation style that allows readers of all ages and background to learn from him. In addition, Adolph Caso, publisher of Branden Books, brings to us in the Introduction¾ "Fascism, Italian Style: Reactions to memories and events," as a beautiful backdrop against which we gain a new and/or expanded understanding of Fascism.

Now you might quickly frown and say, "Now why would I want to learn more about Fascism?" I admit it! My first thought was, "Now what have I gotten myself into this time?" However, I was quickly dispelled of my qualms. Adolph's sharing of his memories of his early life under the regime of Benito Mussolini quickly made the book more personable. A simple little story about his mother having to give up her pots and pans, for example, emphasizes to each of us the struggles of those who have lived through those horrible times in the past. At the end of the Introduction, I was looking forward to learning more!

Just what is Fascism? "In the past 60 years it has been used egregiously as a synonym for totalitarian dictatorship and chauvinism." (P. 120). The writer continues, however, "Fascism is not just ring-wing bigotry, however; it is much more insidious. It is the merger of finance capital and state power. . .quite literally capitalism in decay. . ." (P. 120)

Now, does that make you curious? Finance Capital--Banks? State Power--the ever-present bureaucracy??? I must admit that by the time I was reading Chapter 11, "What is Fascism," I was beginning to wonder about how things are going here in the United States. Was this book relevant to me? Were we perhaps moving toward Fascism or are we already there? There's no way around it, in today's world, we are all asking questions, wondering about whether we are doing the right thing, whether we have gone too far in participating and even initiating actions against other countries.

As the title relates, Borsella has presented a concise historical narrative of the development, movement toward, and the evolution of Fascist Italy, providing both an historical accounting of Italy's place in Fascism as well as the relationship that was later developed between Mussolini and Hitler, as well as a comparative analysis with other ideologies such as Marxism, etc.

The narrative moves quickly and easily, building as is needed to gain the necessary historical background and knowledge and then moving with readers to allow us to consider how Fascism may have or is affecting us in the United States.

I leave you with a selection from 14 Characteristics of Fascism: (pps. 142-143)
Powerful and continuing expressions of nationalism
Identification of enemies/scapegoats as a unifying cause
The supremacy of the military/avid militarism
Rampant sexism
A controlled mass media
Obsession with national security
Power of corporations protected
Fraudulent elections
Rampant cronyism and corruption

Any of these sound familiar? Want to read more? Wonder about the rest of the characteristics? Wonder how the author sees the United States based upon his extensive study? I think this book goes beyond the basic research efforts of historians. Borsella has taken a look at significant historical facts and used them intelligently and effectively to allow us to expand our own knowledge as well as explore how and if we fit within Fascism. For surely you've heard us being referred to as a Fascist nation? Are we? If you have questions at this point, I highly recommend Fascist Italy by Cristogianni Borsella!

Finding Billy chronicles the author's search to find out about the circumstances of her uncle's death. Billy Wisner was a World War II pilot who wemt "missing in action" over Italy in October, 1944. That was all the information his family had for over 50 years, though his mother never gave up hope that she would see him again. Diana Dale's simple question on an internet veterans' message board (Does anyone remember my uncle?) led to the resolution of this family's story. Along the way, Dale's internet acquaintances become real friends, and Dale completes the puzzle in the way the US Army could not.

Dale uses family letters to paint a picture of Billy's life, and her emails trace the progression of the investigation. Her personality shines through the prose, as do those of the many people she meets, first online and then in person.

Not just for WWII aviation buffs, Finding Billy will appeal to anyone who likes the satifaction of a mystery solved, or who is haunted by the loss of a loved one. Highly recommended.

With the WW11 memorial just dedicated in Washington, Finding Billy is a must read! This memoir takes us back, gives us an intimate peek at history and the lives of brave young men involved in that conflict. We feel the love and loss of friends and family through the pages of Diana Dale's book. We particularly feel the determination of the author and the people she met through the internet to solve the mustery of her Uncle, Billy Wisner's disappearance over the Italian Alps in l944 while flying his P-38. You fall in love with handsome Billy through his endearing letters to his family and friends. Don't miss this glimpse into life during WW11.