Marshall Books

There are lots of good books about Art Deco as an overall art style but Patricia Kery seems to have corned the market with this title covering graphics. Large size, 320 pages and with 476 illustrations it will most likely be the standard reference for many years. The first chapter, `Foundations of Art Deco graphic style' is a lucid explanation and the following chapters (printed on light mauve paper) expand on this excellent start. The illustrations are fortunately printed on glossy white paper.

***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

Good as the book is though I was rather disappointed with the presentation. All of the spreads with several pictures have them deliberately unaligned and where there are only two images to a page they are usually the same size with a lot of white space and I mean a LOT. I think one of the images should have been big and the other smaller, thus reducing all the white space to a minimum. Typography on the mauve text pages is a mess, various sizes are used and the caption size is really too small. The left-hand page numbers are on the inside of the page next to the books spine, this seems a silly bit of designer whimsy.

The book is very comprehensive and rightly shows how the creative output of mostly European artists was used commercially. For an American perspective have a look at this beautifully designed paperback, `Streamline: American Art Deco Graphic Design' by Steven Heller and Louise Fili. This has excellent illustrations showing how the style was adapted (those famous three speed lines) by American creative folk to sell products rather than a European fine art genre.

Art Deco Graphics is about graciousness of form. An unmatchable book that can be read five, ten times and still sift up new baubles. Brief-lived, yet timeless, like the then-young artists' cheerful way of navigating into the future using no compass or ancestral guidance. Like office girls who adored the little black dress, but were informed they could liquefy, rather than dump, themselves, into it, and so did.

The drifting directionlessness of France in the 1920s when film and poetry were all but the same thing, a nostalgia for what always is because it never was. It was time for something new.

New . . . and yet . . . more: Modern. Diverting. Striking, startling, disharmonious, direct. Everyone saw the need: Art of street to challenge art of salon. A merger between middle-class decorative taste and the revolutionary's love of the outré, the young artist's love of the avant-garde, the liberated career woman's preoccupation with the suave and the elegantly insolent. By the time the 1925 Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes opened in Paris, the masters of modern art-Picasso, Braque, to skim for the moment the mythic cream, Klimt, Léger, Kandinsky, Magritte, Modigliani, Duchamp, Ernst, and Toulouse-Lautrec-had already transformed the fine arts. There seemed no new territory to explore.

Then the newbies discovered graphic arts.

There was no "Art Deco" then. Indeed, that appellation was not used until 1966. But artisans embracing a handful of ideas loosely bundled as "Style moderne" borrowed bits from Cubism, Russian Constructivism, Italian Futurism, the Vienna Secession, Bauhaus, then added techniques of their own: abstraction, distortion, oversimplification, geometric solidities reinforced with intense colors. They used these to celebrate the rise of commerce, technology, and (thanks to the auto and airplane) speed. The ensuing volcano spewed simultaneous views from several directions: hypercontrasts of color and arrangement, transformations of reality, personality, eccentricity.

These inspired a new kind of fine artist, the illustrator. Names like Cassandre, Jean Carlu, Herbert Bayer, and McKnight-Kauffer began to turn up not merely on posters, but magazine covers, stationery design, advertisements. A kumquat of Orientalism was squeezed out of Diaghilev's sensational Ballets Russes. American jazz, native American and African art, Egyptian glyphs, these too. And above all the discovery of personal power in the power of machines. All these contributed to an aesthetic confluence from which has flown the sociological art theme of our times: graphics, commerce, private purpose, public event, and social attitude are all immersed in one. Art Deco Graphics is like looking at the wedding pictures of one's grandparents.

Almost all these images are standouts, but a few are unsettling, and breathtakingly so. On page 89 is an ad for Herkules Bier "aus dem Hasenbrau-Augsburg." The sinister, leviathanic, muscle-bound, fist-clenched figure uses one of the hallmarks of Art Deco-deep shadow to enhance contrast-to convey a message as self-contradictory as it is threatening: Drink this and it won't go to your belly, it will build the muscle of Germany. Rage is power,too.

That was 1925. Five years earlier Ludwig Hohlwein design an ad "Tachometerwerke" for a Düsseldorf maker of the eponymous instruments to clock engine revs. The vehicle, with its riveted sheet metal body and upjutting phallic levers for gears and brakes, all done in a dark drab befitting military maneuvers in the slime, is not a Gay Paree streamlined beauty with chauffeur and mink-trimmed consort. It is a tank. The vehicle alone says, "We're coming, out of the way." But it is the driver who truly frightens. Garbed in the thick leathers of automobiling at the time, gloved hands gripping-no, choking-the wheel, his face is of such grim, hating, enraged determination that one cannot think of similar malevolency in all of art history except perhaps for Meiji-era Japanese prints extolling the glories of battle. Even in 1920 the omens were shrieking, and by 1925 they were building muscle.

Yet for the most part Art Deco was sweetness and elegance, if not light, and a kind of innocence during the days when modern commercialism was being established. One can see editors exploiting inner fears on behalf of ad sales even then: the Vogue and Vanity Fair covers depict improbably slender women draped in the silks and furs of unattainable wealth, their eyes of steel willing and able to stare down an amorous tycoon (page 143). Book publishers were right alongside them: A book cover by a designer pseudonymed "Fish" (in reality the British caracaturist Ann Sefton) proclaimed, "High Society-Hints on how to Attain, Relish - and Survive It; A Pictorial Guide to Life in Our Upper Circles." Powerful "Fortune" covers (whose ultra-simplicity and unusual view angles could inspire cinema students even today). They also were the days when "Fortune" had taste: A 1941 cover was graced with a Fernand Léger graphic.

Sarah Hornsby is a spirit filled Christian author. I have prayed through and own every book she has written. However my favorite is "At the Name of Jesus". Since it was published in 1983, I have given this book to over twenty friends. Starting with a title of Jesus from Scripture, Ms. Hornsby's 365 meditations explore the attributes of Jesus from Jesus is the Alpha to Jehovah Jesus is the Savior-Messiah. This book has lead me to an ever deeper and more personal relationship with Jesus. Chosen Books should bring out a new edition. This book is too precious to remain unavailable.

At the Name of Jesus is a wonderful devotional book. Each day's reading is short & to the point but deep enough to ponder all day. I have given this book as a gift to many people. Each one has loved it, & many have purchased copies to give as gifts to others. This book is a true blessing.

This book is a concise, clear and holistic introduction to the subject of atmosphere, ocean and climate science. The book is written in a student-friendly manner. The authors present and develop the tools required to understand the climate system. These tools include radiation, thermodynamics and fluid dynamics. These tools are then used to understand the behaviour of the atmosphere and ocean. The interplay between atmosphere and ocean systems in giving rise to the climate system is elucidated. The last chapter is devoted to climate dynamics. While primarily discussing the general characteristics of atmosphere and ocean, the book also elaborates on slightly more specialized topics like wind-driven circulation, thermohaline circulation and paleoclimate.This book will help undergraduate and entry-level graduate students to secure a beachhead on the fascinating new territory of atmosphere, ocean and climate science.

Very well presentation of the material acompanied of details to conduct laboratory experiments and all the data accessible through book's website. The text is clear with concise explanations and tips to follow and try all their derivations. The treatment of ocean and atmospheres as a continuum and unique system is simply amazing. Key references are provided for the reader interested in an in depth treatment of any subject, and in it is own constitutes a valuable reference for teaching as well as for self-study (especially beginners). Not recommended for those interested in mesoscale dynamics or microscale processes. Finally, the carefully edition (recreative illustrations, footnotes with details on fathers of the field, etc) of the book makes this indeed a beautifull book.

The only fault is that there is no paperback edition; this will help make this valuable reference more accessible.

This is the best remodeling book ever! The helps are awesome and the picture inspire you so much! I highly recommended this book!

I guess someone put in the wrong book description -- attics don't usually have radon problems! I got a ton of ideas. Now I have created a great plan and can't wait to begin working on the attic of our house.

I first bought this book in 1968 (when I was YOUNG!). I came upon it up again last week and got reacquainted. What a treasure! HOW could I have neglected it all these years? This is truly a rich daily devotional. Each presentation has a day's worth of spiritual "meat" to chew on! Dry? - NEVER! It is interspersed with beautiful poetry, enhancing the text. You will not be disappointed.

A lot of today's devotionals are geared toward the selfism of our culture and invite you to discover or become a better person with purpose. Yet, Baxter invites you to become a better Christian through a full year of powerful but concise devotions that really are daily Bible studies. That was exactly what I felt led to when I was seeking a devotional to become the basis of my personal study and daily meditations. Even though it is over ten years old, it is still extremely relevant to our modern era and it is intriguing to place Baxter's words into the contemporary perspective following the events of the least several years in our culture. It's no wonder why so many have been sold and continue to sell. It's the perfect self or group study for any era.

Michael Bakunin was born landed Russian nobility but he gave all that up to fight for a more just social order. This book is a fascinating read for any student of Politcal Science or Sociology. As Marx's arch rival at the International Working Man's Association Bakunin believed that revolution would come from the rabble of society not the well organized industrual workers as Marx beleived. This book takes you to exile in Siberia to the politically charged streets of Paris. One of the best books I have ever read.

You who are viewing this page should congratulate yourself for being willing enough to explore what Anarchism is all about. I commend you once again but reward yourself by obtaining this book. Any of Bakunin's writings are well worth it, it is a travesty that Anarchism has been dismissed awaken yourself to the possiblity and don't be afraid to ask why not.

I have three children and I find myself continually picking this book up at the public library. Over the years, my children never seem to get tired of this book (and Mom doesn't get tired of reading it either). They love guessing and knowing the correct answer of the animal on the next page. We love it!

As a Children's Specialist in a public library, I use this book constantly in storyhour. It has become such a favorite that I have had at least 10 moms ask me where they could buy it. The library copy stays checked out and it is most unfortunate that it is no longer available. It is simple, colorful and has great potential for "join-in" fun.

The writers do an excellent job of reminding the reader of why we like sports. In this Post-Mitchell Report Era, it's nice to see examples of heros who aren't so driven by personal glory at the expense of others. Overall, a nice read.

I think Jack Walsh, and Marshall Cook have captured the heart and soul of Baseball's greatest players. Baseball Good Guys is a book that will inspire the reader to learn more of the Character and Integrity of these players. The statistics are there, but their ability to overcome adversity, personal problems, prejudice and more, will inform the readers of the real skills of these players.

Be forewarned, some of the pages come to life, in such a way that splinters (possibly from the bats) seem to leap into your eyes.

Good book, should be a must read for school athletes and those of us who lived during some of those years.

i was just speaking with a colleague at work about books i'd read at an early age that made an impression on me, so on a whim i checked amazon and was pleased to find that Beautiful Joe is still in circulation, so many years after i read it, probably when i was around 9 years old.

Loved the book and my dog-eared copy (no pun intended) still sits on my bookshelf after i've purged many others due to lack of space.

How wonderful...This book formed many of my feelings about animals long, long ago, and my love for them has never waivered. It's written in the first 'person', that person being Joe, the dog, and made me, as a little girl, empathize with animals in a way no other book has ever done. Granted, times change, and this may seem like an old-fashioned read-and it is-but feelings never change. Cruelty is still wrong, and amid a world where dogs are fought, and unspeakable cruelties still go on against animals, cruelties which have been proven to tranfer to human mistreatment, this book is as valid today as it was 40 years ago, when I first picked it up. It's also a story of love, and warmth, loyalty and devotion. Read it, and you'll be glad you did.

i have not finished this book but it's very good so far.

Poor Joe, he goes thru so much. I read this book when I was about 12 and LOVED it. Now at 50 I still remembered it and got it for my 12 year old niece. She loved it as much as I did. Both of us would love to scoop up Joe & bring him home & save him from the hard life he lives.