New Hampshire Books

In this penetrating and highly readable examination of twentieth century Boston expressionist painters, Judith Bookbinder shows that fine scholarship can serve both the academic specialist and the general reader.

Focusing on the life and works of Karl Zerbe, Jack Levine, Hyman Bloom, David Aronson and other gifted expressionist artists who worked in early twentieth century Boston, Bookbinder illuminates the interplay and results of the artistic, historical, and social forces in each artist's life and work. To be sure, Bookbinder's keen analysis of each artist's use of form, color, and composition in their respective explorations of German-inspired expressionism will be of greatest interest to the specialist, espcially as she explores the tension with the contrasting French-inpsired abstract art championed by the Museum of Modern Art and others in the New York-centered art community. At the same time, Bookbinder's sensitive examination of the varying effect on these artists of poverty, religious feeling, and family pressures allows the general reader to understand the underlying energy that inspired such powerful expressionist creations. This is a book that other scholars should emulate.

The Franconia, New Hampshire, farm of the American poet Robert Frost was turned into a museum and center for poetry and the arts in 1976. From that time, "The Frost Place" has been annual event wherein an emerging poet has been invited to spend the summer living in the house where Frost once lived and wrote some of his greatest poetry. The Breath Of Parted Lips: Voices From The Robert Frost Place, Volume One is a remarkable anthology of twenty-four poets, each of whom won that honor of a summer's residency and document the success of the original concept as a means of generating outstanding poetry while nurturing the poet's muse in the rooms and views that were once the inspiration of the great Robert Frost. Poem At 40: Windwashed--as if standing next to the highway,/a truck long as the century sweeping by,/all things at last bent in the same direction./An opening, as if all/the clothes my ancestors ever wore/dry on lines in my body:/wind-whipped, parallel with the ground,/some sleeves sharing a single clothespin/so that they seem to clasp hands,/seem to hold on.//And now that I can see/up the old women's dresses,/there's nothing but a filtered light./And now that their men's smoky breath/has traversed the earth,/it has nothing to do with them./And now that awkward, fat tears of rain/slap the window screen,/now that I'm naked too,/cupping my genitals, tracing with a pencil/the blue vein between my collar bone and breast,/I'll go to sleep when I'm told.

The Breath of Parted Lips is an anthology of work from over 150 poets, judiciously selected from the Frost Place, a sanctuary for poets and poetry. The collected poems honor Robert Frost, himself a lifelong teacher of poetry who encouraged the creative visions of young students, and Donald Sheehan, who has nurtured the legacy of the Frost Place. An original, eye-opening lyrical compendium, flourishing with the brilliance of creative work.

This is a book that belongs on the coffee table of every thinking person living in or interested in the city of Washington. A masterfully researched history, it shows how the city's designers set out to capture the essence of America: a respect for tradition combined with the prospects of a limitless future. Streets laid out in a conventional grid represent the former, while diagonal avenues radiating outward, seemingly to the horizon, represent the latter.

Mistakenly, I had always thought that Washington's design was the brainchild of Peter Charles L'Enfant alone, but this fascinating history graphically illustrates how it evolved over the next century, influenced by the thoughts and writings of Henry Adams, Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman, among others. Nor has that evolution ended. A growing Metro that stitches the city into its surroundings, and an ever-expanding Mall that honors our cultural diversity and the many who died to defend our liberties, stand as a welcome counterpoint to the political squabblings that dominate the daily headlines. Washington's architecture captures the spirit of America, and Dr. Luria's perceptive history brilliantly chronicles its evolution.

This book fills a gap that has existed for those who love to tell stories to kids, but lack the skills themselves to create the stories. In this book, the stories are written to be read out loud to the audience, with minimal preparation. What a plus this is for busy folks called to share with children at the last moment! And, as written, the stories entertain and give insight at the same time. While geared toward a younger audience, adults can also gain new awareness even as they share the story telling process. As an additional bonus, the material in the back of the book provides some of the author's insights about how to become an effective story teller and writer. Since this is an area I am currently engaged in, I particularly enjoyed the hints and tips about what has worked for this author and what hasn't. This book has a little something for anyone who is interested in sharing with children, whether those children are in a crowd around your feet during a children's sermon, or simply nestled in your lap at home.

Wow, thanks Mark, I got the CD so fast, and this is such a great one! FUNNY! Have a great day!!

I purchased and read "Classic New Hampshire" by Linda Landry because my son was the chef she wrote about in Chapter 7, Canterbury Shaker Village. Her account of Leo and the reataurant is accutate and brought back fond memories of our visit to the village and the Friday evening meal. Our family is very proud of him and thank Ms Landry for putting him in this book.

I was totally unfamiliar with New Hampshire and what it had to offfer me as a visiter and I found this guide to be an engaging way to learn about the state. Each part of the state has different things to offer, and Mr. Binder's style of writing was both intelligent and witty and never condensended. It's concise yet comprehensive, lacking the excess verbage some guides include to "fill a place out." If you like to "get a sense of place" before you visit it, this book delivers the state of New Hampshire.

This is a awesume book ! It takes a factual book that was written by a now deceased author and starts where she left off and brings it up to date on the history of all the villages surrounding Conway. Excellent pictures of many landmarks and attire of the period. This would be a great book for a history buff or someone wanting to learn more about the area of Conway, New Hampshire. Janet Hounsell did a excellent job on a huge project like this one.

The narrator of Cora Fry's Pillow Book, Cora Fry, is a housewife who suffers from an unhappy, unfulfilling marriage and who watches her children grow old and move away with a sense of desperate melancholy. The book is set up as a series of poems, but really, to understand them, you need to read the book in the order it's presented because it's a story of this woman's life. Overcast with imagery from New England, minor characters, and flashbacks to her childhood, Cora Fry's Pillow Book made me examine the parts of my life I found the most haunting and empowered me to instill change where I felt dissatisfied. Who wants to live a life like Cora Fry?