Netherlands Books

Thoroughly meets my expectations. Easy to follow instructions. Good variety of patterns suitable for mini quilts.

This painter was an amazing combination of excellent artist, sarcastic and humorous person, and historian -- he painted what he saw - and each tells a story. This book helps guide you through it and points out things in his paintings that I would have missed.

This book contains a detailed iconographical analysis of the paintings of the Dutch painter, Joachim Wtewael (1566-1638)on the subject of Venus and Mars suprised in adultery by Vulcan - a subject from Classical mythology.

Mariet Westermann writes elegantly and with wisdom about this poetic Dutch Master. As a collaborator with Alejandro Vergara on his Vermeer and the Dutch Interior, the beautiful catolog for this show at The Prado in 2003, she wrote "Vermeer and the Interior Imagination," one of the most insightful essays about the artist penned over the last 30 years. In the present work, she focusses upon the four Vermeers now lodged in the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam)--the Kitchen Maid, the Little Street, the Love Letter, and the Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, four of the most sublime works in Vermeer's canon. Interspersed with the text for illustrative, comparative purposes are high quality reproductions of other paintings, many by Vermeer himself, including the best reproduction I have seen of Vermeer's indelible Art of Painting.

Although Westermann uncovers no new ground, she does provide a wider scholarly forum for the compelling research by the London architect, Philip Steadman (do read his Vermeer's Camera) who has demonstrated not only Vermeer's use of the camera obscura but also has built a convincing case for the location of the Little Street (behind the Mechelin, the family inn in Delft). She also captures Vermeer's interest in the philosophy of perception so prevalent in the intellectual milieu of Vermeer's compass, as well as the early scientific efforts (particularly in the nascent field of optics) that accompanied speculation about perception.

Westermann occasionally makes claims she cannot substantiate, such as vouching for Vermeer's actual conversion to the Roman Catholic faith, and suffers a minor lapse by ignoring Vermeer's Lady Writing a Letter with Her Maid, a painting in the love letter tradition Vermeer likely made after 1670, a time when Westerman states that the theme "may have been exhausted for ambitious modern painting." She also missed an excellent opportunity to expand on her earlier writings about the importance to Vermeer's art of a concept the Dutch called "houding," a theoretical precept by which painters of Vermeer's era sought to demonstrate their mastery by blending abstract, almost musically harmonious perspective design with convincing illusions of images in space to fool the eye and engage the viewer.

Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) should be appreciated by scholars and neophytes alike, providing as it does so much relevant information about this complex artist with such beauty in highly accessible fashion.

This story of a tiny Torah scroll that survives the Nazis to accompany Ilan Ramon on the doomed Columbia mission is one that all children, especially Jewish children should hear. The themes of hope and promise are universal. There are true heros in this world and Rabbi Dasberg (z"l) and Ilan Ramon (z"l) are two of them.

"Kisses from Hanna" is a MUST-read for ANYONE
interested in World War II era history. It
tells a realistic story via letters from one
pen pal to another, a concept that has
escaped Hollywood for over 50 years. However,
it won't be long before this book is a movie,
too.

Of course, I could be biased. The woman to
whom the letters are addressed is my very own
great aunt Ruth, perhaps the kindest woman to
ever walk the face of the earth.

I purchased this guide for a one-month trip to Amsterdam. It was so useful, easy to understand, and discrete. The Knopf Guide divides Amsterdam into major sections, and each section has guides on the major attractions, restaurants, and shops for that area. There's a fold-out map for each section of the city, and it opens up from the description area to be four times the size of the book. The maps are easy to read and labeled with the suggested attractions and such. It's like a map and guide in one. It slips into a purse, and the small size of the maps makes you look like less of a tourist. There's maps of the major tram system and guides on hotels too.

I appreciated the pictures of each described attraction/shop/restaurant and the vivid colors on the maps. Black and white guides, full of text, drive me crazy. You can literally read this one on the street, and find your way around. I can't say enough about how priceless this guide is.

*The only downside of the guide is that a lot of the suggested shops and restaurants were on the pricey side of things (the guide also gives you price ranges of dishes), but their addresses at least direct you to the areas where restaurants and shops can be found. That's a small downside, in my opinion.

Buy this guide, and enjoy your visit to Amsterdam!

Amazing! I wish there was some way to see tulsa! Larry Clark is a genius!

Mulisch accomplished here again a dazzling novel. It is theatre withing theatre. In intricate winding of lives, the old actor, Uli Bouwmeester performs his last role of the last role of the older actor de Vries in Shakespeares Tempest, Prospero.As magically as Prospero, the author weaves places, situations, characters, times, events in moving, twirling, engaging tapestry. In reference to Poe's "Narratives ..of Pym" the ending takes the reader through the life transforming and time transcending narratives of the protagonist. The novel unfolds with the clarity of greek tragedy. But even more than these (after all 3000 years of development) it provides rare glimpses of insight into the deeper issues of life.

This book is rather unique, in that it has discussion of Baha'i law and secular law in the context of International Relations and world order. One article is by new Universal House of Justice member Kiser Barnes, (that is the world governing body of the Baha'i Faith)who gives an outstanding essay on the nature of Baha'i law. Secular law is well presented by an essay on Baha'is in the legal profession by well known Baha'i lawyer. The entire volume is distinctive and very though provoking. This would be an excellent book for those students of the Baha'i Faith who seek new insights and more depth and members of the Baha'i Faith who wish to understand the Faith more deeply. Students of Baha'i law who have read the Kitab-i-Aqdas (the Most Holy Book) of Baha'u'llah's law will find this discussion interesting without being confusing or lost in details. I strongly recommend it to students of Baha'i studies, Middle Eastern studies students, and comparative religious scholars. Well thought out and planned.