Ruskin's Venice: The Stones Revisited

Book Description

Of the many foreign travelers who have written about Venice there is none to surpass John Ruskin, the great nineteenthcentury writer, artist and critic, whose massive three-EDITION work The Stones of Venice (1851-3) remains one of the most influential books on art and architecture ever written. Known and read all over the world in Ruskin's lifetime, the Stones surveyed the buildings of Venice and developed an aesthetic and intellectual argument which is still at the heart of the debate on the meaning of architecture and craftsmanship. To mark the centenary of Ruskin's death in 1900, Sarah Quill has compiled an illustrated guide to The Stones of Venice, linking Ruskin's descriptions of individual buildings with a contemporary photographic record of the architecture and sculpture as it is seen today. This abridgment excludes interiors and paintings, concentrating on the exterior architecture and sculpture of Venice, all of which may be seen from the street or from the water without entering a building. Much of Ruskin's splendid prose is reproduced, together with many of his drawings and watercolors and a number of nineteenth-century engravings of the period. More than 200 photographs taken by Sarah Quill during the last years of the twentieth century identify the details described by Ruskin and show the extent to which the city's architecture has survived, or changed, since publication of The Stones of Venice 150 years before. The opening chapter by Alan Windsor provides informative introductions to Ruskin's involvement with Venice, and to the periods and styles of Venetian architecture. Ruskin, a superb draftsman, wrote that he wished life were long enough to illustrate his books more fully. The photographs included in this edition redress that balance and the modern reader will find that Ruskin is still an eloquent and persuasive guide to the architecture of this unique and fragile city. Contents: Introductions, Alan Windsor; Before "the Stones": Ruskin's early impressions of Venice, documented in letters and reminiscences; The Stones of Venice: Byzantine: Torcello-Murano-St Mark's-Byzantine palaces; The Stones of Venice: Gothic: Gothic palaces and churches-The Ducal Palace; The Stones of Venice: Renaissance: Early, central and "grotesque" Renaissance architecture; After "the Stones": Ruskin's later engagement with Venice; his views on the restoration issues; Glossary; Bibliography and recommended reading; Index.

Customer Reviews:

A picture book.......2007-01-12

A beautiful book, but it is principally a very short compendium of the Ruskin book assorted with awesome pictures!

Tops for Ruskin redux.......2004-09-01

I am a yearly visitor to Venice and an amateur of Venetian history. I have tried to read the original Ruskin several times and always got bogged down in it. This book does a lovely job highlighting Ruskin's voluminous work with wonderfully detailed photography. I was in Venice 2 weeks ago and having read this book greatly enhanced my appreciation of the architectural details of many buildings. Highly recommended for anyone desiring to take the time to study the exquisite fine points of this jewel of a city.

The stone that the builders rejected.......2000-08-01

I read an original copy (circa 1890), a three volume set with beautiful, color stone lithographs and (of course) no editorial abridgment. It became a gift to a friend wanting to learn about architecture as the best possible starting point. I cannot condone abridgment of this work. Particularly as Ruskin's illustrations really clarify his presentation.

But if one is willing to overlook unnecessary editorial wiseacreing, this book is obviously a classic. It is a marvelous experience to be able to look at a building, any building, when driving or walking down a street, and know the history, name, and significance of each of its facets and adornments.

Unless you happen to live in an area with considerable architectural variety, you will find your newly acquired skills only serve to confirm your opinion that we live in an age of totally bland and meaningless construction.

I cannot recommend this book (at least in its original) highly enough.

Ruskin's Venice.......2000-03-17

This is a deeply inspiring photographic account of Ruskin's commitment to Venice. It serves as a remarkable and revelatory companion to Ruskin's THE STONES OF VENICE and, to any one who cares about this city, it is an entirely necessary book. It is difficult to imagine how it might have been done better.

RUSKIN'S VENICE: THE STONES REVISITED.(Review): An article from: American Scholar

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RUSKIN'S VENICE: THE STONES REVISITED.(Review): An article from: American Scholar
James Trilling
Manufacturer: Phi Beta Kappa Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0008J4AA4
Release Date: 2005-07-28

Book Description

This digital document is an article from American Scholar, published by Phi Beta Kappa Society on September 22, 2000. The length of the article is 1871 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: RUSKIN'S VENICE: THE STONES REVISITED.(Review)
Author: James Trilling
Publication: American Scholar (Refereed)
Date: September 22, 2000
Publisher: Phi Beta Kappa Society
Volume: 69 Issue: 4 Page: 146

Article Type: Book Review

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Customer Reviews:

Vanished Forever.......2007-03-14

Beautifully produced, absorbing and moving documentation of a distinctive subgroup of Moroccan society that has now vanished forever from that country. Magnificent photographs. An illumination for those who are are unaware of this rich chapter in Jewish history.

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Morocco : Jews and Art in a Muslim Land

Manufacturer: Merrell Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1858941113

Product Description

How to master today s hybrid photography combining new film and camera technology, computer manipulation, and varied output media is fully covered in the most simplified, up-to-date primer available. Major topics include camera equipment, flash, film, the computer as darkroom, the digital palette and outputting finished prints. For photographers, graphic designers, home computer users beginners and pros alike this first guide to new media shows how anyone can produce impressive images in the new digital age.

Customer Reviews:

Nothing like it!.......2001-08-06

What an excellent guide to photagraphy, with excellent pictures as well. As I started to look at this book I saw talent on first hand. The way each picture supported a different figure of photography. I hope to see more books like this one and 'Capturing the Night With Your Camera' soon.

Pretty Darn Informative.......2000-07-26

This book addresses a realistic approach to the current world of photography. It's not just digital cameras and computers: it's film, illumination and composition. Carucci feels that certain ideas are necessary to produce a good image regardless of the technology. The book is well written, though it seems that some of the passages, especially at the chapter beginnings, are a bit too creative. The book doesn't read like a textbook. Instead it's friendly, especially to the newbie. His introduction is poignant and the images are incredible. The kid turned into a statue is both shocking and wonderful.

Good book for contemporary phohotography.......1999-10-26

The author of this contemporaray photo manual is not caught up in the technology, rather he uses a common sense approach to new technology. The book starts off with the thought process and preaches conventional rules of pictorial composition, instead of the technical jargon that so many books of this type contain. One has to go no further than the book's introduction to realize that Carucci bridges the gap between art and technique. As for the images, I forgot for a moment that this was an instructional manual. The artwork is first rate. That's not to say that the writing is less than clear and informative. I especially liked the child/statue composite. I recommend this book to anyone interested in digital photography.

Very Cool........1999-06-14

This one is better than most of the books in its category, although by far is not one of those "most complete guides". Good writing style, Real life examples. Type of camera, film and exposure settings are listed next most of the example pictures. What this book has that others don't, is a pretty good overview of digital input and output(especially printers and scanners), and how it's related to "film" photography. Highly recommended for beginners.

The New Media Guide to Creative Photography : Image Capture and Printing in the Digital Age

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The New Media Guide to Creative Photography : Image Capture and Printing in the Digital Age
John Carucci
Manufacturer: Watson-Guptill Publications, Incorporated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OCCZFC

Book Description

Scott describes Plebes as silly, stupid, and in-your-face-just like the college boys it lampoons. This first-ever compendium of the most popular strip from The Onion is a hilarious assault on the moronic, vulgar behavior often exhibited by beer-swilling, girl-ogling college males.The strip's mocking self-help themes offer "guidance" on topics ranging from "Turning Your Dormitory Into a Lucrative Real Estate Investment" to "Turn Your Beer-Commercial Fantasy Into Reality." Students and grads everywhere will enjoy the irreverent, sometimes controversial humor in Plebes, a strip that more than one college newspaper editor has been fired for running.

Customer Reviews:

one of the greatest women's adventures of all time.......2000-03-11

This is one of the greatest women's adventures of all time, and for sure, one of the greatest womens memoirs of the gold rush era. Anna de Graf is a favorite of all our readers of Gold Rush Women.

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Pioneering on the Yukon, 1892-1917
Anna Degraf
Manufacturer: Archon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OOYE9A

Book Description

In Spring 1945 one final hurdle faced the American and British Armies under Ike's supreme command - the Rhine. This mighty river was literally the last ditch for the defence of Hitler's Germany. Crossing it would be a major military undertaking. The race was on to find intact crossings that could save many lives and precious time.

Famously the American forces in a daring coup-de-main operation seized the Bridge at Reagen which due to German blunder and oversight remained intact.

This is the thrilling story of that success.

Customer Reviews:

Was it Luck...or Treason?.......2004-08-22

Throughout most of the Second World War, the German army enjoyed an enviable reputation for thorough planning and tactical excellence; it was a rare occasion when the Germans performed miserably on the battlefield. The loss of the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine River on 7 March 1945 was one of those rare occasions where the Germans performed miserably. For years, the only real source material available on the dramatic seizure of the Remagen Bridge came from a single source - US historian Ken Hechler - who wrote both a monograph for the official history and the mass-market "Bridge at Remagen." Andrew Rawson bases much of his volume on Remagen on Hechler's work but succeeds in bringing a fresh perspective in this volume by covering the battle for the bridgehead as well as the seizure of the bridge.

In the Second World War, the Remagen Bridge was an important escape route across the Rhine for shattered German units retreating from the Allied offensives in early 1945. By the time the war approached sleepy Remagen, the defenses of the town consisted of only 36 third-rate troops under two war-weary reserve officers: Captain Bratge and Captain Friesenhahn. Hitler had decreed that no bridges over the Rhine would be captured intact by the Allies and preparations were made to destroy the bridge to prevent capture, but the preparations were unusually slipshod. On the other side of the hill, Rawson describes the relentless advance of the US 9th Armored Division to the Rhine during Operation "Lumberjack" on 1-7 March 1945. Rawson clearly highlights the chaos and confusion in the German chain of command following the collapse of the front on the western bank of the Rhine, with commanders and units changing rapidly. The standard view - which Rawson abides with - is that the tiny bridge security company was lost in the shuffle and the German 67th Corps commander did not realize how threadbare the defenses were at this critical point. However, this version of Remagen - which essentially views the failure to blow the bridge from the perspective of three frustrated company grade officers at Remagen and an oblivious higher headquarters at Bonn - ignores the role of all the German troops crossing over the bridge.

Rawson mentions that over 20 German tanks crossed the Remagen Bridge the day before the Americans arrived - yet why was not a single tank anywhere to be seen when the Americans arrived hours later? Both a battalion of the German 3rd Airborne Division and an anti-aircraft unit set up in Remagen but then withdrew without orders. Clearly, German units and officers were putting personal safety ahead of their duty to protect a key crossing over the Rhine River. Moreover, the German army didn't only cross the Rhine at Remagen, but failed to establish any kind of defenses on the east side of the river. Unfortunately, Rawson fails to mention the disagreements between local German commanders: while many Germans believed that the American main effort would be made at Bonn, the 15th Army Commander believed that the Americans might try for Remagen and he told the 67th Corps Commander (General Hitzfeld) that the bridge was his responsibility. In a pathetic minimal attempt at compliance, Hitzfeld sent Major Scheller and eight soldiers to the bridge. Therefore the overall command failure on the German side clearly falls on General Hitzfeld, as well as the commanders of the 3rd Airborne, 272nd and 277th Volksgrenadier divisions who had troops in the area of the bridge.

Aside from the German command failures that led to such inadequate resources for the defense of the bridge, the greatest "mystery" about Remagen remains about why most of the explosives on the bridge did not detonate. Rawson suggests sabotage by Polish workers or shrapnel damage to the electrical wires as possible explanations, but these just don't ring true. It is very hard to believe that a German military engineer could not make 600 pounds of explosives detonate even under fire; time and again, other German engineers had blown up Rhine bridges in the faces of US troops. There is another possibility that Rawson and Hechler never suggest, but which bears consideration: treason. By March 1945, most Germans were war-weary and an Allied victory was in sight. The only result of fighting on further was to cause more death and destruction in Germany. Is it not possible that two junior German reserve officers, operating with minimal supervision from above and surrounded by chaos, decided not to destroy the bridge? They might have surmised that a quick Allied crossing of the Rhine would spare Remagen further fighting and end the war more quickly. Of course, when Major Scheller showed up from corps - three hours before the American tanks - Bratge and Friesenhahn had to put on a show of resistance so perhaps they detonated only a small charge, enough to cause some superficial damage. There are two indicators that Bratge and Friesenhahn had no intention to destroy the bridge. First, they had only 36 troops available but they sent almost all of them to an observation position (and apparently without communication gear, since the NCO had to run back to the bridge to warn of approaching tanks) almost one kilometer from the bridge; thus, the bulk of the bridge security detail was left out of the battle. Second, Bratge and Friesenhahn seem to have made virtually no effort to install obstacles on the bridge. While they did detonate a cratering charge on the causeway leading to the bridge that held up US tanks, they failed to put up any serious anti-infantry obstacles. Even with the limited time and resources available, Bratge and Friesenhahn could have strung some barbed wire across the bridge and blocked foot traffic with a few wrecked vehicles (preferably on fire). Finally, Bratge and Friesenhahn took no part in actually opposing the American crossing - they were skulking in the rail tunnel - and they quickly surrendered to the first US troops across.

Book Description

At few times in recent history have we seen a war so insistently and openly signaled as the U.S.'s looming war on Iraq. According to Rahul Mahajan, the coming war is a culmination of a process that the United States started with the Gulf War, where Iraq was made into a permanent target and pariah state. Mahajan argues that the Bush administration's post-September 11 policy toward Iraq is neither about controlling weapons of mass destruction nor fighting terrorism, but about consolidating U.S. control of oil reserves and dominance in the Middle East. Despite the prospects that attacking Iraq could quickly escalate into wider regional war and lead to further terrorist attacks, the Bush administration insists that violence is our only option. Mahajan cuts through the comic-book language of President Bush's "Axis of Evil" rationale, and presents a much-needed examination of the myths, facts, and history behind the U.S.'s pitch to start another war.

Customer Reviews:

Emergent Voice.......2004-07-13

Compact, highly readable, survey of neo-con strategy for a new American century. The booklet is simply too condensed to be either weighty or deep, nor do the respective sections on Terrorism and Iraq cohere well, (oddly, there is next to nothing on Afghanistan, a logical bridge between the two). That being said, Mahajan emerges as a consistently sharp-eyed critic of Washington's pretentions at doing something other than building a particularly ruthless and self-serving world empire. That is the book's core and its main virtue. The historical facts are presented cleanly and effectively, much like an extended op-ed piece with footnotes. I particularly like the way Mahajan refuses to pull punches in either this book or in his tv appearances. The section on the murderous UN sanctions regime is especially revealing for an inside look at how that body gets co-opted into the imperial project. Anyone looking to understand why an anti-war, anti-US movement, is growing world-wide, would do well to pick up this little book from one of its emergent voices.

Rigorous Political Science.......2004-06-02

Why would I want to pay to read what a "non-expert" with absolutely no credentials in military affairs or international relations has to say about the U.S. in Iraq? Because I prefer the rational, empirical analysis built from the facts up rather than an analysis put forward by an "expert" indoctrinated by higher education (1) to accept simplistic and downright childish establishment principles (e.g., the U.S. government always acts with benevolent intentions) and (2) to explain facts only in terms of those naive principles (e.g., if the U.S. invades Iraq, it must be to liberate Iraqis and spread democracy because the U.S. government always acts with benevolent intentions). To say the very least, a Ph.D. in political science from a state university is not a requirement to understand the world.

Mahajan is an expert, in the proper use of the term. He has a command of the facts, both current and historical, and his explanation of the U.S. government's behavior is properly inferred from them (as opposed to explaining facts in terms of unwarranted and naive assumptions borne of indoctrination with no basis in observational fact, as self-described "experts" tend to do).

This book is not a book about strategy. Rather, it is an empirical and scientific work that collects facts (data), draws conclusions, and posits a theory based upon them, familiar ground for a physicist.

A book on strategy from a non-strategist.......2004-02-18

The author is a young physics professor with absolutely no credentials in military affairs or international relations. He is an enthusiastic activist for leftist causes and this is an amusing polemnic from a non-expert. But why would you want to pay for that?

Common sense and decency in these diabolical times.......2003-12-15

Mahajan notes that the U.S. from Bush Sr. through Clinton and George the dumber gave Saddam every reason not to fully comply with the disarmament provisions of UN resolution 687 by stating that contrary to that resolution, it would keep sanctions on Iraq and seek to overthrow Saddam even if Iraq was certified to be completely disarmed. The U.S. engaged in heavy spying of Iraqi government institutions about matters nothing to do with WMD, as noted by former Inspections head Rolf Eakus in his Financial Times interview. In Operation Desert Fox in December 1998, he notes, only 11 of 97 targets were WMD related. The rest were Republican guard and secret police facilities, command and control centers. He notes that the U.S. likely decided to invade Iraq in August 2002 when Rumsfeld started bombing command and control centers and non-active air defenses in the illegal "no-fly zones" whose bombings were causing hundreds of civilian casualties according to former UN humanitarian coordinator Hans Von Sponek.

The U.S. got the security council to pass UN resolution 706, in September 1991, the original "Oil for Food ," which after "reparations" to go in large part to oil companies harmed by Iraq's occupation of Kuwait, left Iraq a maximum of only 930,000 dollars of oil to sell over a trial period of several months. This was well below the proposal of UN undersecretary Aga Khan that called for Iraq to be able to sell enough oil to be able to partially repair its vital civilian infrastructure destroyed by the U.S. in 1991. When the program started about $15 per capita got in, only about 26 out of the 41 billion directed for Iraq, and the Iraqi economy remained collapsed, unable to generate income. He quotes UN under secretary general Martti Ahtissaari from 1991, left Iraq in a "near-apocalyptic state." Through 2002 the U.S. placed holds on billions of dollars worth of material needed to repair vitally needed civilian infrastructure as well as hospital equipment and vaccines, claiming absurdly that basic vaccines could be transmuted into biological weapons. He notes how the head of U.S. AID claimed in April 2003 that the vile Saddam had not repaired Basra's water/sanitation facilities. He said this after the British had gallantly knocked out Basra's electricity thus once again shutting down what remained of Basra's water treatment facilities. This of course is a vile lie, the U.S. had been blocking the importation of parts for their repair on the sanctions committee. Iraq's oil for food revenue was placed in a Bank in New York and directly dispersed to companies whose contracts with Iraq were approved. Saddam couldn't get at it so he could build palaces.

After the first Gulf war, the U.S. did all it could to impede the Iraqi rebellion. Brent Scowcroft who allowed that at that point he would have preferred the Iraqi military to retain in control rather than the rebels. The U.S. feared the rebels would not follow orders from the U.S. so they preferred to keep Saddam in power for the moment. Thomas Friedman, that shameless voice for the powerful on the New York Times explained that the U.S. hoped that eventually Saddam would be replaced by "an iron fisted junta" that would rule Iraq the same way Saddam did when the U.S. was giving him all he needed to "gas his own people," blocking condemnation of him in congress and blaming the Halabja massacre on Iran.

He notes that the U.S. will continue to support as much as possible the brutal dictatorships governing the region, who give oil companies huge profits in extracting their oil and then spend the massive revenues they get not for the most part on their own people but buying weapons in the West to repress those people, treasury bonds, etc. This capital flight is contrasted with the lack of spending by these oligarchs on increasing production capacity to meet the huge increase in demand for ME oil. Getting a client state with such awesome untapped reserves as Iraq that can support oil production policies the U.S. wants against OPEC is important. But getting rid of rivals for political domination of the region is what U.S. policy in the ME is first and foremost about.

He notes how the U.S. played something of a role in the coup against Hugo Chavez in April 2002 and how they refused the Taliban's offer to extradite Bin Laden to Pakistan. It has refused repeatedly since 1995 Sudan's offers of its files on Bin Laden and dismissed the Sudanese arrest of two people after the 1998 embassy bombings.The U.S. destroyed the factory producing the majority of Sudan's most needed medicines in August 1998, claiming falsely it was producing precursors to BCW. Who knows how many thousands have died as a result of that attack. The U.S. of course always supports violations of UN resolutions and does it a lot itself. For example it provided arms for Indonesia to slaughter East Timorese for twenty-four years. It has supports Morocco's looting of the Western Sahara. It supports Israel's severe violations of the fourth Geneva Convention. It has never paid the 17 billion dollars to Nicaragua ordered by the World Court in 1986, which told it to stop using the contras to terrorize that country. Shortly after it vetoed a UN resolution calling on all states to observe international law.

He starts off with some good stuff about the foreign policy of the neocons and how these maniacs argue that the U.S. should use mini-nukes against non-nuclear countries and that the affects of such mini-nukes can be contained. He points out the absurdity of even the "strongest evidence" advanced for the Bin Laden-Saddam intimate alliance. For example the supposed medical treatment received in Baghdad by the number two leader of the extremist Ansar Al Islam which operated in Kurdish-U.S. controlled Northern Iraq and whose leader was probably telling the truth when he denied any connection with Al Qaida. Then there was Colin Powell his slimy way at the UN claiming that a video, in which Bin Laden denounced Saddam as a socialist infidel but said he was in solidarity with the people of Iraq, was proof of an intimate Saddam-OBL connection.

A smart, brief guide to the new Cold War.......2003-11-09

The high point of "Full Spectrum Dominance" is chapter 2, in which Rahul Mahajan examines the Bush administration's National Security Strategy. This public document outlines the basic contours of a new Cold War, a perpetual war fought against terrorists instead of communists. Mahajan reviews the important points of the NSS, then spends the rest of the book backing up his analysis with a brief history of US imperialism, attacks on Iraqi civilians during the 1990s, US disregard for international law, the drive to war in Iraq, and the oil cartels.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Town and Country Planning, published by Town and Country Planning Association on February 1, 2003. The length of the article is 867 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Unwinding the South east's dominance. (People & Ideas).
Author: Colin Ward
Publication: Town and Country Planning (Magazine/Journal)
Date: February 1, 2003
Publisher: Town and Country Planning Association
Volume: 72 Issue: 2 Page: 38(1)

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The Fiji Indians: Challenge to European dominance, 1920-1946

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The Fiji Indians: Challenge to European dominance, 1920-1946
Kenneth L Gillion
Manufacturer: Australian National University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Australia & Oceania | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0708112919

Book Description

What is wrong with research today?
Academic research is in crisis. Academics are having to 'publish or perish' often before work is ready. Professionalism may be sacrificed in the pursuit of research grants and publications.
This book argues that research priorities need to be reordered to address the concerns of today's society. Angela Brew suggests that the academy can and must reclaim the research agenda by developing new forms of research, which will provide a new justification for its existance.

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