Havana Then and Now (Then & Now)

Book Description

Established in 1519 as a harbor city to service the fleets bound for Spain from Mexico and Peru, Havana became the busy portal to the vast Spanish colonial empire. Largely unharmed by war or weather, many great examples of Spanish colonial architecture survive today. Dozens of archival photographs from Havana’s mid-20th-century heyday as a posh vacation spot are featured here opposite contemporary photographs, portraying a beautiful city undergoing restoration and struggling to regain its glory days.

Customer Reviews:

BITTERSWEET.......2007-08-16

THIS IS AN INTERESTING BOOK TO SAY THE LEAST. I HAVE SEEN MANY OTHER PICTURES OF THE PRE CASTRO TIMES AND THEY ARE BY FAR MUCH MORE ELGANT AND BOAST A MUCH MORE PROSPEROUS PRE CASTRO TIME. IT IS NOT FAIR TO USE SUCH ANTIQUATED PICTURES TO FURTHER USE WHAT THE CASTRO GOVERNMENT HAS GIVEN THEM TO COVER A SOCIAL AND POLITIAL DISASTER.
STILL, NO ONE SAID IT HAD TO BE THE YESTERDAY PICTURES FROM A SPECIFIC TIME SO ALL IN ALL IT IS AN INTERESTING BOOK AND I WOULD NOT CALL IT BAD BECAUSE EVEN DURING THE PERIOD IN WHICH THESE BEFORE PICTURES WERE TAKEN STILL SHOWS CUBAN ARCHITECTURE.

Another excellent entry in the Then and Now series.......2006-04-25

If you have an interest in the architecture of Havana and want a taste of what might welcome you if you visited there, this book is for you. Archival photos primarily from the early 1900s are matched with modern photos on the opposite page. It's nice to know there is a movement on now to save some of these historic gems and we get to see restorations. If you want to learn about politics, Cuban culture, or the countryside, you need to look elsewhere. This is about the history of the buildings, and by extension, the people who used them. The only improvement I would suggest would be to supply an approximate year with each of the old pictures.

It does not show anything.......2005-12-13

I have a small booklet called "Remembering the Cuba we left" with color pictures of Cuba during the 1950s, it is old and I suppose long out of print, it does not contain that many pictures, but the pictures of Havana and the rest of the country are really good. Some were shot from the sky; others captured the life and people walking through the city, buildings, nightclubs, parks, monuments, countryside, etc. I have searched for more of these same pictures and others like them and have not been able to find them. They truly capture what Cuba was before the revolution. No other, not only Caribbean nation, but many Latin American nations didn't even come close. It was the 3rd best economy in the American continent after the U.S and Canada, and followed closely by Argentina. By 1958 Cuba was the most immigrated Latin American country, with the largest European emigration, and more Americans living in Cuba than Cubans in the U.S. Havana even had a China Town.

This book is bad and I will tell you why, I have knowledge of the subject, and I am not stupid. The idea of these series of books is a "Then and Now" of cities, but when it came to do Havana they had a problem. (Says on the back of the book) They went straight to a present day government controlled Havana library in search of info and pictures of the past, that's the problem. Pictures of a prosperous 1950s Havana with commerce, billboards, and the largest middle class in Latin America walking the streets, they probably burned them a long time ago, or Castro has them in his closet. The past of Cuba is something the present communist system is not too interested in showing. There is no free press; all books, newspapers, and media are controlled by the mafia like communists, everything is a manipulation and lie that everyone has to repeat or else you get kicked in jail (the least).

In this book all the pictures of the past are in black & white, and if this was not enough, about 98% of all the pictures of the past are from the mid 1800s to the 1920s, how clever are they. There is only one picture of 1958, about some Ferraris in the Havana Gran Prix, that's it. This way people don't see the pre-Castro days, and the modern day imposed poverty, decay, and ruins won't stand out as much. It will go against the millions Castro spends in promoting his "progressive" slavish system. It has worked in a way, every day I see more morons with Che Guevara shirts but none of them go to live in Cuba or any other communist country, after all. That's where all the bla bla bla is cut short. Anyhow, this is the story here, this book has no photographic value, it will not show you the height of the beauty it ones was, it will not transport you anywhere, nor make a true comparison. You can find better pictures on a web search than on this book, truly. There have been other Havana picture books that although photographed in the present still give you a better idea of what it once was. Robert Polidori: Havana could be one of them, who knows?

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An American mind

American Impressionism and Realism The Painting of Modern Life, 1885-1915
H. Barbara Weinberg , David Park Curry , and Doreen Bolger
Manufacturer: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Impressionism | Schools, Periods & Styles | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
United States | Regional | History & Criticism | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Instructional & How-To | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
General | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
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American Impressionism, 2nd Edition

American Realism

Winslow Homer

All That Is Glorious Around Us: Paintings from the Hudson River School

Thomas Moran

ASIN: 0300085699

Customer Reviews:

An American mind.......2001-12-20

American Impressionists and Realists were farther apart in time than they were in what they painted. In fact, with both groups their art grew out of training in Paris; liking for modern French painting; and building an American art that would support American nationalism by faith in the future, the present, and the good old days. They both went outdoors, to the growing system of parks and places for holiday outings, as in Impressionist William Merritt Chase's brightly colored "Prospect Park, Brooklyn," with its Gustave Caillebotte-type compressed backgrounds, exaggeratedly converging spaces, and splayed foregrounds; and in the rugged "Central Park in winter," where Realist William Glackens painted sharply contrasting light and dark side by side and wavily-formed lively children into vigorously brushworked snowy chill. Both groups chose personally meaningful, over nationally significant, places to paint, as in Impressionist Childe Hassam's "Late afternoon, New York: winter" brilliantly light-touched and delicately paint-stitched in one overall tone and Realist Robert Henri's energetically darker-toned "Street scene with snow." Or historical landscapes, such as "Gloucester harbor" through Impressionist Willard Metcalf's dazzlingly wide-banded high-key color for bright summer sun-lighted skies and under Realist John Sloan's late afternoon powerful glow, low sun-cast strong shadows, and storm clouds over Fauvist-type intensely colored and heavily pigmented industrial cranes and wharves. In fact, they both tended to be city painters, as in Childe Hassam's "Rainy day, Boston," with its "Church of St-Philippe-du-Roule" plunging perspective, empty central foreground, masterly controlled narrow tonal palette, and two streets panoramically joined; and in "Bleeker and Carmine Streets" by Impressionist George Luks, as the intersection for overcrowded immigrant slums, ramshackled cold-water flats, and boardinghouses in heavy impastos and somber palette. Both were also aware of how nature was part of doing business in the city, as in the hothouse flower sales of Childe Hassam's lightly brushed "At the florist" and John Sloan's gritty, realistically colored, and vigorously brushed "Easter eve." Both groups were concerned, too, over how industrialization was changing American life, but with Impressionist J Alden Weir's Willimantic Linen Company's "Factory village" naturally fitting as a picturesque river valley industry in the middle of lushly fresh fields while George Luks hunched his driver over the reins to a horse-drawn "Butcher cart" on a slushily dark Manhattan street. Both cared about how people fit into the changing American life so they likewise went in for portraits, as in William Merritt Chase's "James McNeill Whistler," with the sitter's style of broadly applied paint, low-key palette, and thin washes; and in Robert Henri's "George Luks," with the sitter's coarsely provocative painting style of crudely bold slashing strokes and richly dark colors. Both groups had similar concerns about how people were interacting with each other, as in the children playing at Childe Hassam's privileged "Lake for miniature yachts" under the gaze of near-by adults and at John Sloan's "Backyards, Greenwich Village" around the beckoning responsibilities of hanging laundry. Or as in adult time out, with the music of the James Whistler-type sobre paletted "At the piano" by Impressionist Theodore Robinson and of the Honore Daumier- and Francisco Goya-type exaggeratedly expressive "Spielers" shown frenetically dancing by George Luks. Or with a French-styled drawing viewers into the woman in black's box as a figure leaves the upper left corner box in Impressionist Mary Cassatt's "At the opera" and up along with craning spectators at the acrobat inching along the tightrope in "Hammerstein's roof garden" by William Glackens. Or with a surprising sympathy for the performer passed down from Jean-Antoine Watteau's "Gilles" to William Merritt Chase's hunchbacked jester pouring a bracing drink and John Sloan's harshly lit clown making up. So authors H Barbara Weinberg et al's book, with its gorgeously illustrated and nicely organized text, trailblazes looking at the similarities in the art by the 26 artists participating in the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art's traveling exhibition on AMERICAN IMPRESSIONISM AND REALISM.

American Impressionism and Realism The Painting of Modern Life, 1885-1915

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American Impressionism and Realism The Painting of Modern Life, 1885-1915
H. Barbara Weinberg David Park Curry Doreen Bolger
Manufacturer: Metropolitan Museum of Art
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OS3MQM

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American Impressionism and Realism: The Painting of Modern Life, 1885-1915
H. Barbara Weinberg; Doreen Bolger; David Park Curry
Manufacturer: HARRY N ABRAMS INC
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OLOG5U

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American Impressionism and Realism: The Painting of Modern Life, 1885-1915
H. Barbara Weinberg
Manufacturer: METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OLKP1Y

Book Description

Previously announced

Édouard Baldus (1813–1889) was the most important French architectural photographer of the mid-nineteenth century. This book offers an in-depth exploration of one of his most intriguing projects—a remarkable series of views of the Château de La Faloise, in which his subject was not primarily the country house but the owner and his family at leisure on its grounds. James A. Ganz locates the photographs at a key moment in Baldus’s career and during one of the most eventful decades in the history of French photography, showing that they stand at a crossroad between the English “conversation piece” and the birth of Impressionist portraiture in the early paintings of Monet and Bazille.

Book Description

In recent decades the American economy has experienced the worst peace-time inflation in its history and the highest unemployment rate since the Great Depression. These circumstances have prompted renewed interest in the concept of business cycles, which Joseph Schumpeter suggested are "like the beat of the heart, of the essence of the organism that displays them."

In The American Business Cycle, some of the most prominent macroeconomics in the United States focuses on the questions, To what extent are business cycles propelled by external shocks? How have post-1946 cycles differed from earlier cycles? And, what are the major factors that contribute to business cycles? They extend their investigation in some areas as far back as 1875 to afford a deeper understanding of both economic history and the most recent economic fluctuations.

Seven papers address specific aspects of economic activity: consumption, investment, inventory change, fiscal policy, monetary behavior, open economy, and the labor market. Five papers focus on aggregate economic activity. In a number of cases, the papers present findings that challenge widely accepted models and assumptions. In addition to its substantive findings, The American Business Cycle includes an appendix containing both the first published history of the NBER business-cycle dating chronology and many previously unpublished historical data series.

The American Business Cycle: Continuity and Change

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The American Business Cycle: Continuity and Change
Robert J., ed. Gordon
Manufacturer: Univ Chicago
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GR7X7K

The American Business Cycle: Continuity and Change (Studies in Business Cycles, Vol 25)

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The American Business Cycle: Continuity and Change (Studies in Business Cycles, Vol 25)
Robert J. Gordon
Manufacturer: Univ of Chicago Pr (Tx)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPQT60

Book Description

This one-stop source offers more than 1,600 current funding opportunities from a wide variety of sponsors including foundations, corporations, government agencies, and other organizations. Each entry includes grant title, description, requirements, amount, application deadline, contact information (phone, fax, and email), Internet access, sponsor name and address, and sample awarded grants. Grantseekers can easily find information about funding for thousands of programs to benefit young people such as, youth violence prevention, children's healthcare and health research, teen pregnancy prevention, and after-school programs. Also included is "A Guide to Proposal Planning and Writing," by Jeremy Miner and Lynn Miner, giving users numerous essential tips.

Book Description

Expressions of support between partners may be more commonplace than heroic, but their cumulative effects on the growth of trust, enduring love, and commitment can be considerable--even lifesaving in the face of otherwise overwhelming tragedy. Skillfully weaving together the latest research with engaging case examples and practical applications, author Carolyn E. Cutrona offers an in-depth analysis of how committed partners can serve as resources for each other in stressful scenarios. Beginning with a fresh overview of definitions and concepts, Social Support in Couples articulates the vital components of intimate support systems. This informative volume explores the phenomenon of marital communication through real-life interactions, focusing on gender-related differences, the interplay between supportive and destructive interactions, and stress experienced during chronic/disabling illness. In a concluding chapter, a research agenda for future study opens the topic up to additional serious consideration. A reader-friendly examination of the power of supportive acts, Social Support in Couples is recommended for a wide readership, including academics, practitioners, and students in family studies, social psychology, social work, and marriage and family counseling.

Customer Reviews:

"The government was good for nothing.".......2006-04-17

This is primarily a political memoir of a man who "actually participated in the seminal events of Russia's brief experiment with semiconstitutionalism" before tsarism fell. Formed by the revolution of 1905, Shulgin "found himself living a life he had not sought, in a world filled with new rules of conduct, and imperiously called upon to restore order." And in the end he was (to continue to quote from the introduction by Jonathan Sanders) "one of the two politicians detailed from revolutionary Petrograd to receive the Tsar's abdication decree...." In short, he was shaken by the former and progressively did what he could to prevent the latter from becoming necessary. Shulgin was a monarchist at heart, however, and thus was too patient awaiting Nicholas to realize the precariousness of the throne on which he, the tsar, sat. The Duma was created in 1905, after all, as a result of a disasterous military defeat at the hands of the Japanese Navy. Thus the idea during World War I, likewise, that "the government would have to pay for its defeats on the battlefield through concessions to society" was rather obvious to Shulgin, amongst others, but not particularly to the tsar himself, unfortunately. Difficult times call for bold leadership, but that was not a trait commonly associated with Nicholas II. The era of the motto "I will lay down my life for the Tsar, for Russia" was consequently losing steam as Russia began to be increasingly seen as an "autocracy without an autocrat." The vaguely constitutional body politic of the Duma was hardly enabled to rise to the occasion herein either, leaving a vacumn of faith. As Shulgin says many times in this work, "...the government was good for nothing." And the Duma couldn't do anything about this, having no say in the appointment of government ministers---a power greatly in need in an era when Rasputin seemed to have unusual influence in this matter. Rasputin was above criticism, however. Shulgin feared that even speaking of this man in the Duma perhaps "would have threatened the very existance of the Duma." Not for nothing then, when the news of this degenerate's death was announced in the Imperial Theater in Moscow, did the audience welcome "the news with applause" and "demand that the national anthem be sung." Shulgin betrays mixed emotions on this issue, though. He says he wasn't in favor of killing Rasputin when he was told of the plot beforehand, even cautioning a plotter to "don't do it." "I don't believe Rasutin has any influence," Shulgin continued to this conspirator, yet just several pages later in this book Shulgin details how an ineffectual Duma member by the name of Protopopov seemingly gained influence in the government beyond that member's merits (eventually becoming Minister of Internal Affairs) thanks to his association with Rasputin. Actually, this memoir suffers a lot from such haphazard disjointedness. It is not at all linear in thought or coherently put together---20 pages address the particulars of the famous 1911 murder trial of falsely accused Mendel Beilis; a case Shulgin courageously spoke out on; 75 pages detail the minutiae of Shulgin's experiences out in the field during the First World War as a Red Cross official; and the remainder consists of almost diary-like snippets on a slew of issues, with each not necessarily relevent to the one preceeding or following the next. In short, this is not the sort of book one ought to read by itself without reference to several other works of this era. Read amongst several other books on this era (Yusupov's "Lost Splendor," Pipes's "A Concise History of the Russian Revolution," et al) you will more likely then find this memoir to be useful to you in getting a feel why Tsarism collapsed in Russia when it did. (PS: The specifics of Shulgin's role in accepting Nicholas's abdication are not addressed in this volume, but are discussed in "The Days," the volume of Shulgin's memoirs that begins in 1917; a volume, unfortunately, currently out of print.) (06Apr) Cheers!

Book Description

This is the first comprehensive study of British policy towards Switzerland during the Second World War. Switzerland occupied an ambiguous place in British belligerency. For most policy-makers, Switzerland epitomized the kind of political values that Britain claimed to uphold when it declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939. At the same time however, Switzerland's inexorable drift into the German orbit after mid-1940 inevitably prevented Britain from treating the Swiss with quite the same benevolence as had characterized relations between the two countries over the previous 150 years. This book investigates how the British government tried to resolve this problem and construct a policy that met its primary political and strategic needs, while maintaining cordial relations with, as Churchill put it, the 'only decent neutral' in the world. The book addresses six themes: British blockade policy, the place of Switzerland in Britain's land and air strategies, London's reaction to Swiss banking activities, and Switzerland's role as an intelligence centre and as a provider of humanitarian and political assistance. While some of the problems London faced were unique to Anglo-Swiss relations, officials were rarely able to deal with Switzerland in isolation from Britain's broader diplomatic objectives. As a result the book contributes to our understanding of economic and financial warfare, the Holocaust, Anglo-American relations, the Allied strategic bombing campaign, Switzerland's place in the history of the Second World War, and the role of cultural influences on international relations. The book argues that Britain was considerably more successful in benefiting from its relations with Switzerland than has hitherto been assumed, especially in the acquisition of Swiss manufactures and secret intelligence. London thus retained a stake in the maintenance of Swiss neutrality long after the severance of direct communications between the two countries in June 1940. At base however, British attitudes were shaped by a set of entrenched beliefs about Switzerland and Swiss neutrality that remained in place, despite the growing evidence detailing the extent of Swiss-German collaboration. British policy towards Switzerland therefore rested on a view of Swiss neutrality that was forged as much from the preconceptions of British officials as from a dispassionate reading of Switzerland's place in the war.

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Night Ferry
George Behrend , and Gary Buchanan
Manufacturer: George Behrend
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Belgium | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

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Operation Lucy: The Most Secret Spy Ring of the Second World War

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Operation Lucy: The Most Secret Spy Ring of the Second World War
Anthony Read , and David Fisher
Manufacturer: Coward Mc Cann
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Europe | History | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

A very useful reference - excellent photos!.......2000-03-14

Exhaustive and complete. Very informative for every bird-lover

Most complete reference of seabirds available.......1999-08-09

This is an absolutely indispensable reference on sea birds, including penguins. It is the most complete book available on the subject and makes identifying the birds a breeze. It is truly fascinating book.

Detailed information on nearly 300 species is included. Detailed juvenile & adult descriptions are given for each bird. Facts about distribution & population are also provided.

There are over 800 photographs that are arranged from six to nine to a page. Many have never been published before. Usually there are at least two clear close-up photographs of each species.

Captions list the species, approximate age, & location. Photographic acknowledgments are listed in the back. The topography guide is a nice bonus. This is a beautiful and informative book for any bird lover.

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