Art and Objecthood: Essays and Reviews

Book Description

Much acclaimed and highly controversial, Michael Fried's art criticism defines the contours of late modernism in the visual arts. This volume contains twenty-seven pieces, including the influential introduction to the catalog for Three American Painters, the text of his book Morris Louis, and the renowned "Art and Objecthood." Originally published between 1962 and 1977, they continue to generate debate today. These are uncompromising, exciting, and impassioned writings, aware of their transformative power during a time of intense controversy about the nature of modernism and the aims and essence of advanced painting and sculpture.

Ranging from brief reviews to extended essays, and including major critiques of Jackson Pollock, Morris Louis, Kenneth Noland, Jules Olitski, Frank Stella, and Anthony Caro, these writings establish a set of basic terms for understanding key issues in high modernism: the viability of Clement Greenberg’s account of the infralogic of modernism, the status of figuration after Pollock, the centrality of the problem of shape, the nature of pictorial and sculptural abstraction, and the relationship between work and beholder. In a number of essays Fried contrasts the modernist enterprise with minimalist or literalist art, and, taking a position that remains provocative to this day, he argues that minimalism is essentially a genre of theater, hence artistically self-defeating.

For this volume Fried has also provided an extensive introductory essay in which he discusses how he became an art critic, clarifies his intentions in his art criticism, and draws crucial distinctions between his art criticism and the art history he went on to write. The result is a book that is simply indispensable for anyone concerned with modernist painting and sculpture and the task of art criticism in our time.

Book Description

This unique directory lists hundreds of tool-cutters and their firms who worked from 1780 to 1965. With brief biographies of each craftsman or firm, the author illustrates many of their original trade marks and advertisements. He also lists the dates when they were active.

This well-researched and illustrated Directory is divided into three main sections: Toolcutters in the British Isles; Toolcutters in Continental Europe; and Toolcutters in North America and Australia.

Co-published with The Plough Press.

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Picture Taking at Night
Eastman Kodak staff
Manufacturer: Eastman Kodak Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000N9D2JO

Product Description

Pre- World War II guide to taking pictures at night geared to amateurs. Illustrated with B&W photographs, tables and drawings. NOTE: Publication date uncertain. No date provided, but photos reflect 1930s clothing, vehicles & technology.

Picture-taking at night, (Better photo guides)

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Picture-taking at night, (Better photo guides)
Kathy Wersen
Manufacturer: American Photographic Book Pub. Co.; distributed to the book trade by Grosset & Dunlap
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007DS8ZO

Taking pictures at night, (Little technical library)

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Taking pictures at night, (Little technical library)
Robert Winfield Brown
Manufacturer: Ziff-Davis Pub. Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007EWI7M

Taking pictures at night and how anyone can do it (The photo-guide)

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Taking pictures at night and how anyone can do it (The photo-guide)
Walter Kross
Manufacturer: American Photographic Pub. Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
ASIN: B0008763QU

Book Description

Yee-haw! It's vampires in the Old West! It's 1870 in the Old West, and a group of zealots called the Anti-Vampire Mission - working under the banners of God and the president - wage war against the carriers of the "mad blood disease." It is a war that knows no bounds of decency. In this miserable, lawless district, a girl named Kyrie stands up to fight. Her father is the infamous "man in black," a vampire of great power that has been captured by the Anti-Vampire Mission. Kyrie also suffers from the mad blood disease, and she is pursuing her father - with the intention of killing him!

Customer Reviews:

The 20th Century and its relationship with Dorothy Day.......2007-09-21

The controversy surrounding Dorothy Day's long life epitomizes a quote by Dom Helder Camara; "When you give food to the hungry, they call you a saint. But when you ask why the hungry have no food, they call you a Communist" (Forest, 204). She was both revered and criticized for being a friend of the poor and unemployed and pushing the envelope in their favor to such a point that J. Edgar Hoover recommended she "be considered for custodial detention in the event of national emergency" (Forest 178). Love is the Measure, a biography of her life by fellow Catholic Worker Jim Forest, displays this oscillating view of Dorothy Day.

The first few chapters highlight Dorothy's childhood, following her family's moves from Brooklyn to California to Chicago as her father moves from newspaper to newspaper. It was her father's strict parenting-style that led her to remain in their home's library day after day, befriending Jack London, Peter Kropotkin and Upton Sinclair. These men pushed her to take walks in the grim West Side of Chicago and begin to feel a connection with the poor and the workers. Her love of reading continued into university which she attended on a scholarship and supported through manual labor. She wasn't satisfied with assisting victims of social evils, but consumed with the presence of the evils in the first place. It was a theme that rang true throughout her entire life as a reporter and eventually as a co-founder and editor of The Catholic Worker.

Her life as a reporter began shortly after as she dropped out of school and moved back to New York. She began working for The Call and entered a period of "Red Friends, Revolutionary News" as Forest eloquently entitled the chapter. She interviewed Leon Trotsky and attended dances held by anarchists before moving to another magazine, The Masses, until it was suppressed. She bided her time by taking part in a suffragette movement and hunger strike in jail. It was to be one of many times she would be arrested for civil disobedience.

She also began to spend time with a coworker in the hospital she found a temporary job. Lionel Moise was her first real love, but his disbelief in marriage and love proved difficult when she found herself pregnant and alone. Her decision to have an abortion deeply affected her and made her value her second pregnancy with Forster Batterham so immensely that she formally converted to Catholicism and baptized their child Tamar. Her faith then put her in contact with a variety of religious publications which led her to Peter Maurin. He was the man who pushed Dorothy to create The Catholic Worker, the publication she is most famous for to this day. Peter wanted to advocate "steps that could bring about the peaceful transformation of society" (78) in a publication centered upon faith principles and believed appropriately that Dorothy was essential to the project.

On May 1, 1933, The Catholic Worker printed 2,500 copies and handed them out at the gathering of 50,000 in Union Square in New York (1-3). The printings fluctuated over the years as the publication both gained rapid successes and lost subscribers over Dorothy's unwavering stance of non-violence and appreciation of unions and protests, all of which were identified with communism. It was in this that Dorothy really created controversy.

Furthermore, it was out of the publication that houses of hospitality came about, places where staff members would feed, cloth, and shelter anyone who wished or desired it. The houses later expanded into farms and community living that staff members and faithful subscribers became residents of for years and years. It was in a house of hospitality that Dorothy finally passed away in November of 1980. She had a simple funeral with a plain casket and was dressed in donated clothes (200-201).

Overall, the novel is a quick read that touches upon the multitude of key points and people in Day's life. However, ostensibly the impressive list of events creates the illusion that one is reading an abridged version of United States and World history of the twentieth century. Consequently, to accurately portray the rest of the events occurring between the first publication of The Catholic Worker and her death a half a century later would require a much lengthier recitation, something the book does do in great detail. To demonstrate this fact, one should know that Dorothy, having been born in 1897, was privy to such high-profile events as the Women's Suffrage Movement, the Great Depression and May Day, both World Wars, the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and the McCarthy era of fear, among others. Furthermore, her controversial stances put her in contact with names such as Thomas Merton, various Popes, Cesar Chavez, Mother Theresa, Leon Trotsky, and Mike Gold. While captivating, the magnitude of information and events can be viewed as wearisome and cause for some disjunction between and within the chapters. For example, Forest writes a short chapter introducing Dorothy's friendship with Ammon Hennacy and then pens a short chapter devoted to the Cold War (121-129).

While understandably necessary due to the fact that her life was extremely intertwined with these events, it left me exhausted and longing for detail about Dorothy's mannerisms and attitude. I was able to insinuate this as much as one can from learning about a plethora of her actions, but it lacked a more intimate portrait; something that surprisingly came in the Afterword. There Jim Forest revealed that he did know Dorothy personally as a co-worker at The Catholic Worker, but wanted to keep his experiences out of the narrative (202). I praise him for his professionalism and do view it as a great strength of the book; however, his short narrative at the end thoroughly entertained me and summarized the book in a more coherent and brief fashion. For example, he quotes Jack English's description of seeing Dorothy for the first time. "She talked the entire lecture with a cigarette hanging out of a corner of her mouth, with a beret on, and someone said it looked as if she needed her neck washed" (203). This description painted a vivid picture in my mind that otherwise was foggy from the snip-it's in the novel and made me long to hear her speak.

Overall I would recommend this book as it does professionally portray how involved Dorothy was in almost every major movement and protest in the twentieth century. I would just warn readers to cherish the beginning and the afterword, with their description of the intimate moments that create the person whom caused so much controversy from a love of the poor and desolate.

Love is the Measure A Biography of Dorothy Day

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Love is the Measure A Biography of Dorothy Day
Jim Forest
Manufacturer: Paulist Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Love Is the Measure: A Biography of Dorothy Day, Founder of the

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Love Is the Measure: A Biography of Dorothy Day, Founder of the

ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Burmese Harp: Its Classical Music, Turnings, & Modes (Northern Illinois University Monograph Series on Southeast Asia, No. 1)
Muriel C. Williamson
Manufacturer: Northern Illinois Univ Center for
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Music | Entertainment | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1891134043

Book Description

More than 1/3 million answer words
Easiest to use
Easiest on the eyes

Here is the work that made all other puzzle dictionaries obsolete. Its unique Instant Finder System saves you time-consuming searches through the long, jumbled paragraphs of words that are so common in other crossword puzzle dictionaries. Suppose your clue is a six-letter word for RAGE: just turn to that entry and your eye immediately picks out the bold number 6. Now you can pick your answer from just five words, ignoring the 32 others that can't fit.

And note how the clear type and uncluttered format help make your search quicker and easier!

Customer Reviews:

I love it!!.......2007-07-03

My old edition finally fell apart, so I ordered a new one and I like it even better.

Today I'm buying a third copy!.......2007-05-14

My dad loves crossword puzzles, and about nine years ago I bought him this book in a paperback edition. He raved about how useful it was and used it daily until 2001, when it was destroyed in a house flood. It had gotten pretty tattered by then, but probably had another year or two of use left. I bought him a second book, this time in hardback, thinking it would last longer. That book is now six years old and has pages falling out! So, yesterday he asked that I get him a THIRD book, and no other crossword puzzle dictionary will do. I just wish a seventh edition would come out soon; I'm sure Dad could use some updated info.

Crossword Puzzle Dictionary.......2007-03-08

This item was purchased as a gift for my 83 year-old father who stays sharp by completing two newspaper crossword puzzles daily. His previous copy of the same edition was only about five years old, but in absolutely tattered condition. I personally witness him using this dictionary at least twice daily. It is truly a fine product. Thank you for the easy ordering process, swift delivery and outstanding customer service.

Crossword Dictionary .......2007-01-10

I sent for this book because I have have gotten one by the same name before but different edition. This one is larger and has more items in it and I like it very much.

Not good.......2005-10-08

I have a 5th edition of this book which has more info in it than this one. I was very disappointed so I sent it back.

Crossword Puzzle Dictionary: Sixth Edition

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Crossword Puzzle Dictionary: Sixth Edition
Andrew Swanfeldt
Manufacturer: Harper Perennial
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UPKY7Y

Book Description

Now featuring new information on available medications, this practical guide describes a complete treatment program that enables headache sufferers to get more relief with less medication use; reduce the frequency of headaches; and become active collaborators in their own multidisciplinary care. The authors explain in clear terms the wide range of medical, neuromuscular, psychosocial, and dietary variables that can affect headache activity. Ideal for client assignment, the book is useful in conjunction with professional treatment or in preparing clients for referral to other mental health or medical practitioners. Special features include helpful case studies, charts, questionnaires, and tips and exercises for clients.

Customer Reviews:

Simple, Practical, Inexpensive........2003-03-15

Unlike most square rig sailing books Eagle Seamanship gives simple explanations of not jut how things are done but also why they are done. This is essential if you are truly to come to understand square rig sailing and attain a good level of competence.
The only problem with Eagle Seamanship is that often Military/Coast Guard terms are used which can be confusing for civilian sailors but this is limited mostly to names and titles of the people on deck and not the seamanship terms.
Even though Eagle Seamanship deals specifically with sailing one ship, the Eagle, the information is relevant to sailing any barque.

Very good overview.......2003-03-10

This book was designed for cadets on the U.S. Coast Guard training ship Eagle. As such, it provides a good overview of sail operations. It provides diagrams for lines and sheets that proved very informative.

Recommend this book for someone with a serious interest in square riggers, if only to see how the procedures are somewhat different than that used in the 19th century.

A Manual for a Working Square Rigger--The USCG EAGLE.......2000-08-18

Summary:

If you are at all interested in sailing on square rigger's, or in ship modeling--this is a must have book that will fit in your pocket for reference on deck. Buy two copies.

If you simply want to expand your knowledge of seamanship-this book will give you some good ideas and is worth the price. I was particularly impressed with the emphasis on commands, the descriptions of the chain of command-all principals that should be applied to any vessel with a crew.

Back Cover:

Written for cadets serving on the U.S. Coast Guard's famous training barque, Eagle, and use by Tall Ship sailors around the world, this handy, pocket-sized manual tells seamen all they need to know to sail a square rigger. This new edition, the first to appear in ten years, is easier than ever to follow, and its simple step-by-step explanations of commands and procedures help the reader through every important sailing maneuver. The wealth of knowledge and experience this guide draws upon is without parallel.

Index:

1. Eagle History

2. Compartmentation and Standing Rigging

3. Sails and Running Rigging

4. Setting, Dousing, and Furling Sail

5. Trimming Sail

6. Working the Ship

7. Shipboard Emergencies

8. Deck Seamanship

Glossary

Reviewer's Comments:

I picked up this book before there were any reviews and had no clue it was a US Coast Guard Manual for sailing this specific boat. So I was a little disappointed at first. I was only slightly interested in the interior arrangements of the cabins. BUT...

After digging into it, I found lots of cool stuff that could apply to handling any sailing vessel. Like a good way to scandalize (depower) a staysail when you don't have a furler.

The single piece of information I was most interested in was the layout of the running rigging at the pin rails. For a sailor to know the ropes-this information must be committed to memory.

I enjoyed the book, and reread in periodically to help keep the terminology fresh.

Now, I'm trying to figure out how to wrangle a passage on the Eagle-or at least a tour.

Smooth Sailing

Bart Senior

Eagle Seamanship: A manual to a new world.......2000-06-11

I read Eagle Seamanship to prepare myself for a voyage across the Atlantic on her. This books is a wonderful intorduction to get you started while onboard this beautiful Square-Rigger. It takes you through the lines and pinrail, that you need to know to work the sails. It doesn't give you sufficient navigation information, so you'd learn that as you go. After reading the book and putting what I learned into action, I am forever hooked on sailing ships and the sea! If your interested in sailing ships or one of America's naval treasures, I encourage you to read this book.

Essential Square Rigger Knowledge.......2000-06-10

Eagle Seamanship is an invaluable wealth of square rigging knowledge. It's small size makes it an excellent reference even when underway. Having sailed on Eagle, this book proved to be a necessary tool in becoming a more proficient square rigger.

Eagle Seamanship: A Manual for Square-Rigger Sailing

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Eagle Seamanship: A Manual for Square-Rigger Sailing
Lieutenant William (Editor) Norton
Manufacturer: M. Evans and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KF2EH2

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Eagle Seamanship: A Manual for Square-Rigger Sailing
Lieutenant William (Editor) Norton
Manufacturer: M. Evans and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KEZGQY

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Eagle Seamanship: A Manual for Square-Rigger Sailing
Lieutenant William (Editor) Norton
Manufacturer: M. Evans and Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000KEZ94S

Book Description

Benjamin A. Valentino finds that ethnic hatreds or discrimination, undemocratic systems of government, and dysfunctions in society play a much smaller role in mass killing and genocide than is commonly assumed. He shows that the impetus for mass killing usually originates from a relatively small group of powerful leaders and is often carried out without the active support of broader society. Mass killing, in his view, is a brutal political or military strategy designed to accomplish leaders' most important objectives, counter threats to their power, and solve their most difficult problems.

In order to capture the full scope of mass killing during the twentieth century, Valentino does not limit his analysis to violence directed against ethnic groups, or to the attempt to destroy victim groups as such, as do most previous studies of genocide. Rather, he defines mass killing broadly as the intentional killing of a massive number of noncombatants, using the criteria of 50,000 or more deaths within five years as a quantitative standard.

Final Solutions focuses on three types of mass killing: communist mass killings like the ones carried out in the Soviet Union, China, and Cambodia; ethnic genocides as in Armenia, Nazi Germany, and Rwanda; and "counter-guerrilla" campaigns including the brutal civil war in Guatemala and the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Valentino closes the book by arguing that attempts to prevent mass killing should focus on disarming and removing from power the leaders and small groups responsible for instigating and organizing the killing.

Customer Reviews:

A final solution for "final solutions"?.......2004-11-10

This book provides an excellent, important study of genocide and similar episodes of mass murder by government of its own people. Valentino classifies mass murder campaigns into six types, of which the most important are Communist, ethnic, and anti-guerrilla (elimination not only of combatants but of all possible supporters thereof, during civil unrest). This somewhat underestimates the world's complexity; fascist regimes, notably, massacred not only Jews and other ethnic groups, but homosexuals, socialists, handicapped persons, mentally ill, dissidents of every sort, and even modernist artists. Still, Valentino's typology, and especially his explanations of it, are useful. Valentino also shows that leaders invoke mass murder when they feel threatened. War, economic collapse, consolidation of the regime, or sheer paranoia can turn a ruling group's minds to mass murder. Conversely, a good growing economy in time of peace seems to mollify even the sourest dictator; he cites China since Mao and the USSR after Stalin, when Mao's and Stalin's lieutenants--often their actual hatchet-men--ran much less bloody governments.
The most important argument in the book is that genocide and mass killing are usually invoked by one leader or a very small ruling group. These "final solutions" are not often popular with the masses. This may or may not be true, and will provoke controversy. We have the cases of China and the USSR; but we also have the case of Germany, where anti-Semitic purges had occurred intermittently for centuries. For that matter, Valentino mentions the United States' extermination of many of its Native American groups; this was largely a populist matter, usually without government support (Andrew Jackson's presidency being a notable exception). In the US, as in Brazil and some other countries, millions of people over a couple of centuries carried out genocidal policies. More research is needed!
The one real problem I have with Valentino's book is his solution to final solutions. Since it is at least arguably true that mass murder is invoked by a very few leaders, his simple fix is to get rid of the leaders. Sure--but all Germany rallied to Hitler's--or at least Germany's--defense in WWII, and the United States is now learning in Iraq that people often prefer the insane tyrant they know to the alien infidels who might, for all they know, be even worse. The CIA probed China during Mao's day (I know; I was there) and wisely pulled out, for the same basic reason. A thought experiment about what might happen if the US goes into Iran is instructive.
I totally agree with Valentino that we should make every attempt to go in and stop genocide and mass killing, and I am nearly persuaded that he is right about the conceptual ease of it. I only wish the world were as simple and logical as he thinks it is. The world could easily have stopped the killing in Rwanda and Burundi, and in Guatemala, but chose not to bother (after all, those guys weren't white...Europe and America rallied to stop far less extensive killing in Serbia). Dealing with Saddam has proved less easy. Dealing with Mao would have been impossible, even though the vast majority of Chinese welcomed his passing. And now we have ongoing genocide in Sudan, and no one knows what to do.
I second the earlier reviewer's assessment that this is a book everyone interested in the current world mess should read.

Required Reading.......2004-02-24

Dr. Valentino lays out his thesis, analysis and ultimately his conclusions in a logical and methodical approach that is truly thought provoking. His keen insights and broad knowledge of the material is unparalleled and indisputable. Without political slant or bias, Dr. Valentino's meticulous approach to understanding the horrors of mass killings and genocide lays a firm, new foundation for taking action to prevent these atrocities in the future. This book should be required reading for foreign policy makers around the world.

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BIRD LIFE OF THE BORDERS
ABEL CHAPMAN
Manufacturer: GURNEY AND JACKSON
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000S99UBI

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Bird-life of the Borders (Northern Classics)
Abel Chapman , and Peter Davis
Manufacturer: The Spredden Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
Ornithology | Zoology | Biological Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1871739101

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Bird-life of the borders,: Records of wild sport and natural history on moorland and sea
Abel Chapman
Manufacturer: Gurney and Jackson
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Birdwatching | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008656D2

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