From the first millennium B.C. until the arrival of Europeans in the 16th century, artists from across the ancient Americas created small-scale architectural effigies to be placed in the tombs of impo
Though he spent much of his career in his native France, Paul Cezanne (1839–1906)––a stylistic innovator who constantly struggled to perfect his art––played a hugely influential role in modernism worl
From its origins in the 7th century, armor and weaponry were central to Islamic culture not only as a means of conquest and the spread of faith, but also as symbols of status, wealth, and power. More
Among the world’s great technological and imaginative achievements is the invention and development of the timepiece. Examining for the first time the Metropolitan Museum’s unparalleled collection of
Wang Hui, the most celebrated painter of late seventeenth-century China, played a key role both in reinvigorating past traditions of landscape painting and in establishing the stylistic foundations fo
Leonardo da Vinci's reputation as an inventor and scientist, and the complexity of his creativity and?personality, have sometimes almost overshadowed the importance of his aims and techniques as a pai
Psychologists and neuroscientists struggle with how best to interpret human motivation and decision making. The assumption is that below a mental “surface” of conscious awareness lies a deep and compl
For centuries, China’s export arts—jade, silks, porcelains, and, more recently, cinema—have fueled Western fantasies of an exotic East and served as enduring sources of inspiration for fashion. This s
Beginning with new evidence that cites the presence of books in Roman villas and concluding with present day vicissitudes of collecting, this generously illustrated book presents a complete survey of British and Irish country house libraries. Replete with engaging anecdotes about owners and librarians, the book features fascinating information on acquisition bordering on obsession, the process of designing library architecture, and the care (and neglect) of collections. The author also disputes the notion that these libraries were merely for show, arguing that many of them were profoundly scholarly, assembled with meticulous care, and frequently used for intellectual pursuits. For those who love books and the libraries in which they are collected and stored, The Country House Library is an essential volume to own.
R.S.S. Baden-Powell, who founded the Boy Scouts movement in 1908, was a British military hero during the Boer War and an author, actor, artist, spy, sportsman, and female impersonator. In this absorbi
Eminent biographer Nigel Hamilton offers a group biography of the twelve caesars of our time: the American Presidents from F.D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush. Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars became a clas
A major theoretical statement by a distinguished political scholar explains why a policy of liberal hegemony is doomed to failIn this major statement, the renowned international-relations scholar John Mearsheimer argues that liberal hegemony, the foreign policy pursued by the United States since the Cold War ended, is doomed to fail. It makes far more sense, he maintains, for Washington to adopt a more restrained foreign policy based on a sound understanding of how nationalism and realism constrain great powers abroad. It is widely believed in the West that the United States should spread liberal democracy across the world, foster an open international economy, and build institutions. This policy of remaking the world in America’s image is supposed to protect human rights, promote peace, and make the world safe for democracy. But this is not what has happened. Instead, the United States has ended up as a highly militarized state fighting wars that undermine peace, harm human right
This second book of the Spoken Standard Chinese series completes the presentation of the major grammatical patterns of mdoern Mandarin and introduces an additional 700 words. Book Two uses pinyin roma
For two decades, The National Gallery Companion Guide has introduced art lovers to one of the richest collections of Western European paintings in the world, including famous works by the greatest pai
The National Gallery, London possesses an important collection of paintings by 16th-century Netherlandish artists, including Joachim Beuckelaer, Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Jean Gossar
This book continues the Written Standard Chinese series. It resumes from the end of Book One and is designed to build vocabulary and bring the student to the 600 character recognition level. It uses b
This comprehensive text surveys the grammar and vocabulary necessary to comprehend writing in Chinese newspapers from mainland China and Taiwan. The book's content is supported by helpful reading exer
