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"Here in straightforward language you will find out what a museum is--philosophically and historically, some pros and cons of establishing your museum, up-to-date resource lists, and good basic advice on all aspects of museums from the choice of a building through collections care, registration, exhibitions, conservation, staffing, financial management, and fund raising." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Right on time!
My product came just as they said it would. The shipped the product the next day. Definetely a good buy! ... Read more

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Early European descriptions of North America tell about a landscape and a variety of cultures in northeast Florida--a region that had been occupied by native people for more than 10,000 years--that were unlike anything the explorers and settlers had ever encountered. This story of the land and people in that region of the St. Johns River and the Atlantic coast covers 18,000 years--from the Ice Age to the first half of the 20th century. James Miller describes how natural features transformed and how cultural traditions of native people, as well as Spanish, English, and American colonists, developed in response to opportunities and constraints of the environment. With an unusually broad scope in time, space, and subject matter, he uses the example of northeast Florida to explore the notion of environmental equilibrium, to illustrate the fallacy of a pristine environment, and to show how essential environmental history is to modern ecological planning. Fully illustrated with 25 photographs and 40 maps and written in an accessible style that synthesizes material usually accessible only to specialists, the book will appeal to general readers and policy planners as well as experts. No comparable environmental history of any Florida region exists. ... Read more

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The British Museum is the most magnificent treasure-house in the world. The wealth and range of its collections is unequalled by any other national museum. The Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures, Egyptian mummies, drawings by Botticelli and Michelangelo, Assyrian reliefs, the Lewis Chessmen and the Sutton Hoo treasure are all to be found here. Treasures of the British Museum reveals and delights the reader with the intriguing stories behind these treasures and many more. This timely new edition brings the story up to date, with chapters on important acquisitions made by the Museum in the last fifteen years, including the Warren Cup and the 'Queen of the Night'. A beautiful redesign incorporating full colour photography throughout gives this classic volume a fresh new look. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Great photos, good narrative
This is a large format "coffee table book" published by the museum to commemorate the 400th anniversary of the founding of NYC. The book is an absolutely wonderful collection of photos and other illustrations from the incredible archive of the Museum of the City of New York and covers the city's history over the last 400 years.

The book is organized into 16 chapters, each covering a specific period of history such as the Dutch founding of the city, or the Gilded Age, or the Great Depression. Each chapter is fronted with an essay, from a historian specializing in that period, about NYC and that period of history. After the essay there are a dozen or so pages of captioned photos, maps, engravings and other illustrations depicting the city during the period. The images focus mostly on the everyday life of the people actually living in the city, rather than depicting the lives of the rich and famous.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and highly recommend it to anyone who has an interest or affection for the City.

One caveat, the books really isn't a general history of NYC. If you're looking for one of those, I'd suggest either Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898 by Burrows and Wallace or New York: An Illustrated History by Ric Burns

A Real Treasure of a Book
I found this book at first in a gift shop (at the full price of $40) and knew I could purchase it for less through amazon.com.I was right.The price I paid was unbelievably low and though used was in excellent condition.This is a wonderful book for anyone interested in the history of New York.It traces New York from the 17th century to the present with great drawings, photos and articles from the past. It is a wonderful addition to anyone's library.

Nice images, terrible quality
If you are considering giving this book as a gift, think again.The book is printed in China with very cheap materials.Despite the nice photographs, I would be ashamed to give this book as a gift.In fact, I had to replace this book 5 times and I still could not get one that managed to survive the shipping process and arrive at my home in undamaged condition.The materials are that cheap!What a shame.

A photo says a thousand words
Not being from NYC, I am still fascinated by the city and and all of its changes. From Robert Moses, Tammany Hall and 9/11- this city has seen it all and it thrills me to know the history of a place I may find myself standing.

Desert1
The panorama of light and life contained within these pages is extensive.The images portrayed whether maps, sketches, prints, paintings, or photographs take one into the heart and soul of New York City. Having lived there a good part of my life many images were familiar from first hand experience or from the extensive history of New York that every student takes growing up in that school system.However, there are images never seen outside the Museum of the City of New York that tell a dramatic story anyone can not only simply enjoy but stand in awe of.The soul of the city, created as it absorbed so many cultures and people over the years, stands center stage. Time has simply stopped in may photos and one anxiously waits for the people, frozen motionless in ordinary acts of living, to simply start moving again where they left off over one hundred years ago. The excitement of life captured in the 1898 photo of Orchard Street, looking South from Hester Street in the Lower East Side of Manhattan is worth the price of the book alone.We are also introduced to many previously existingphotographic studies, essays, and the artists who created them all within this one book.There is great drama here to be visited again and again each time the covers are opened. ... Read more

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An examination of a prestigious museum's struggle to survive. ... Read more

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In aesthetic quality, significance and scope, the Metropolitan Museum's Oceanic or Pacific Islands collection is one of the finest and most comprehensive in the world. This generously illustrated volume features some 200 masterworks from the more than 2,600 objects currently in the collection, and it is published to coincide with the opening of the Museum's new galleries of Oceanic art. An overview of Oceanic art and a history of the Metropolitan's collection are followed by detailed chapters devoted to each of the five major cultural regions of the Pacific: Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and the islands of Southeast Asia. Among the notable works discussed are a monumental Baining barkcloth figure, a spectacular shield from the Solomon Islands, the Museum's renowned Torres Strait mask and acclaimed Mangarevan wooden male figure, a weather charm from the Caroline Islands, and textiles from the regions of Lampung and Sumba, in Sumatra. A glossary and selected bibliography conclude this essential guide. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Pacific Island Art
Hardback, 2007, 11.25" x 8.5", 353 Pages, 198 Objects illustrated in full color, 2 maps, numerous color & B/W illustrations. (Note : For some unknown reason, the book I purchased new from Amazon features a figure on the cover which is different than that shown in the Amazon entry, although both figures are included in the book.)

A very worthwhile effort with an eclectic and consistently interesting selection of art from New Guinea, Australia, Island Melanesia, Island Southeast Asia, Micronesia and Polynesia. The only reason it doesn't get 5 stars is because the artifacts are mostly illustrated in 1/4 or 1/3 pages, and the small size does not do them justice. In spite of this limitation, the book is still highly recommended for anybody who appreciates Oceanic Art.
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With some 280,000 objects, the Harvard Art Museum is the largest university art museum in the United States. Its Fogg, Busch-Reisinger, and Arthur M. Sackler museums feature world-renowned collections of archaic Chinese jades and bronzes, Italian Renaissance paintings, and nineteenth-century art, along with remarkable holdings of prints, drawings, photographs, and Bauhaus and German expressionist works, making it one of the most distinguished museums in the world.

This first handbook of the collections surveys their full scope, from early-Egyptian bronzes and Chinese ceramics to contemporary paintings and prints. Familiar works by Pollock, Picasso, Dürer, Van Gogh, and other well-known artists are presented along with extraordinary Persian miniatures, rare photographic prints, important Greek coins, and African sculpture. Each work is fully illustrated in color and introduced with a brief, engaging text. This elegantly designed book not only offers an appealing and accessible presentation of some of the Harvard Art Museum’s most significant works, but also introduces readers to other resources at the Museums, such as the Straus Center for Conservation, as well as to the artist archives that are housed there.

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A wonderful chronicle of thievery, murder, and torture on the high seas, all in a beautiful oversized book.
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Customer Reviews (22)

The History of Pirates
The History of Pirates is a great book on pirates!A must have for all pirate buffs!

Good Introduction to Pirates
"History of Pirates" serves as an excellent introduction to pirates.The book contains several maps and brief biographies of several pirates, including Blackbeard, Stede Bonnet, and others.

The narrative is easy to read and flows smoothly.If you are looking for a good introduction to pirates, then this book is the one.However, since the biographies are brief, I suggest you go to other pirate books for more detailed histories.

Recommended.

Good but not very indepth
This book isn't bad in that it gives a general overview of piracy throughout history with a large focus on the buccanneers and pirates of the Caribbean and Africa from the 16th to the 18th century.

Some of the chapters (which are only a couple of pages) just give an overview of the time and place while others do focus on individuals.The chapters that do focus on individuals are rather brief in my opinion.Some do go into detail, such as with Henry Morgan but others are given only a couple of pages.

There are plenty of maps and pictures that accompany the chapters but many of these don't really add much to the work itself.The antique maps that are presented are for the most part too small to be of any use.

I would have liked to have seen more diagrams of the ships of the time as well.

This is a good book if you just want some general information, though most of the information contained in here is somewhat common knowledge for anyone who's studied pirates before.That said, this is a good book if you just want a good overview and don't want to dig through the chapters of a more indepth book.

A fun introduction
This book is an enjoyable and easy to read introduction to the personalities and history of piracy throughout the world.It gives you a fun insight into the time periods and fates of many of the prominent personalities.

Here's fine stuff for the gallows
The History of Pirates, by Angus Knostam with introduction by David Cordingly, is a honest, straight forward, history about the pirates of the world, starting with the Greeks and Sea People, showing us the great pirates of history, and ending in the South China Sea.The Barbary Pirates, the Privateers of Elizabeth, the Buccaneers of the Spanish Main, Blackbeard, Bartholomew Roberts and even the pirates of the Far East.Nobody and no time period is left untouched.
The author shows us all cruel and ruthless many of the pirates were but also shows that many were not just pirates.One nation's pirate is another nation's hero or soldier.The legends and myths have to be pushed aside to show the facts and real people that rovered the seven seas, fighting for King, God and gold.Even has a chapter on the pirate code.
A must for any collection dealing with Pirates, general world history or naval history. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (5)

Great teaching aid, presentation aid & recreational reading!
This is a wonderfully entertaining and a very informative book for kids, parents, school volunteers and teachers! There's something for everyone. I've used it as a parent and art volunteer in the classroom for our kidsand the other presenters. My eight year old daughter reads from this andtheir other book on American Art. Wish there were more in the set besides,Impressionists, American and Egyptian Art guides!

Our museum docentsare using this great text !
It is a thoroughly engrossing overviewof the artists and their artistic accomplishments written in a manner so easy to read aand remember.It really could be for any age tii use in any museum in the world which hasImpressionist paintings.Fascinating! Informative!

Off the Wall Museum Guides for Kids (and Adults too!)
If you don't have children, but have a number of them on your holiday list, these three Off the Wall Museum Guides for Kids by Ruthie Knapp and Janice Lehmberg are truly a find.They'll delight everyone - the kids willlove them, their parents will be thankful for something that is bothmind-expanding and great fun, and, you'll be thankful for pleasing bothparties.Every child on my list will be receiving them this year.What'smore, if you need some brushing-up in American art, Egyptian art, or FrenchImpressionism, take a look before you wrap them up or, better yet, get aset for yourself.ART 101 was never so much fun!(Make sure to order allthree books.)

A fun,informative book appealing to children and adults.
This book, with its two companion volumes on Egyptian Art and American Art, helps create a fun and focused visit to a specific collection. The reader learns what to look for in the paintings, and also learnsentertaining facts about the various artists. The introduction isparticularly helpful. For example, it explains basic concepts about colorsand perspective, and sets reasonable expectations about what children canabsorb. The section about "museum feet" is very pertinent.Obviously the authors know children as well as the art.

A fun,informative book appealing to children and adults.
This book, with its two companion volumes on Egyptian Art and American Art, helps create a fun and focused visit to a specific collection. The reader learns what to look for in the paintings, and also learnsentertaining facts about the various artists. The introduction isparticularly helpful. For example, it explains basic concepts about colorsand perspective, and sets reasonable expectations about what children canabsorb. The section about "museum feet" is very pertinent.Obviously the authors know children as well as the art. ... Read more

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"The World Must Know by Michael Berenbaum is a skillfully organized and clearly told account of the German Holocaust that consumed, with unparalleled malevolence, six million Jews and millions of innocent others -- Protestants, Catholics, Poles, Russians, Gypsies, the handicapped, and so many others, adults and children. This important book, a vital guide through the unique corridors of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., merits the widest of audiences." -- Chaim Potok, author of The Chosen and The Promise

The World Must Know documents the compelling human stories of the Holocaust as told in the renowned permanent exhibition of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Drawing on the museum's extensive collection of artifacts, archives, and eyewitness testimonies, and augmented with more than two hundred period photographs, this book serves as an enduring reminder of the moral obligations of societies and individuals.

This revised edition is enhanced with new insights and updates based on archival information that had been inaccessible to researchers until after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Communist regimes of Eastern and Central Europe. It includes new photographs, redrawn charts, a new section on the Holocaust in Greece, an updated bibliography, and a new foreword by the museum director.

Published on behalf of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Customer Reviews (13)

An excellent guide to the history of the Holocaust as portrayed in the Holocaust Memorial Museum
I was fortunate to be able to visit the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum last summer - I was deeply impressed by the exhibits and the meticulous documentation of the Holocaust. The exterior is suitably stark in appearance, and the interior compellingly brings the Holocaust "alive" for visitors. This is not a museum for really young children (I'd recommend it for ages 10 and up, with great caution). Except for the ground level exhibit, the others truly convey the horrors and realities of the Holocaust. When I saw this book at the museum bookstore, I purchased it immediately, even though I have dozens of scholarly works on the subject (having taught Holocaust history for many years whilst overseas). It was to serve as a memento of my visit to the museum (the other book I purchased was I Never Saw Another Butterfly, a beautiful, lyrical, and heartbreaking work based on the writings and artwork of Jewish children incarcerated in Terezin during WW II, many of whom later perished in the Holocaust).

"The World Must Know" aligns with the institution's mission to memorialize the Holocaust and its millions of victims. It compellingly and vividly narrates the story of how the Holocaust occurred and the horrific consequences of this period, not only then, but the lasting impact till the present day. The book is divided into three main sections, i.e.:

The Nazi Assault - there's a brief overview of the vital and thriving Jewish culture which existed in many parts of Europe before the Nazis came to power and put an end to it. The rise of the Nazis, the anti-Jewish policies, racial science, Nazi medicine, and many more are covered to some extent, made all the more compelling by the archival B&W photographs which are abundantly peppered throughout the book. This section not only documents the atrocities perpetrated against the Jews but also the oppression suffered by the handicapped, and Gentiles who dared to oppose the regime.

The Holocaust - this section documents the Holocaust as it occurred in Europe and Greece; the formation of the ghettoes (Warsaw, Lodz, Kovno); the Wannsee Conference which discussed the Final Solution to the Jewish problem and which led to the mass extermination of European Jewry; dozens of photographs of the mass killings and extermination of Jews through firing squads, mobile gas vans, and of course the infamous gassings in death camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Dachau, Majdanek, etc. The photographs here clearly document the meticulous methods employed by the Nazis in their zeal to rid Europe of Jews - the deportations (how heartbreaking to see pictures of young, innocent children being taken away, almost surely to their deaths!), and the chemicals and rooms used for gassing these innocent victims. This section also includes photographs of the exhibits found in the Holocaust Memorial Museum such as the thousands of shoes confiscated from prisoners in Majdanek, and scale models of the crematoriums complete with plaster figures of victims going through the entire process from arrival-selection-undressing-gassing-cremation.

The Last Chapter - covers the heroic efforts of some communities to save the Jews such as the miraculous rescue of the Jews in Denmark; Le Chambon-Sur-Lignon, a village in the south of France which provided refuge to 5,000 Jews during WW II; individual heroes who risked everything to save Jews such as Raoul Wallenberg; and many more. It also covers the uprisings, the death marches, and finally, liberation and its aftermath (the war crimes trials at Nuremberg, displaced persons, and exodus to Palestine).

There's an extensive index at the end of the book for easy cross-referencing. What else is there to be said but that this is an excellent work which portrays the history of the Holocaust as has been archived, documented, and narrated by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Recommended!

Ehhh...
I got this book for a class, expecting we'd read it over the course of the semester due to its length. I was terribly wrong. I am expected to read it in a week, which is awful. It's not going to get done simply because I cannot synthesis all of the information at one time. So far, the book seems pretty in depth for an "overview" of the history of the Holocaust. It is, however, worth the money. The pictures are vivid and heartbreaking. I'd like this book a lot better if I didn't have to have it read in a week.

TheWorld Must Know
A book not to be missed, whether in its original publication of the newer 2007 version.The picturews are inforgettable and the writing superb.

The World Must Know
This is an excellent comprehensive study of the Holocaust.For the beginning student of the Holocaust, it provides a great overview.And for the seasoned student, it a tremendous resource.It is a "must-have" for any level of Holocaust studies.Very well done.

The World Must Know
This book is very informative and educational. It is full of pictures and easy reading to describe such a horrific event in history. This is a great teacher tool! ... Read more

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During a visit to this most unusual museum, the reader discovers a strange, scary, and eclectic collection of art and prehistoric life. ... Read more

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The larger-than-life stories in this fascinating book recount the first 125 years of the American Museum of Natural History, in New York, which derives its fame and collections from a spectacular series of expeditions "to the ends of the earth." More than 240 photos, 90 in color, capture all the excitement, danger, and difficulty of exploration and discovery. 10 maps. ... Read more

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This volume examines the ways in which works of art have achieved a position in the canon of Western art. Focusing on art and institutions in Britain and France from the 17th to the 19th century, the contributors explore the construction and evolution of canonical values. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

basic but stimulating
The book offers a basic discussion on canons of art. Being a professor of Latin, Greek and of Ancient art it is easy for me to point at some (though very few)oddities, eg the derivation of "allegory" from the Latin "alia oratio" when the term is in fact derived from the Greek "alle + agoreuoo",but this would do no credit to the information provided and the sometimes thought provoking passages. In fact, I already used some ideas that I found in the text, in my own class. Therefore: a good and stimulating introduction. Overall, the book offers what it promises to do.

A Different Sort of Refresher Course
Honestly, I picked up this book because of gorgeous reproductions. And because it focuses on English institutions and art--not my strongest suite. But each chapter not only refreshed my basic knowledge of art history but reminded and educated me of the many factors that play into the shaping of the discipline, from royal schools to government decrees. Most interesting was the way the authors researched how museum collections are formed by not only taste and education but also politics and monetary factors. These should be obvious, but sometimes the cleaness of an exhibition wipes away the history of why an artwork was chosen, why it is displayed in a certain manner, and why a museum may, or may not, promote their collections. ... Read more

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Visit the Natural History Museum - 100 years ago. Featuring a wealth of stunning black-and-white photographs from the Museum's archives, this book offers a real flavour of life at one of London's oldest and most famous visitor attractions, from Victorian times until just after the Second World War. The photographs go back as far as the 1880s, to the earliest years of the Museum, when only a few horsedrawn carriages plied the streets of South Kensington and elephants and gorillas from distant parts of the British Empire were exhibited for the first time. In later years the Museum gardens were to be dug over for vegetable production during the Second World War and whale carcasses were buried in the grounds to allow the flesh to rot away. The book focuses on the unusual events that have taken place over the years, the characters working at and visiting the Museum, and of course the awe-inspiring specimens. Ranging from the amazing to the amusing, the images are evocative and brimming with period detail. The authors are senior archivists and well placed to share their knowledge of the stories that lie behind the silver-nitrate surface of the old photographic prints. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

beautiful and revealing
A marvelously produced work that gives an insightful account of the man behind much of Audubon's fame (and important in his own right).

AFriend of Audubon , a great Natural History Illustrator
Another Beautiful Book in theArt of Nature Series by the joint effort of Merrell Holberton, Publisher and the Natural History Museum, London. This book focuses on the Life of William MacGillivray, a artist and ecologist who was one of the first to show wild animals and birds as living creatures inhabiting their own environment, rather than as dead specimens. This book is one of the first fully illustrated books of MacGillivray's art. If you are interested in the life of a friend of Audubon, who was a great help to Audubon in editing his Ornithological Biography and beautiful natural history illustration of not only birds but fish and mammals as well, you need to get this book. This book is not just a picture book but a interesting account of MacGillivray's life and work as a teacher, naturalist and orinithologist. Enjoy!!!!! ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Keegan brings the past to life
"The People Who Discovered Columbus" is a well-researched account of those first peoples who actually discovered The Bahamas, where they came from, how they lived and why they came.

Keegan paints a vivid picture of the Bahama Island chain in those years prior to the arrival of the first human inhabitants, describing the lush, untouched landscape like a tropical Eden into which comes man, probably migrating from the south of the Bahamian archipelago.His theory about the motivation for this migration still holds true for tourists today: The Bahamas is just too attractive a location to pass up.

This book is also a treasure for anyone interested in Caribbean archaeology.Although, since the book's publication, many more aboriginal sites have been discovered, this book lists, island by island, the number and types of sites that provide evidence of intense Lucayan habitation.From open air sites to caves, Keegan leads the reader through The Bahamas, walking in the footsteps of those ancient people.

Reading this book, you begin to question, as Keegan does, whether Columbus' motivation for his 1492 voyage was to actually get to the Indies or the much more personal goal of territorial conquest.

This book is a must read if you want to really experience the Bahama Islands of those centuries long before Columbus.I would recommend it unreservedly as a well written, well documented book that, in spite of its scholarly value, is quite easy and enjoyable to read.It certainly puts to shame the theory that Columbus could have discovered a whole nation of people - complete with customs, traditions and history - who were never lost in the first place! ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more