Product Description
Recounts the story of the crucial American victory in the War of 1812 Battle of Lake Erie, outlines Erie's naval and maritime history, and tells the details of the reconstruction of the replica of O.H. Perry's relief flagship, U.S. Brig Niagara. Concludes with armchair tours of the ship and its homeport Erie Maritime Museum. ... Read more

Product Description
Marriage is one of the most important mitzvot (commandments) in Judaism, and the Scriptures are replete with verses encouraging the union of man and woman. One of the essential elements of a Jewish wedding ceremony is the writing and transfer of a contract, or ketubbah (plural ketubbot).

Originally formulated to protect a woman's rights in marriage, the ketubbah established the financial obligations of the groom toward his bride in cases of divorce or death.

This hardcover book presents forty ketubbot dating from 1614 to 1989. Originating in Italy, Persia, the Ottoman Empire, the Sephardi communities of Germany and Holland, and the United States, and drawing upon the collection of The Jewish Museum in New York City, these intricately illuminated marriage contracts are unique historical documents as well as beautiful works of art. ... Read more

Product Description
"Art of Nature" is an astonishing visual record of the exploration of parts of the natural world that had never previously been documented. It features many of the greatest natural history artists of the last 300 years - Merian, Bartram, Ehret, the Bauer brothers, Audubon and Gould. Some were seeking fame as scientists or artists, others sought financial gain or at least the prospect of earning a living in what they loved doing. For some it also provided them with the opportunity to present their view of nature to a wider community. Whatever the reasons, few would have contradicted Humboldt's comment that he was spurred on by an uncertain longing for what is distant and unknown, for whatever excited my fantasy: danger at sea, the desire for adventures, to be transported from a boring daily life to a marvellous world. Continent by continent Judith Magee draws on the unrivalled collections of the Library of the Natural History Museum to illustrate the development of natural history art through the centuries and its crucial role in furthering people's appreciation of nature all around the world. ... Read more

Product Description
This beautifully illustrated book explores the culture, history, and beliefs of the Jewish people by presenting an extraordinary selection of works from the collection of The Jewish Museum, New York. Ranging from antiquity to the present day, these artworks and ritual objects include a fourth-century glass vessel and ancient burial plaques; exquisite Torah decorations and marriage contracts; stunningly ornate Hanukkah lamps and spice containers; beautiful paintings and prints by such artists as Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, Marc Chagall, and Ben Shahn; striking contemporary works by Leonard Baskin, Sol LeWitt, George Segal, Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, and many others; and selections of video and still images from television and film, ranging from documentaries and dramas to situation comedies. Two introductory essays discuss the history and significance of The Jewish Museum, followed by a superb range of artworks grouped thematically in categories such as memory and history; spirituality and faith; society, politics, and community; text and representation; and television and culture. Each work is accompanied by a short essay providing description and interpretation. Together the reproductions and lively text tell the fascinating story of how Jewish culture has evolved through the centuries and across continents. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Stimulating,enjoyable ,enlightening overview of Egyptian art
written to fascinate and proactively involve the museum-goer of all ages!This book is a must have for aanyone wishing to understand and appreciate the art of ancient Egypt. It is a fun trip even if confined to a cozy chairat home !!

Excellent!Essential reading for children - of all ages.
This is a wonderful book and brings to life the world of Egyptian art in a way that is sure to fascinate children of all ages.Knapp and Lehmberg have created a book which will make museum goinginteresting for everyonein the family. ... Read more

Product Description
Walks around Akron: Rediscovering a City in Transition celebrates the simple pleasure of seeing a community at a slow pace from ground level. In March 1987, the Akron Beacon Journal began publishing a series of articles about Akron and its environs, written by Russ Musarra and illustrated by Chuck Ayers. These popular essays-with-art continued in the newspaper through the end of 2000 and can now be read in Akron City magazine. Musarra and Ayers soon realized that many places shown in Ayers's artwork had disappeared or were permanently altered not long after the articles were published-they had been inadvertently documenting Akron in transition. Anyone who enjoys walking or discovering overlooked sites will appreciate the informative charm of these stories and pictures that embrace Akron's history, its downtown and neighborhood development, its institutions and parks, and interesting nearby communities. Musarra and Ayers take the reader along to explore familiar and out-of-the-way places, whether it's Canal Park baseball stadium in the snow, a tiny cemetery in Copley whose graves date back as far as 1818, or a blue heron rookery in Cuyahoga Valley National Park. And readers can see all these things for themselves, using Walks around Akron as a guidebook for their excursions. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Hometown book review
Walks Around Akron: Rediscovering a City in Transition (Series on Ohio History and Culture)
Having grown up in Akron, and later living in Akron for ten years as an adult, it was nostalgic to read about Akron's neighborhoods and the surrounding towns so familiar to me.Also I loved the artistic illustrations.The book itself is published on good quality paper stock which makes it all the more valuable.It is well written and illustrated by Russ Musarra and Chuck Ayers both residing in the Akron area. I purchased a book for myself and two more books for relatives who currently live in Akron. I consider it a book I will always treasure.

Walking Around Akron
GREAT BOOK....a great way to see Akron if you can't walk around here and a good way to go to the places listed in the book....and the cover picture is the garden in my neighborhood. ... Read more

Product Description
A hands-on workbook to guide staff and volunteers through exhibit planning, design, fabrication, and installation using limited resources. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Really, that's it??
I was disappointed with most every aspect of this book.There is little actual content; what there is lacks any creative spark.The graphics do little more than pad this slim volume.It took just an hour to read and even that felt wasted.I do not think this is a book for museum professionals.

Good for Beginners
This is a very handy book to have for novices setting up exhibition spaces (like me).It's a step-by-step workbook, complete with exercises and blank forms useful as both learning and planning tools.In fact, the authors encourage the reader to make copies of the forms for their own use, distribute them throughout the organization, and modify them as necessary.

The book is quite short, but the thinking required makes it a longer read than it appears.Many of the exercises require more than one person, so it's really better to use the book when actually planning an exhibition make-over rather than trying to comprehend it all by oneself.

For those more experienced at setting up galleries, this might be old hat, but it could also be a useful reminder of the basic thought-processes one should go through when setting up an exhibition room. ... Read more

Product Description
Explores the history of the design and building of The Natural History Museum in London. It traces the development of the design, describes the influences of the key personalities involved and highlights the features of the building. ... Read more

Product Description
Nearly a century's worth of Scurlock photographs combine to form a searing portrait of a black Washington in all its guises--its challenges and its victories, its dignity and its determination.Beginning in the early twentieth century and continuing into the 1990s, Addison Scurlock, followed by his sons, Robert and George, used their cameras to document and celebrate a community unique in the world, and a stronghold in the history and culture of the nation's capital.

Through photographs of formal weddings, elegant cotillions, ballet studios, and quiet family life, the Scurlocks revealed a world in which the black middle class refused to be defined or held captive by discrimination. From its home on the vibrant U Street corridor, the Scurlock Studio gave us indelible images of leaders and luminaries, of high society and working class, of Washingtonians at work and at play. In photograph after photograph, the Scurlocks captured an optimism and resiliency seldom seen in mainstream depictions of segregated society.

Luminaries such as Duke Ellington, Ralph Bunche, Mary McLeod Bethune, Alain Locke, Martin Luther King Jr., Lois Mailou Jones testify to the intellectual and cultural vibrancy that was unique to Washington and an inspiration to the nation. Photographs of a Peoples Drugstore protest and Marian Anderson's Easter morning concert at the Lincoln Memorial remind us that the struggle for equality in black Washington began long before the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Offering a rich lens into our past, The Scurlock Studio and Black Washington is a powerful trigger of personal and historical memory. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Filling A Much Needed Void
As a nearly lifelong resident of the Washington area and a collector of photography books, I've always wondered why there has never been any comprehensive survey of the Addison Scurlock Studio.For those who may not be acquainted with the name, Scurlock was roughly to Washington what James Van Der Zee was to New York:The man that African Americans went to for that special portrait.

After having been to the Smithsonian exhibit in the temporary location of the new African American History Museum, I bought the book and was more than pleased to see that it easily surpassed my hopes and expectations.All aspects of the Scurlock Studio are well represented:the portraits of well known and unknown Washingtonians; the city of Washington, including events and storefronts; the visiting celebrities ranging from DuBois to Fredi Washington; and many photographs of the leaders, students and faculty of Howard University, where Addison Scurlock and his sons Robert and George were the "unofficial official photographers" for the better part of the 20th century.

To put my opinion of this book in a bit of personal perspective, I own nearly a thousand photography books, many of them scarce and collectible.This magnificent monograph more than holds its own among the best of them, and it belongs in the collection of any person or family who wants to understand where we've been and how we got to where we are.With its almost absurdly low list price, it's an absolute steal for anyone with an interest in either photography or African American history. ... Read more

Product Description
A Companion to Museum Studies captures the multidisciplinary approaches to the study of the development, roles, and significance of museums in contemporary society. It is an indispensable reference for art historians, museum curators, and art and culture lovers.

• Collects first-rate original essays by leading figures from a range of disciplines and theoretical stances, including anthropology, art history, history, literature, sociology, cultural studies, and museum studies
• Examines the complexity of the museum from cultural, political, curatorial, historical and representational perspectives
• Covers traditional subjects, such as space, display, buildings, objects and collecting, and more contemporary challenges such as visiting, commerce, community and experimental exhibition forms

Product Description

Product Description
If you think that watching all the nature programs on television qualifies you as an expert on the subject, think again! Do you really know what makes animals tick? Here are the answers, portrayed in stunning, awe-inspiring action sequences and explained in fascinating, in-depth prose. Thematically arranged by behavior trait, Animal Life explores and explains every aspect of animal behavior, including courtship rituals and sex lives, family relationships and defense mechanisms, hunting techniques and feeding habits. Side panels explore some of the field research on animal behavior and explain important conservation issues. The introductory chapters on the Animal Kingdom and on animal anatomy help explain how different animals have evolved and adapted to their environments, adaptations that may be relevant to particular behaviors. Destined to be the ultimate authority on animal behavior, this book also looks at key behavioral concepts such as how animals learn to behave and the role of instinct in the learning process.AUTHOR BIO: Charlotte Uhlenbroek, Ph.D. spent four years in the forests of Gombe, Tanzania, completing her doctorate in chimpanzee communication under the auspices of world-famous Jane Goodall. Uhlenbroek is an accomplished broadcaster, appearing in many prestigious documentaries produced by the BBC Wildlife Unit, including Talking with Animals (2002) on communications of creatures as diverse as cuttlefish and wolves, Jungle on the world's rain forests, and the 20-part series Safari School (2007). She has published two books to accompany these series, Talking with Animals and Jungle, both of which are now out of print. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

FAIL.
DEAR AMAZON.
GUESS WHAT!? i ordered TWO, count 'em TWO Animal Life books. first of all, the shipping took FOREVER. i ordered on 8/11, and they said it wouldn't arrive until 8/23 to 8/27. a while later, i got an email stating "my order was cancelled." now, i only have one book.really? REALLY? when i ordered it, it certainly wasnt "out of stock" or "unavailable". The second book was a gift for my friend. now, i only have one book. MAKE SURE YOU ARE CLEAR ON WHETHER YOUR ITEMS ARE IN STOCK OR NOT. plus, i bought the two books from amazon on a deal, a new book for 20 dollars. now, the offer's over, and i have to pay 31 dollars for a new book. THANKS TO YOUR INCOMPETENCE. due to your blundering mistake, we have a lot of problems. if it's not in stock, why say it is? i'm rather sure this product is not an extremely popular one, but yet...?

FAIL.

(customers, don't trust amazon. not only does their crappy shipping take a billion years, they also cancel orders unexpectedly. dont get me wrong, i liked amazon pretty well. before this.)

(but the book is wonderful. just dont get it from amazon.com)

Amazing!
From the first pages of this book I was mesmerized. The photographs are amazing and the information is very interesting. For anyone who is an animal fanatic (like myself) and interested in learning new and interesting facts about all sorts of animals, this book is a must. And for the cost, its definitely something to add to your collection. I have been very pleased with the purchase of this book, and would recommend it to anyone!

Most Excellent
This is an extremely informational book filled with some of the most amazing wildlife photography I have ever laid eyes on. Covers all sorts of information found in these main categories: Animal Kingdom, Animal Anatomy, Animal Behavior, each with their own subsections containing their own subsections. Definitely worth the money in information alone. This would be a visually awesome Zoology textbook, in my opinion. It's like an Ultra Mega ZooBook, except more scientifically detailed.

Wonderful Pictures/Knowledge in this Book!
This book is among my favorites. . .The details that are in here are so amazing! WOW what an eye opener. Excellent job!

Points off for lack of good editing
This is a gorgous and lavishly produced book. However, on getting into the chapter on"Skin" I began to wonder about the writing and editing:

1. "The shells of tortoises, turtles, and terrapins provide excellent protection but are heavy, limit movement, and restrict lifestyle."
I was not aware that turtles made lifestyle decisions.

2. "Hagfishes have many mucus-secreting cells in there skin. In just a few seconds, these cells produce so much slimy mucus that, when mixed with water, it would fill a bucket."
In and of itself this "wow!" leaves me with more of a "huh?" Is that mixed with a cm of water or, say, a bucket of water? And how impressed should I be without knowing the size of a hagfish?

It reads as if these are factoids for dull-minded elementary or middle school children who don't like to read, which begs the question: who did they think would be shelling out the bucks for this book? Was there an actual editor?
... Read more

Product Description
In the mid1700s, the tip of present-day Pittsburgh's Golden Triangle at the Forks of the Ohio was a valuable piece of land to both the British and French colonial powers vying for control of North America. This guidebook traces the story of the construction of Fort Duquesne by the French, the failed attempt of Gen. Edward Braddock and his British forces to capture the fort in 1754, its eventual capture in 1758 by British general John Forbes's troops, its transformation into Fort Pitt, and the siege on the fort by Indian forces during Pontiac's War in 1763. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Actually the book is correct
This is a great book for anyone interested in this period and region and the book is accurate.As for the regiment strength under General Braddock see Paul Kopperman's "Braddock at the Monongahela" p. 14, it notes that troops were rectruited in America to enhance the regiment's strength.As for the account of Grant's Defeat, everybody knows there are often many accounts of historical events that have conflicting information.Dixon chose information that appears in most accounts of the battle (and Grant's account as well), not just a single individual.

Below Average
I did not like this book because it is obvious that the author did not do any research in certain parts but simply repeated the misinformation that other authors have used before him.For example,he states that Braddock arrived with two regiments that were at full strength when they were not.They actually had to recruit colonials,one of whom was Thomas Fausett.He only briefly mentions the Battle of Grant's Hill, which was a significant battle that was fought on the museum's property,and most of his information concerning this battle is incorrect.Dixon states that several buildings that served as sentinel posts were burned in a nightime raid.When in reality,a first person account by one Lt.Alexander Robertson of the 77th states that only one building was burned,and that was used for storage.Somehow the flames were soon extinguished however.Burning the sentinel posts with the sentinels still inside would tend to make them quite irate one would think,andthus ruin the element of suprise.There are no accounts of guardhouses being burned anywhere.I gave the same criticism to the author of the Osprey French & Indian War book(Daniel Marston) for exactly the same reason(Check it out in my other reviews).These brave soldiers who have fallen at Braddock's & Grant's defeats have no Arlington National Cemetery nor memorials to honor them.They lie in unmarked graves that are known only to God.We can at least honor them by telling their story correctly.At the end of the day,the author can always say "Heh,I just made a fast buck off of the War For Empire 250th." ... Read more

Product Description
Internationally acclaimed wine expert Jens Priewe has written the book for the contemporary wine consumer who drinks what he or she likes - one day a grand, awe-inspiring vintage; the next, an unknown wine from a country whose name has only recently appeared on the wine maps of the world. Priewe explains why some wines cost hundreds of dollars while others cost only ten. He provides a key to the complex language of wine and illuminates the science of wine making while honoring the art that creates great wines. About half of the book is devoted to the wine-making process itself, including everything from why wine grows best in poor soil to why a wine matures faster in a small barrel than in a large one. The other half examines the best wines of the world, country by country, and guides the reader to an understanding of the intricacies of wine tasting and appreciation. New topics covered in this edition include: "How Much Wine Goes in Each Glass;" "Drinking Temperature;" and "Wine as an Investment."Illustrated with more than 1,000 color images, including computer graphics that explain the invisible processes of wine making; satellite maps and aerial photos of the world's most important wine regions; and photographs of individual vineyards by the world's best wine photographers; and fully updated throughout, Wine will quench the thirst for knowledge that true wine lovers feel rising within them whenever they uncork a bottle of fine wine. ... Read more

Product Description
In this lyrical volume Robert R. Archibald explores a growing crisis of modern America: the dissolution of place that leads to a dangerous rupture of community. Community_born historically within the collective space of the town square where citizens come together to share stories and make meaning of their common histories_is dissipating as Americans are increasingly isolated from that shared space and are being submerged into an individualistic consumer monoculture with disregard for the common good. This volume examines how public history museums and historians can help restore community by offering a source of identity for people and their places, becoming a wellspring of community and an incubator of democracy, a consciousness of connection with a responsibility to those in our past and future. The New Town Square offers its readers a space to understand and celebrate the shared space of community, and is a vital resource for public historians and those interested in restoring the meaning of community. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

You may have heard all this before
As a museum professional, I was hoping this would be more about how museums can contribute to our cities and towns and less about how paradise has been lost. There are insights of true brilliance, but more often than not I found myself feeling like I've heard it all before.

For those who are looking for a book about the importance of place in our culture, this is probably worth the read. If you believe community is possible through new technology, I suggest "Here Comes Everybody" instead. ... Read more

Product Description
Noted travel author Jane Ockershausen once again hasprovided the short-on-time traveler with a collection of daytrips-this time through history.From prehistory to modern times,One-Day Trips through History directs travelers more than 200historical landmarks, museums, Indian reservations, colonial churches,parks, government buildings, historic homes, taverns, towns,battlefields, and industries-all within 150 of Washington, D.C.Whether you live in Washington or the surrounding area, or are justvisiting, Ockershausen's One-Day Trips through History introduces avariety of trips to allure all ages.She offers an unique approach toviewing the history of the Mid-Atlantic region, telling you not onlyhow to navigate through the past, but how to explore it.Ockershausenwill take you to authentic taverns to have a meal, or to aturn-of-the-century railroad to take a ride on a steam engine, makingit possible not only to view history, but to experience it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Nothing but a compilation of individual travel columns
This book was a big disappointment.It is nothing but a compilation of individual travel columns.Not user friendly if you're planning an exploration of the Washington DC area.

An informed and informative travel guide
Now in an updated and expanded second edition, Jane Ockershausen's One-Day Trips Through History is an impressive and "user friendly" compendium of more than two hundred museums, battlefields, plantations, colonial churches, monuments, historic homes, forts, and parks -- all within 150 miles of Washington, D.C. Perfect for weekend side trips and one-day "getaway" vacations, One-Day Trips Through History is ideal for planning chronological, geographical, or seasonal excursions to pivotal and notable places of interest with respect to American history ranging from the arrival of the first European colonists at Jamestown, Virginia, to the bloody battlefields of the Civil War, to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Enhanced with "user friendly" information on the recreational aspects of these various and diverse day-tripper options, One-Day Trips Through History is an informed and informative travel guide. ... Read more