Download or read book The Annotated Mona Lisa written by Carol Strickland and published by Andrews McMeel Publishing. This book was released on 2007-10 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like music, art is a universal language. Although looking at works of art is a pleasurable enough experience, to appreciate them fully requires certain skills and knowledge." --Carol Strickland, from the introduction to The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern * This heavily illustrated crash course in art history is revised and updated. This second edition of Carol Strickland's The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern offers an illustrated tutorial of prehistoric to post-modern art from cave paintings to video art installations to digital and Internet media. * Featuring succinct page-length essays, instructive sidebars, and more than 300 photographs, The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern takes art history out of the realm of dreary textbooks, demystifies jargon and theory, and makes art accessible-even at a cursory reading. * From Stonehenge to the Guggenheim and from Holbein to Warhol, more than 25,000 years of art is distilled into five sections covering a little more than 200 pages.

Download or read book Future State Justice League written by Joshua Williamson and published by DC Comics. This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The first Future State collections are here! In the far-flung future, an all-new Justice League must investigate the mysterious death of their greatest foes-the Legion of Doom! The Justice League Dark emerges from years of hiding to fight the villainous force stalking supernatural heroes and villains alike! John Stewart and his band of abandoned Green Lanterns must hold the line against an invasion of murderous zealots in an uncharted dark sector after their rings have stopped working! Barry Allen battles for the soul of his former Flash partner, Wally West! And Jackson Hyde and Andy Curry, son of Black Manta and daughter of Aquaman, must find each other again after being torn apart if they hope to escape the mysterious universe-spanning One Great Ocean!

Download or read book Letters from Rifka written by Karen Hesse and published by Henry Holt and Company (BYR). This book was released on 2009-01-06 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Newbery media winner Karen Hesse comes an unforgettable story of an immigrant family's journey to America. "America," the girl repeated. "What will you do there?" I was silent for a little time. "I will do everything there," I answered. Rifka knows nothing about America when she flees from Russia with her family in 1919. But she dreams that in the new country she will at last be safe from the Russian soldiers and their harsh treatment of the Jews. Throughout her journey, Rifka carries with her a cherished volume of poetry by Alexander Pushkin. In it, she records her observations and experiences in the form of letters to Tovah, the beloved cousin she has left behind. Strong-hearted and determined, Rifka must endure a great deal: humiliating examinations by doctors and soldiers, deadly typhus, separation from all she has ever known and loved, murderous storms at sea, detainment on Ellis Island--and is if this is not enough, the loss of her glorious golden hair. Based on a true story from the author's family, Letters from Rifka presents a real-life heroine with an uncommon courage and unsinkable spirit.

Download or read book The Un Americans written by Joseph Litvak and published by Duke University Press. This book was released on 2009-11-25 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a bold rethinking of the Hollywood blacklist and McCarthyite America, Joseph Litvak reveals a political regime that did not end with the 1950s or even with the Cold War: a regime of compulsory sycophancy, in which the good citizen is an informer, ready to denounce anyone who will not play the part of the earnest, patriotic American. While many scholars have noted the anti-Semitism underlying the House Un-American Activities Committee’s (HUAC’s) anti-Communism, Litvak draws on the work of Theodor W. Adorno, Hannah Arendt, Alain Badiou, and Max Horkheimer to show how the committee conflated Jewishness with what he calls “comic cosmopolitanism,” an intolerably seductive happiness, centered in Hollywood and New York, in show business and intellectual circles. He maintains that HUAC took the comic irreverence of the “uncooperative” witnesses as a crime against an American identity based on self-repudiation and the willingness to “name names.” Litvak proposes that sycophancy was (and continues to be) the price exacted for assimilation into mainstream American culture, not just for Jews, but also for homosexuals, immigrants, and other groups deemed threatening to American rectitude. Litvak traces the outlines of comic cosmopolitanism in a series of performances in film and theater and before HUAC, performances by Jewish artists and intellectuals such as Zero Mostel, Judy Holliday, and Abraham Polonsky. At the same time, through an uncompromising analysis of work by informers including Jerome Robbins, Elia Kazan, and Budd Schulberg, he explains the triumph of a stoolpigeon culture that still thrives in the America of the early twenty-first century.

Download or read book Modern Magick written by Donald Michael Kraig and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2010-11-08 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For over two decades, Donald Michael Kraig's Modern Magick has been the world's most popular step-by-step guide to working real magick. Tens of thousands of individuals and groups have used this course as their primary instruction manual. Now, greatly revised and expanded, this set of lessons is more complete and relevant to your life than ever. Written with respect for the student, Modern Magick will safely guide you—even if you know little or nothing—through a progressive series of practical exercises and rituals, complemented by the knowledge, history, insights, and theory you need to become a successful ceremonial magician. Firmly rooted in the Western magickal tradition yet designed to be fully compatible with your contemporary practice, this book will help you attain full mastery of all core topics in magick: The inner mysteries of the Kabalah The most powerful rituals of magick How to create and perform your own rituals True meditation Magickal ethics Astral projection Tools of magick Evocation of spirits Pathworking Tantra and sex magick The importance of the Tarot Talismans and amulets Secrets of visualization Alchemy Psychic self-defense Healing rituals Filled with personal stories and helpful illustrations, along with updated and brand-new material, this new edition of Modern Magick features a completely new lesson that reveals the concepts, techniques, and rituals of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Chaos Magick, and Postmodern Magick. Ideal for beginning, intermediate, or advanced students, and perfect as a manual for magickal temples, this is essential reading for every true magician. "Modern Magick is a modern-day classic. It has become the standard textbook of practical magickal knowledge for magicians all over the world. We highly recommend it to beginner and adept alike."—Chic Cicero and Sandra Tabatha Cicero, authors of Experiencing the Kabbalah and Self-Initiation into the Golden Dawn Tradition

Download or read book The Fluxus Reader written by Ken Friedman and published by . This book was released on 1998-11-18 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Part I. Three histories : Developing a fluxable forum: Early performance & publishing / Owen Smith -- Fluxus, fluxion, flushoe: the 1970's / Simon Anderson -- Fluxus fortuna / Hannah Higgins -- Part II. Theories of Fluxus: Boredom and oblivion / Ina Blon -- Zen vaudeville: a medi(t)ation in the margins of Fluxus / David T. Doris -- Fluxus as a laboratory / Craig Saper -- Part III. Critical and historical perspectives: Fluxus history and trans-history: competing strategies for empowerment / Estera Milman -- Historical design and social purpose: a note on the relationship of Fluxus to modernism / Stephen C. Foster -- A spirit of large goals: fluxus, dada and postmodern cultural theory at two speeds -- Part IV. Three Fluxus voices : Transcript of the videotaped Interview with George Maciunas -- Selections from an interview with Billie Maciunas / Susan L. Jarosi -- Maybe Fluxus (a para-interrogative guide for the neoteric transmuter, tinder, tinker and totalist) / Larry Miller -- Part V. Two Fluxus theories : Fluxus : theory and reception / Dick Higgins -- Fluxus and company / Ken Friedman -- Part. VI-- Documents of Fluxus : Fluxus chronology : key moments and events -- A list of selected Fluxus art works and related primary source materials -- A list of selected Fluxus sources and related secondary sources.

Download or read book Renaissance Fun written by Philip Steadman and published by UCL Press. This book was released on 2021-04-13 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Renaissance Fun is about the technology of Renaissance entertainments in stage machinery and theatrical special effects; in gardens and fountains; and in the automata and self-playing musical instruments that were installed in garden grottoes. How did the machines behind these shows work? How exactly were chariots filled with singers let down onto the stage? How were flaming dragons made to fly across the sky? How were seas created on stage? How did mechanical birds imitate real birdsong? What was ‘artificial music’, three centuries before Edison and the phonograph? How could pipe organs be driven and made to play themselves by waterpower alone? And who were the architects, engineers, and craftsmen who created these wonders? All these questions are answered. At the end of the book we visit the lost ‘garden of marvels’ at Pratolino with its many grottoes, automata and water jokes; and we attend the performance of Mercury and Mars in Parma in 1628, with its spectacular stage effects and its music by Claudio Monteverdi – one of the places where opera was born. Renaissance Fun is offered as an entertainment in itself. But behind the show is a more serious scholarly argument, centred on the enormous influence of two ancient writers on these subjects, Vitruvius and Hero. Vitruvius’s Ten Books on Architecture were widely studied by Renaissance theatre designers. Hero of Alexandria wrote the Pneumatics, a collection of designs for surprising and entertaining devices that were the models for sixteenth and seventeenth century automata. A second book by Hero On Automata-Making – much less well known, then and now – describes two miniature theatres that presented plays without human intervention. One of these, it is argued, provided the model for the type of proscenium theatre introduced from the mid-sixteenth century, the generic design which is still built today. As the influence of Vitruvius waned, the influence of Hero grew.

Download or read book Seeing the Soviet Union written by Inturist (Firm) and published by Hassell Street Press. This book was released on 2021-09-09 with total page 52 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Download or read book The Humble Little Condom written by Aine Collier and published by Prometheus Books. This book was released on 2010-05 with total page 371 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most basic and ancient forms of birth control is the condom. The story of this humble piece of paraphernalia is full of intriguing insights into human character with all its flaws and foibles as well as many fascinating historical details.

Download or read book Grimoire For The Apprentice Wizard written by Oberon Zell-Ravenheart and published by Red Wheel/Weiser. This book was released on 2004-02-04 with total page 1062 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Here is the book Merlin could have given a young Arthur . . . if only it had existed. Out of the millions of Harry Potter fans worldwide, there are tens of thousands who want to really do the magical things J.K. Rowling writes about. But would-be wizards must rely on information passed down from wizard elders. Is there a Hogwarts anywhere in the real world? A real Albus Dumbledore? Where is the book these aspiring wizards need? Luckily for all those fans, Oberon Zell-Ravenheart, today’s foremost genuine wizard, has written the essential handbook. What’s more, he has gathered some of the greatest names in Wicca—including Ellen Evert Hopman, Raymond Buckland, Raven Grimassi, Patricia Telesco, Jesse Wolf Hardin, Morning Glory Zell-Ravenheart, and many more into a modern-day “Grey Council” to publish for the first time everything an aspiring wizard needs to know. Lurking within the pages of Grimoire for the Apperntice Wizard are: Biographies of famous wizards of history and legend Detailed descriptions of magickal tools and regalia (with full instructions for making them) Rites and rituals for special occasions A bestiary of mythical creatures The Laws of Magick Myths and stories of gods and heroes Lore and legends of the stars and constellations Instruction for performing amazing illusions, special effects, and many other wonders of the magical multiverse Praise forGrimoire for the Apprentice Wizard “I can’t think of a better, more qualified person to write a Handbook for Apprentice Wizards. Oberon is a Wizard.” —Raymond Bucklland, author of Buckland’s Complete Book of Witchcraft “Oberon is not only extremely learned in the magickal arts but he communicates that knowledge with wit and charm.” —Fiona Horne, author of Witch: A Magickal Journey and star of Mad, Mad, Mad House

Download or read book The Art of Watching Films written by Joseph M. Boggs and published by McGraw-Hill College. This book was released on 2008 with total page 553 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Accompanying CD-ROM provides short film clips that reinforce the key concepts and topics in each chapter.

Download or read book Asian Material Culture written by Marianne Hulsbosch and published by Amsterdam University Press. This book was released on 2009 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This richly illustrated volume offers the reader unique insight into the materiality of Asian cultures and the ways in which objects and practices can simultaneously embody and exhibit aesthetic and functional characteristics, as well as everyday and spiritual aspirations. Though each chapter is representative, rather than exhaustive, in its portrayal of Asian material culture, together they clearly demonstrate that objects are entities that resonate with discourses of human relationships, personal and group identity formations, ethics, values, trade, and, above all, distinctive futures.

Download or read book Androgyny in Modern Literature written by T. Hargreaves and published by Springer. This book was released on 2004-11-10 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Androgyny in Modern Literature engages with the ways in which the trope of androgyny has shifted during the late nineteenth and twentieth-centuries. Alchemical, platonic, sexological, psychological and decadent representations of androgyny have provided writers with an icon which has been appropriated in diverse ways. This fascinating new study traces different revisions of the psycho-sexual, embodied, cultural and feminist fantasies and repudiations of this unstable but enduring trope across a broad range of writers from the fin de siècle to the present.

Download or read book The Trumpet of the Swan written by E. B. White and published by HarperCollins UK. This book was released on 2015-03-17 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The much-loved children’s classic from the author of Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, available in eBook for the very first time!

Download or read book The Complete Idiot s Guide to Songwriting written by Joel Hirschhorn and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive book for today's amateur musician interested in creating and writing his or her own songs, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Songwriting, Second Edition, is the most complete and up-to-date book available. Beating coverage from other series competition, Oscar-winning (and Grammy and Tony award nominated) author Joel Hirschhorn shares his firsthand knowledge of coming up with ideas, rhyming schemes, hooks, melodies, lyrics, and even titles - everything readers need to create their own hit songs! This new edition features coverage of the music business along with the ins and outs of selling a song including working with publishers, producers, artists, managers, accountants, agents, and even attorneys. Best of all, this newest edition features special chapters on genre songwriting - with all new coverage of Latin music, Rock/Blues, Children's music, writing for television, film, and more.

Download or read book Kingdom Coming written by Michelle Goldberg and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2007-03-27 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A potent wakeup call to pluralists in the coming showdown with Christian nationalists."—Publishers Weekly, starred review Michelle Goldberg, a senior political reporter for Salon.com, has been covering the intersection of politics and ideology for years. Before the 2004 election, and during the ensuing months when many Americans were trying to understand how an administration marked by cronyism, disregard for the national budget, and poorly disguised self-interest had been reinstated, Goldberg traveled through the heartland of a country in the grips of a fevered religious radicalism: the America of our time. From the classroom to the mega-church to the federal court, she saw how the growing influence of dominionism-the doctrine that Christians have the right to rule nonbelievers-is threatening the foundations of democracy. In Kingdom Coming, Goldberg demonstrates how an increasingly bellicose fundamentalism is gaining traction throughout our national life, taking us on a tour of the parallel right-wing evangelical culture that is buoyed by Republican political patronage. Deep within the red zones of a divided America, we meet military retirees pledging to seize the nation in Christ's name, perfidious congressmen courting the confidence of neo-confederates and proponents of theocracy, and leaders of federally funded programs offering Jesus as the solution to the country's social problems. With her trenchant interviews and the telling testimonies of the people behind this movement, Goldberg gains access into the hearts and minds of citizens who are striving to remake the secular Republic bequeathed by our founders into a Christian nation run according to their interpretation of scripture. In her examination of the ever-widening divide between believers and nonbelievers, Goldberg illustrates the subversive effect of this conservative stranglehold nationwide. In an age when faith rather than reason is heralded and the values of the Enlightenment are threatened by a mystical nationalism claiming divine sanction, Kingdom Coming brings us face to face with the irrational forces that are remaking much of America.

Download or read book On Being Female Black and Free written by Margaret Walker and published by Univ Tennessee Press. This book was released on 1997 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These highly personal essays, written over the course of six decades, reveal the woman as well as the artist, capturing the independent creative spirit of this literary icon. In accessible and stirring prose, Walker speaks directly about her own experiences - such as growing up in a deeply religious home, living in the Jim Crow South, marrying and raising a family, and becoming a civil rights activist. These essays also offer Walker's critical perspectives on a wide range of topics, from the role of the black woman artist to the distinctiveness of African American cultural life and to the importance of education in the fight for political change. Maryemma Graham's introduction provides a historical context for the essays, placing Walker's work within the African American literary canon. Walker reflects on the numerous poets and writers she has known over the years, including Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, Carson McCullers, and Richard Wright. A work of broad general appeal, On Being Female, Black, and Free offers a powerful introduction to the work of an essential American literary figure.