Download or read book Dreaming of Cockaigne written by Herman Pleij and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2003-07-02 with total page 553 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Imagine a dreamland where roasted pigs wander about with knives in their backs to make carving easy, where grilled geese fly directly into one's mouth, where cooked fish jump out of the water and land at one's feet. The weather is always mild, the wine flows freely, sex is readily available, and all people enjoy eternal youth. Such is Cockaigne. Portrayed in legend, oral history, and art, this imaginary land became the most pervasive collective dream of medieval times-an earthly paradise that served to counter the suffering and frustration of daily existence and to allay anxieties about an increasingly elusive heavenly paradise. Illustrated with extraordinary artwork from the Middle Ages, Herman Pleij's Dreaming of Cockaigne is a spirited account of this lost paradise and the world that brought it to life. Pleij takes three important texts as his starting points for an inspired of the panorama of ideas, dreams, popular religion, and literary and artistic creation present in the late Middle Ages. What emerges is a well-defined picture of the era, furnished with a wealth of detail from all of Europe, as well as Asia and America. Pleij draws upon his thorough knowledge of medieval European literature, art, history, and folklore to describe the fantasies that fed the tales of Cockaigne and their connections to the central obsessions of medieval life.

Download or read book The Ten Thousand Things written by Maria Dermout and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2014-11-25 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set between Holland and a remote Indonesian island, this intimate magical realism novel offers “an offbeat narrative that has the timeless tone of a legend” (Time). “Dermoût’s sentences came at me like a soft knowing dagger, depicting a far-off land that felt to me like the blood of all the places I used to love.” —Cheryl Strayed, author of Wild The Ten Thousand Things is at once novel of shimmering strangeness—and familiarity. It is the story of Felicia, who returns with her baby son from Holland to the Spice Islands of Indonesia, to the house and garden that were her birthplace, over which her powerful grandmother still presides. There Felicia finds herself wedded to an uncanny and dangerous world, full of mystery and violence, where objects tell tales, the dead come and go, and the past is as potent as the present. First published in Holland in 1955, Maria Dermoût's novel was immediately recognized as a magical work, like nothing else Dutch—or European—literature had seen before. The Ten Thousand Things is an entranced vision of a far-off place that is as convincingly real and intimate as it is exotic, a book that is at once a lament and an ecstatic ode to nature and life.

Download or read book Captain Cook s Journal written by James Cook and published by CreateSpace. This book was released on 2015-04-09 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Captain Cook's Journal" from James Cook. British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the Royal Navy (1728-1779).

Download or read book Colonial Collections Revisited written by Pieter ter Keurs and published by Phoenix Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2007 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of colonial collecting is complex and full of contradictions. Collectors often appreciated the 'other' cultures where they obtained collections, but at the same time they had a close relationship with the colonial authorities who were willing to subjugate societies with military violence. This book addresses colonial collecting with examples from the Dutch East Indies and, by means of comparison, with a discussion about collecting in British India. Since the 1990s the phenomenon of collecting has become an important part of anthropological discourse. This development touches upon the foundations of the discipline, since it throws light on how the white colonizers dealt with local cultures, and thus on how the formation of the anthropological discourse took place. The study of collecting can help us to develop an anthropology of intentionality, instrumentality and desire, as Anthony Shelton argues in one of the contributions to this book. Objects do not stop 'to live' when collected. Margaret Wiener discusses the magic of the kris, which is influential even in Europe, far from the context in which the magic is created. Other chapters treat in detail the military entanglement with collecting in the Dutch East Indies. There is also attention for ethnographic collecting in the context of scholarly activities, particularly in the chapter by Ruth Barnes. The broad picture of colonial collecting ,as presented in this book, includes an analysis of the appropriation of the Indonesian Hindu-Buddhist culture by means of collecting Javanese antiquities, detailed descriptions of colonial wars (North Sumatra, South Sulawesi, Bali and Lombok) and a discussion of the cultural heritage of the Ethische Politiek. With contributions by Ruth Barnes, Francine Brinkgreve, Hari Budiarti, Brian Durrans, Wahyu Ernawati, Pieter ter Keurs, Susan Legêne, Pauline Lunsingh Scheurleer, Anthony Shelton, Harm Stevens, David Stuart-Fox and Margaret Wiener.

Download or read book Disasters and History written by Bas van Bavel and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2020-10-22 with total page 243 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Disasters and History offers the first comprehensive historical overview of hazards and disasters. Drawing on a range of case studies, including the Black Death, the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 and the Fukushima disaster, the authors examine how societies dealt with shocks and hazards and their potentially disastrous outcomes. They reveal the ways in which the consequences and outcomes of these disasters varied widely not only between societies but also within the same societies according to social groups, ethnicity and gender. They also demonstrate how studying past disasters, including earthquakes, droughts, floods and epidemics, can provide a lens through which to understand the social, economic and political functioning of past societies and reveal features of a society which may otherwise remain hidden from view. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Download or read book Handbook of Hazards and Disaster Risk Reduction written by Ben Wisner and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2012-03-29 with total page 1191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Handbook provides a comprehensive statement and reference point for hazard and disaster research, policy making, and practice in an international and multi-disciplinary context. It offers critical reviews and appraisals of current state of the art and future development of conceptual, theoretical and practical approaches as well as empirical knowledge and available tools. Organized into five inter-related sections, this Handbook contains sixty-five contributions from leading scholars. Section one situates hazards and disasters in their broad political, cultural, economic, and environmental context. Section two contains treatments of potentially damaging natural events/phenomena organized by major earth system. Section three critically reviews progress in responding to disasters including warning, relief and recovery. Section four addresses mitigation of potential loss and prevention of disasters under two sub-headings: governance, advocacy and self-help, and communication and participation. Section five ends with a concluding chapter by the editors. The engaging international contributions reflect upon the politics and policy of how we think about and practice applied hazard research and disaster risk reduction. This Handbook provides a wealth of interdisciplinary information and will appeal to students and practitioners interested in Geography, Environment Studies and Development Studies.

Download or read book The Cultural Life of Catastrophes and Crises written by Carsten Meiner and published by Walter de Gruyter. This book was released on 2012-10-30 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Catastrophes and crises are exceptions. They are disruptions of order. In various ways and to different degrees, they change and subvert what we regard as normal. They may occur on a personal level in the form of traumatic or stressful situations, on a social level in the form of unstable political, financial or religious situations, or on a global level in the form of environmental states of emergency. The main assumption in this book is that, in contrast to the directness of any given catastrophe and its obvious physical, economical and psychological consequences our understanding of catastrophes and crises is shaped by our cultural imagination. No matter in which eruptive and traumatizing form we encounter them, our collective repertoire of symbolic forms, historical sensibilities, modes of representation, and patterns of imagination determine how we identify, analyze and deal with catastrophes and crises.This book presents a series of articles investigating how we address and interpret catastrophes and crises in film, literature, art and theory, ranging from Voltaire’s eighteenth-century Europe, haunted by revolutions and earthquakes, to the 1994 genocide in Rwanda to the bleak, prophetic landscapes of Cormac McCarthy.

Download or read book Memory in Early Modern Europe 1500 1800 written by Judith Pollmann and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-08-05 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For early modern Europeans, the past was a measure of most things, good and bad. For that reason it was also hotly contested, manipulated, and far too important to be left to historians alone. Memory in Early Modern Europe offers a lively and accessible introduction to the many ways in which Europeans engaged with the past and 'practised' memory in the three centuries between 1500 and 1800. From childhood memories and local customs to war traumas and peacekeeping , it analyses how Europeans tried to control, mobilize and reconfigure memories of the past. Challenging the long-standing view that memory cultures transformed around 1800, it argues for the continued relevance of early modern memory practices in modern societies.

Download or read book Courtly Gardens in Holland 1600 1650 written by Vanessa Bezemer Sellers and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: New insight into garden design in Northern Europe in the 17th century. A wealth of hitherto unknown archival documentation from the period has resulted in a step by step reconstruction of various lost domains of the Orange family.

Download or read book Acts of God written by Theodore Steinberg and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2006-07-20 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This revised edition features a new chapter analyzing the failed response to Hurricane Katrina. Steinberg argues that it is wrong to see natural disasters as random outbursts of nature or expressions of divine judgment. He reveals how business and government decisions have paved the way for the greater losses of life and property.

Download or read book The Georgian Villa written by Dana Arnold and published by Alan Sutton Publishing. This book was released on 1996 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Published in association with the Georgian Group, a look at the Georgian villa in the British Isles, which addresses the architectural and intellectual themes of the villa, and the diversity of its design, location and use.

Download or read book Modern Art in the Common Culture written by Thomas Crow and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1996-01-01 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hoofdstukken over kunstenaars en kunstuitingen vormen het uitgangspunt van deze Studie over de relatie tussen avant-garde kunst en de massacultuur

Download or read book A Hundred Years of Photography 1839 1939 written by Lucia Moholy and published by . This book was released on 1939 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Pugin s Builder written by Patricia Spencer-Silver and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George Myers was one of the great Master Builders of the Victorian Age. Born in 'Hull in 1803, he gained renown as 'Pugin's Builder' and - from his workshops in Hull and then in London - directed a nationwide contracting business. Myers executed many of Pugin's buildings, such as cathedrals in Newcastle, Birmingham, Nottingham and Southwark and the Medieval Court for the Great Exhibition of 1851. In fact Myers undertook work for nearly 100 other architects. This included the original camp at Aldershot, military hospitals and the Staff College, Broadmoor Hospital and restoration work at the Guildhall, the Towers of London, Windsor Castle and extensive work for the Rothschilds. He died in London in 1875. This book, based on original research, provides a fascinating account of mid-19th century England and some of its most interesting figures. It contains hitherto unpublished drawings by Pugin.

Download or read book The Illustrated History of Natural Disasters written by Jan Kozák and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2010-03-14 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tells the story of the Earth itself, explaining the interplay of its gradual geologi- levolution, presented as a generally slow and safe process, with the sudden manifestations of natural hazards, which involve disasters that affect the environment and lead to huge material damage and human losses. The natural forces at play, whether they are violent explosions ofvolcanic eruptions or almost imperceptible deformations of subsurface rock strata, nally- sulting in devastating earthquakes, all control the existence and destiny of a certain part of the global population. The development of man’s existence down through history has depended upon his understanding of the world in which he lives, and upon his ability to turn to his own best use the materials that were there for the taking. However, he has had not only to furnish himself with food, water, building materials, and energy to protect himself against occasional natural adversities. Protecting himself from them meant comprehending their causes, and the essential core of his understanding was in recording and depicting them. This book is written for anyone interested in the Earth in general, and in natural disasters in particular, presenting a unique collection of historical illustrations of volcanic eruptions and earthquake events and their repercussions. The book represents a golden mean between sci- ti c and popular works.

Download or read book Local Places Global Processes written by Peter Coates and published by Windgather Press. This book was released on 2016-02-29 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: We live in an age of unprecedented environmental change: global, interconnected and universal. Yet though our lives are inextricably connected to global processes, and increasingly mobile, we still live in particular places. Our perceptions of change, and what kind of change might be for good or ill, are shaped by the interaction of localised experience and the wider forces of transformation. Local Places, Global Processes examines how these relationships have been shaped in Britain over time in three ways. First, through essays addressing influential ways of understanding and debating questions of ‘the state of nature’. These are complemented by case studies on conservation, landscape change and management, and how perceptions of environmental change have emerged or been discarded over time. Chapters also draw on a series of site-based workshops that brought together historians, landscape managers and artists to discuss and reflect on particular sites: Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire, owned by the National Trust and the first British nature reserve; the Quantock Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Somerset, England’s first AONB and a landscape enriched by Romantic association; and the landscape of Kielder Water and Forest, a land of superlatives in Northumberland in north-eastern England – the largest planted forest and artificial lake in northern Europe. The multi-disciplinary approach draws together the exchanges, artworks and writing assembled at these workshops and afterwards. This opens up how being in a place, and engaging with ideas attached to it, shape perceptions of the environment. It provides resources with which landscape managers can think about their tasks and engage various publics in discussion about future environments in light of these histories of place. Rather than a history of these three places, this is history written from them.

Download or read book Polite Landscapes written by Tom Williamson and published by . This book was released on 1995 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Parks and gardens in eighteenth-century England are usually seen as works of art created by individual geniuses like William Kent, Capability Brown and Humphry Repton. But this narrow view wasn't necessarily shared by contemporaries, and Tom Williamson in this thought-provoking book reveals that the aristocracy and gentry, who paid for these private landscapes and lived in them, were motivated by more complex interests and needs. Landowners had strong ideas of their own about how their property should look and how it should function. The park and garden were part of a working estate consisting of farms and forestry enterprises, and the surroundings of the country house were shaped to suit the requirements of hunting, shooting, riding and other recreational activities as well as to conform to the aesthetic principles of philosophers and landscape gardeners. Tom Williamson's pioneering study concentrates on the wider social, economic and political implications of these elaborate private landscapes. He emphasizes the practical relationship between the landowners who were demanding customers and the designers who were businessmen as well as artists. In the process he shows how changing fashions in the layout of gentlemen's pleasure grounds were related to broader currents of social and economic development in eighteenth-century England.