Vast Expanses

""Helen M. Rozwadowski offers a sweeping account of the ocean's past and a model for an engaged “ocean history” that places the sea in the heart of our human past . . . Vast Expanses not only challenges the notion of the ocean as a timeless place immune to human action, but it also situates that conception in the evolution of people’s dynamic relationship with the sea . . . More significantly, Vast Expanses makes an impassioned, compelling case that a humanistic understanding of the ocean “can form the foundation for positive change” . . . This book deserves wide readership."" - The Mariner's Mirror ""The Last of the Light is both a celebration of and inquiry into the significance of temperature and skies, especially at this time of year, when we are in the twilight of the seasons . . . Davidson takes us to places that are vast and lovely as well as somehow underlit and shadowy, where a kind of emptiness and uncertainty prevails . . . He loves the lost, the fading, the fugitive as Robert Macfarlane, in his Landmarks, quoted Davidsons word back to him. Here exactly is the tone and spirit of this book, ideas illuminated on the pages and in illustrations and colour plates which encourage our eyesight to become acute in the way it is at the end of the day, seeing everything so clearly before it falls back into shadow, for now one last hour, one hour more."" - Kirsty Gunn, The Guardian ""[a] stimulating new book, The Sumerians, the latest contribution to the Lost Civilizations series. . . The Sumerians, for all their doubtful status as a formal society, have a remarkable list of achievements to their credit. Besides being the world’s earliest attested civilization in the fourth millennium BCE, they invented cuneiform – the world’s earliest writing – and the sexagesimal system of mathematics. Their cities, such as Uruk and Ur, were the headquarters of the world’s earliest city-states, with bureaucracies, legal codes, divisions of labor, and a money economy . . . a civilization made vivid by Collins’s clear and expert text."" - Science ""In this elegantly written and illustrated book, Elizabeth Alice Honig explores the discursive nature of Pieter Bruegel’s art . . . the book offers an encyclopaedic investigation of the myriad human conditions Bruegel masterfully captured in his oeuvre and the cultural and social concerns to which they spoke . . . a thorough work of scholarship that argues that Bruegel conceived of his works as pieces to provoke and promote contemplation and discussion – whether that be with oneself or between others – about the idea of human nature . . . An enjoyable read, Honig’s book encourages us not only to reflect on the many conversations that Bruegel’s art could have engendered, but also to use his work to explore our own ways of understanding human nature.'"" - Renaissance and Reformation ""In this thoroughly researched and illustrated history, Paul Atkinson traces the design and development of the electric guitar from invention to international mass production . . . The book is packed with colour photos and contemporary adverts – Atkinson has tracked down some rare images . . . The book offers an exhaustive and attractive discussion of a classic of modern design."" - The Wire ""[Barnes's] lively and clear prose is certainly appropriate for non-specialists; however, Barnes's emphasis on Michelangelo's process of thematization offers even to specialists a provocative model for reconsidering the artist's corpus . . . In the course of examining the many ways in which viewership shaped Michelangelo's designs throughout his career, Barnes's study presents all of the artist's major works in roughly chronological order. The book also presupposes little knowledge of the Renaissance, and clearly explains basic terms such as tondo and cangiante with lucid prose and seventy illustrations (fifty-five which are in color). Nonetheless, in her rich development of the theme of artistic thematization, Barnes's nuanced depiction of Michelangelo's intellect also makes the book a worthwhile read for scholars of the Italian Renaissance."" - Sixteenth Century Journal ""In The Medieval Guide to Healthy Living, Katherine Harvey offers a clearly written, lively exposé of medieval ideas about, and practices for, health and wellness that challenge our modern misconceptions of the era. At times serious but often infused with humour, Harvey’s work reminds us that concern for our health, and taking action to protect it, is part of what makes us human, even if our understanding of how the body works has changed over the centuries."" - Lori Jones, Adjunct Professor, University of Ottawa, and author of Patterns of Plague: Changing Ideas about Plague in England and France, 1348–1750 ""A timely and useful oceancentric natural history of the ocean–human relationship. Human understanding of the oceans, which cover much of the surface of the earth, is historically weak . . . Until recently, it was assumed that ocean resources were inexhaustible, especially the bounty of fish and marine mammals, and that garbage and chemical waste dumped into oceans would just disappear. The idea that burning fossil fuels could raise ocean temperatures was unthinkable . . . [and] bad science continued to support uncontrolled exploitation of the seas, even after the rise of the ecological movement of the latter half of the twentieth century. Rozwadowski thoroughly brings readers up-to-date on these essential issues of marine exploration, research and the environment."" - Booklist ""Out of This World is a journey across a century of human spaceflight dreams, development and reality, recording both the triumphs and tragedies along the way. An engaging account of the selection, training and experiences of those chosen few who have dared to leave the planet and encountered the challenges of living, working and surviving in the ultimate hostile environment."" - David J. Shayler, astronautical historian and author of Gemini 5: Eight Days in Space or Bust ""In this lavishly illustrated book, the author offers us a fresh view of the Ming as a dynastic enterprise. We emerge from it with a new sense of how the political arena was shaped by the workings of the sprawling clan at its heart, continuously sprouting new branches of imperial princes, calculating advantageous marriages, and frequently afflicted by brutal violence. It gives due weight to the importance of women as well as men, and of the dead as well as the living. Sons of Heaven is distinguished by its sense of the strangeness of the past, its eye for discreet but telling deployment of inter-disciplinary insights, and its engagement with the broader vistas of global history."" - Alan Strathern, Professor of Global History, University of Oxford ""a succinct and readily accessible account of the history and key issues associated with chemical and biological weapons from World War I to the present . . . an excellent overview of an often underappreciated segment of 20th- and 21st-century security studies . . . It deserves the thoughtful attention of both students and professionals."" - Military Review ""A valuable survey of a complex and extremely sensitive subject"" - Times Literary Supplement ""An invaluable resource for even the most laissez-faire of fans."" - Seven Magazine, Sunday Telegraph ""Clunas is the be applauded for trying to bring modern theories of art into the discussion of Chinese art history."" - Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies ""Esther Leslie soars where many of her contemporaries fall flat. In On Photography: Walter Benjamin, Leslie has produced an attractive, erudite, readable yet sophisticated work on Benjamin . . . Leslies stellar work may be described as comprising the most comprehensive treatment thus far of Benjamins engagement with photography . . . Leslie provides a substantial overview of Benjamin followed by short introductions to his diverse writings about photography, both published and unpublished. One of the novel features of this book is Leslies fine translation of Benjamins Short History of Photography (1931), which overlaps many of the ideas in his more famous work of art essay . . . Esther Leslies next turn in Walter Benjamin scholarship is to focus on him as storyteller, which is likely to yield books and articles at least as superb as her current work on Benjamin and photography."" - Jewish Quarterly ""One of the most beautiful books I&#39ve read . . . Davidson&#39s taste is both baroque and ascetic his prose is correspondingly extravagant and refined. This is cultural history at its very best, unfolding new maps of imagination."" - Alexandra Harris, author of Weatherland ""one of the most beautiful books I&#39ve read . . . Davidson&#39s taste is both baroque and ascetic his prose is correspondingly extravagant and refined. This is cultural history at its very best, unfolding new maps of imagination."" - Alexandra Harris, author of Weatherland ""Post-structural writing this is not and that’s where its freshness lies."" - Modern Painters ""The object of this book is to diffuse myths. If modernism has, in the past, been both absurdly praised and absurdly damned, Modernism in Design seeks to lift it out of this cycle, and to demonstrate that the modern movement could offer neither Jerusalem nor Babylon . . . In this, the book succeeds admirably."" - Designers Journal ""This short volume, wittily illustrated and beautifully designed, is a pleasure both to look at and to consume. Which, given the subject matter, seems fitting."" - The Spectator ""Work has done a fine job directing the spotlight toward an object that seems to beg for inattention. Although much diminished from their peak a century ago, coopers are today thriving again with American bourbon makers clamoring for new casks. (Federal regulations require that anything labeled bourbon be aged in new oak casks). The number of craft spirits producers has also surged in the past decade, and barrels are suddenly in short supply. Among vintners, high-quality barrels also remain in high demand, although makers of cheaper wines have embraced workarounds, including the use of oak chips and short planks placed in stainless steel tanks. Work offers a breezy tour through all this and more. When you reach the end of this book, I can pretty much guarantee you won't think of barrels the same way again. Next time you pass a geranium planter made from an old whiskey barrel cleaved in two, take a moment to pause and pay your respects. This was the container that built America."" - Wall Street Journal ""A brilliant digest of Benjamins life . . . It draws on a mass of texts, including his accounts of a privileged Berlin upbringing and travel diaries. [Leslie] presents a definitive portrait of Benjamin the materialist, lingers on his obsession with childrens books, and makes excellent use of German sources to detail his movements and finances."" - The Independent ""a deeply researched and beautifully written survey of the concept of north in legend, history and the arts, and in the psyche of northern people. Ice and snow feature often."" - Daily Telegraph ""A masterpiece . . . The Idea of North reminded me of Paul Fussells The Great War and Modern Memory in taking a vast and shifting subject and reducing it to clarity, radically changing the way we look at a history . . . it is hard to imagine writing a better book within the terms Davidson has set for himself . . . beyond being merely clever or wise: a beautiful book. He ends with a magnificent couple of pages entitled Keeping the Twilight a description, from his study, of the fading hours of the northern winter day. His last two sentences are perfect abstract expressionist description of North."" - Scottish Review of Books ""A sparkling history of the worlds greatest wine. Stories, pictures and mouth-watering cocktails"" - The Lady ""a welcome addition to the growing literature on this fascinating thinker."" - Slavic and East European Journal ""there is plenty in the book of interest, and not just for the many fans of wine and whiskey . . . Henry Work sets out to demonstrate the technological, cultural and economic importance of barrels from their development, probably before 500 BC, to their ubiquity for storage and transport from the Middle Ages until the early 20th century . . . Wood, whiskey and wine provide a snappy alliterative title and happen also to be Work's own direct experience he is a cooper who has worked in the vineyards of Napa Valley, Kentucky whiskey distilleries (he knows to spell it without the e when talking about the drinkable stuff) and in New Zealand."" - The Spectator ""This concise work, with its extensive references and bibliography, will be of interest to all students and professionals in the fields of history, political science, public policy, toxicology, and chemical technology. Recommended."" - Choice ""This is by no means just a contribution to the history of art, but deserves to reach a much wider readership"" - Apollo ""While this collection of essays is aimed primarily at design historians and students of design history, hard-pressed practising designers and architects should make room for it on their bookshelves."" - Design ""[A] cogent and enjoyable new study . . . Chapman proves to be an enthusiastic guide."" - Times Literary Supplement ""The vivid details of the lives of Ming dynasty emperors (1368–1644), in contemporary records and rare illustrations, offer us today a unique view of China’s rulers, whose world, hidden in their palaces, could not be seen or imagined by their subjects. Craig Clunas’s exemplary but also extraordinary account reveals the texture of their daily encounters and observations, embedded in a period and culture of which we know still far too little. These emperors remind us too of the sophistication of their immense territory, as it began to enter the imaginations of Europeans."" - Jessica Rawson, Professor of Chinese Art and Archaeology, University of Oxford ""The book is an impressive accomplishment – an incredibly comprehensive and detailed, yet compact, account of human spaceflight. I was moved by the attention to detail, especially in the accounts of the tragic accidents and near accidents. Human spaceflight is equally a triumphant example of human creativity and tenacity and of humbling experiences in which lives have been lost and lessons learned to enable the next generation of explorers."" - Jennifer Fogarty, former Chief Scientist for NASA’s Human Research Program ""Vast Expanses is thought-provoking, intelligent, entertaining, and yet still compact. It could be read in a graduate seminar or on a beach holiday. Professor Rozwadowski has written a great book on an important subject, and it is anything but a dry history!"" - Kurkpatrick Dorsey, Associate Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire and author of Whales and Nations: Environmental Diplomacy on the High Seas ""With this illuminating monograph, Barnes offers at once a full professional biography of Michelangelo Buonarroti, a survey and history of his works from commission through creation to reception, a study of the artist's understanding of vision and his use of perspective, and a profound sense of the viewer in his day. Michelangelo emerges from the pages of this rich volume as an artist with palpably deep and wide-ranging concerns about the reception of his creative production, from installation and physical viewing through interpretation and afterlife. Barnes addresses them all in this comprehensive study . . . It is a distinct pleasure – here as elsewhere – to see Michelangelo's works through Barnes's uniquely sensitive and well-trained eyes. Michelangelo and the Viewer in His Time is a scintillating and welcome addition to the field."" - Renaissance and Reformation ""There are plenty of books on electric guitars but very few consider them as industrial design products. Yet models such as the Fender Stratocaster or Gibson's Flying V have become part of the visual language of contemporary culture, bizarrely enduring designs that seem somehow not to have dated."" - Edwin Heathcote, Financial Times ""In this detailed and very readable book, Alice Honing explores how people perceived human nature. Bruegel’s success is to show us how insignificant we are throughout a life that throws everything at us; a great artist’s work is able to speak for every generation and in Bruegel we learn how to fully understand our own fragile humanity. Full of beautiful illustrations, this is a book that will surprise and entertain you.' – Yorkshire Gazette and Herald 'Bruegel’s paintings are conversation pieces depicting ordinary people rather than heroic figures, and they reveal human nature through proverbs and morals. Influenced by humanist scholars, Bruegel visualized philosophical ideas for people outside the academic world, and his prints and paintings depict folk tales and historical adages, sometimes in humorous form, that were important to civic education. He showed physical features that reveal inner character, utilizing a repertoire of human personality traits found in physiognomy books. Books such as Juan Luis Vives’s On Assistance to the Poor, published in Bruges in 1526, confirmed people’s distrust of the disabled and poor as lazy, dishonest, and punished by God, yet in The Fight Between Carnival and Lent (1559) Bruegel shows the beginnings of a desire to keep social order through charity by bringing the marginalized to the center of his works. In Utopia (1516) Thomas More first suggested that those who mock are the disfigured. Honig’s thorough readings of Bruegel’s paintings give fresh interpretation of this idea. Recommended.'"" - Choice ""In this fascinating monograph, Collins provides a thought-provoking study of the Sumerians as representing the most ancient of all civilizations. Instead of presenting a traditional descriptive account, Collins explores how archaeological and textual sources were used over the past 150 years to construct multiple and often-conflicting notions of the ancient land called Sumer and the people who became known as the Sumerians . . . Well-written, well-illustrated, and well-documented, this volume will be of great interest to both scholars and students. Highly recommended."" - Choice ""These days, youd expect an author just to google twilight and pile up everything he finds. Not Davidson this is a deep and personal meditation, and while some references, particularly to painters, might be obvious Atkinson Grimshaw, Caspar David Friedrich, Whistler most are not . . . Davidson ranges right across the disciplines in his search for allusions, citing Ruskin, Rilke, Chopin, Kant and Vanbrugh along the way. The result is revealing, poetic and (unavoidably) illuminating. As a bonus, the book is beautifully and copiously illustrated."" - The Independent ""This engagingly written, meticulously researched, and carefully reasoned examination of the significance of Earth's oceans provides a valuable introduction not only to their geologic past but also to the role humans have played in discovering them, understanding them, and politicizing them. Intimately familiar with every dimension of this topic and the current literature, Rozwadowski places the subject in its appropriate geological, biological, historical, and environmental context. The diverse paths by which the human community began to find its way upon the seas and explore their depths is succinctly delineated. The discovery and exploitation of new lands, in particular the Trans-Mississippi West, is used as a historical counterpoint to examine and challenge many assumptions about the role the seas may play in helping humanity confront the challenges of feeding an ever-increasing global population by depending on its ability to farm the oceans for their (supposedly) inexhaustible marine resources."" - Choice ""What a treasure trove this book is . . . Davidsons beautiful and scholarly chapters are an exploration of a passion for twilight . . . beautiful and deeply nostalgic . . . Davidson has given twilight the shrine it deserves."" - Adam Nicolson, Country Life ""[a] masterful new book . . . The book is well-organized, highly readable, and thoughtfully authoritative, making it equally useful for academic historians interested in her call to take ocean history seriously and for those less expert, including both undergraduates and general readers . . . Vast Expanses provides a stimulating rethinking of our approach to the oceans and an important addition both to the growing body of scholarship on ocean history and to the broader fields on which it touches."" - Technology and Culture ""In his landscapes, views of peasant life, and biblical scenes, sixteenth-century Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel the Elder focused on daily rituals of labor and pleasure. His wry works, often portraying workers in the fields or citizens going about their business in Antwerp or Brussels, emphasize the futility of ambition and the absurdity of pride.' – Art in America 'In his own time, Pieter Bruegel’s art has been praised as the ultimate achievement in the representation of nature . . . Elizabeth Honig’s book is the first to make us realize that this appraisal pertains to the representation of human nature of the people surrounding him – workers in the field, citizens of Antwerp and Brussels, noblemen, children, mercenaries, lepers, religious dignitaries, art lovers, humanists and the like – and of humanity in general, inward and outward woman and man included. Bruegel’s own personality and convictions, she writes, largely remain opaque, but it is thanks to Honig’s marvellous descriptions of some of Bruegel’s most renowned pictures that our eyes are opened to both the ‘idea of nature’ as people conceived of it in his time, but also to Bruegel’s personal, deeply perceptive ideas about human nature.' – Reindert Falkenburg, Professor of Early Modern Art and Culture, NYU Abu Dhabi 'Eloquently and effectively, Elizabeth Honig fulfills the promise of her title with a fresh, close look at Bruegel, amongst contemporaries, within his tumultuous era. She clearly articulates how the artist examined themes concerning basic human nature across his career. But in the process, she reminds us that while this thoughtful, engaged man laughed at the vices and follies of all humankind, like Democritus, he also, self-consciously, ultimately left us mute images to interpret alone.'"" - Larry Silver, Professor Emeritus of History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, USA, and author of Rembrandt's Holland ""There are many, many competing claims and myths about original electric guitar designs. Atkinson set himself the task of picking carefully through the evidence. OK, this is not a book you’ll be buying your aunty for Christmas, but the stories behind your favorite axes and why some never became favorites is why this is an interesting read!"" - Mixdown Magazine ""This book is not only worth reading, it has the necessary ingredients to remind contemporary Michelangelo scholars of a desirable style of writing and research that places clarity of expression and concepts above the conceit of cleverness . . . The scope of Barnes's inquiry, both chronologically and thematically, is ambitious. The clarity of her prose is crystalline . . . A hybrid of the best sort . . . Barnes masterfully negotiates the mountainous primary and secondary literature on Michelangelo with enviable grace, without encumbering her text with an equally mountainous cadre of footnotes and citations . . . With ample color images and silky prose, Barnes accomplishes a difficult feat. She provides a broad overview of Michelangelo's art perceived through the lens of the viewer in Michelangelo's time, simultaneously presenting fresh perspectives that even Tolnay would admire. The book is scholarly and accessible. But perhaps most importantly, it is simply a pleasure to read."" - James P. Anno, Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte, Naples, CAA Reviews ""This is an important book . . . a vital and thought-provoking contribution to the study of the ancient Middle East, and is written in such a way that readers beyond those working in the field will also find it accessible. The book is attractively laid out, with beautiful color illustrations and the text formatted in a clear, readable font."" - Amanda H. Podany, Journal of the American Oriental Society ""This engagingly written, meticulously researched, and carefully reasoned examination of the significance of Earth's oceans provides a valuable introduction not only to their geologic past but also to the role humans have played in discovering them, understanding them, and politicizing them. Intimately familiar with every dimension of this topic and the current literature, Rozwadowski places the subject in its appropriate geological, biological, historical, and environmental context. The diverse paths by which the human community began to find its way upon the seas and explore their depths is succinctly delineated. The discovery and exploitation of new lands, in particular the Trans-Mississippi West, is used as a historical counterpoint to examine and challenge many assumptions about the role the seas may play in helping humanity confront the challenges of feeding an ever-increasing global population by depending on its ability to farm the oceans for their (supposedly) inexhaustible marine resources."" - Choice ""This innovative, beautifully illustrated book narrates the history of the Ming dynasty in an emperor-by-emperor format that interweaves personal, familial, and dynastic history. Rigorously researched, it uncovers how individual emperors shaped politics (and vice versa), thereby revealing the palace events and machinations of the Ming in Anglophone prose."" - Jennifer Purtle, Associate Professor of Chinese and East Asian Art History, University of Toronto ""Work. an American cooper now living in New Zealand, writes intimately of his metier and materials, starting with early evidence of the barrel's invention among the Celts . . . Sections on how staves are made – often sawn when the material is American oak, or split when it's European – feel like lessons from a master craftsman."" - TLS ""provides a compelling case for governments across the globe not to overlook the potential threat of biological and chemical weapons . . . the book is more than just a history of these weapons, but also an important addition to the literature on the types of threat we are likely to face in the future . . . an important reminder of the substantial destructive and psychological power of chemical and biological weapons, as well as an accessible history about how states have thought about their use and utility in the past."" - Political Studies Review ""Lets hope that Misler’s fine work becomes standard reading . . ."" - Slavonica ""A masterpiece . . . The Idea of North reminded me of Paul Fussells The Great War and Modern Memory in taking a vast and shifting subject and reducing it to clarity, radically changing the way we look at a history . . . it is hard to imagine writing a better book within the terms Davidson has set for himself . . . beyond being merely clever or wise: a beautiful book. He ends with a magnificent couple of pages entitled Keeping the Twilight a description, from his study, of the fading hours of the northern winter day. His last two sentences are perfect abstract expressionist description of North."" - Scottish Review of Books ""Champagne is an invaluable complement to a glass of bubbly as well as an informative, elegant gift for all wine lovers."" - Intermezzo ""[the north] is roamed in fascinating, suggestive fashion . . . Davidson is as interesting writing about snow sculptures and 17th-century paintings of the Arctic as he is about Auden, and his reading of the imaginary land of Zembla in Nabokov&#39s Pale Fire as an eternal, symbolic north is highly evocative . . . [a] lovely book"" - The Guardian ""James Chapman has penned the first truly scholarly survey of the origins and development of comics in Britain . . . a solidly researched piece of cultural history"" - The Comics Journal ""many surprises to be found in this collection of essays . . . Quirky, passionate and always interesting"" - Slavic and East European Journal ""Henry H. Work, a cooper himself since the 70s, takes us through the two millennia-long story of cooperage from the birth of the trade to the evolution from bucket to barrel to its function in beverage to the uncertain future of the craft. This is an interesting and thorough look at the modest containers significant role in history. Its sure to give any beer, wine, or whiskey enthusiast a serious (metaphorical) rager."" - Craft Magazine (US) ""From the Old Norse sagas to the fairytales of Hans Christian Andersen, from the films of Bergman to the paintings of Eric Ravilious, from Nabakovs Zembla to Simon Armitages Yorkshire, [Davidson] finds that the north is a breeding ground for ghosts, a place of exile and punishment, the antithesis of the human. Yet its bleak landscapes have inspired poetry of great beauty: ice, crystal, diamond and glass all blur in recurring images . . . Davidson never lets his learning cloud his enthusiasm for this wide and protean subject and his writing shares the awe of the poets who preceded him on this journey."" - The Observer ""an entertaining look at the worlds most celebratory beverage. Pop a cork and enjoy a fl&#251te of our favorite bubbly while brushing up on champagne lore."" - The Tasting Panel ""a fascinating exploration . . . a tour around the imagination and makes remarkable observations."" - The Herald (Glasgow) ""a comprehensive overview of the development, future, and implications of biological and chemical weapons. Spiers book traces the origins of chemical and biological warfare from their ancient beginnings to the first major use of gas in 1915 in World War I, to more recent uses and suspicions of use."" - Arms Control ""Barnes presents a lucid, readable, and jargon-free account of Michelangelos art with a particular emphasis on understanding it in light of his viewers. The book provides a concise, reliable history of Michelangelos major works and the Renaissance context in which it was produced. Well illustrated, with many color plates, it is a welcome addition to the Michelangelo literature and students will be well served by this up-to-date and reasoned approach."" - Victor Coonin, The James F. Ruffin Professor of Art History, Rhodes College ""A timely and useful oceancentric natural history of the ocean–human relationship. Human understanding of the oceans, which cover much of the surface of the earth, is historically weak . . . Until recently, it was assumed that ocean resources were inexhaustible, especially the bounty of fish and marine mammals, and that garbage and chemical waste dumped into oceans would just disappear. The idea that burning fossil fuels could raise ocean temperatures was unthinkable . . . [and] bad science continued to support uncontrolled exploitation of the seas, even after the rise of the ecological movement of the latter half of the twentieth century. Rozwadowski thoroughly brings readers up-to-date on these essential issues of marine exploration, research and the environment."" - Booklist ""A highly readable, fully authoritative account of all aspects of the ways of life of the Sumerians, one of the most important peoples of the ancient world. Paul Collins also covers the issue of the discovery and rediscovery of the Sumerians very effectively, bringing to life not just the Sumerians themselves but also the early travellers and antiquarians who first engaged with them. The book, too, is superbly illustrated."" - Roger Matthews, Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology, University of Reading ""Helen M. Rozwadowski offers a sweeping account of the ocean's past and a model for an engaged “ocean history” that places the sea in the heart of our human past . . . Vast Expanses not only challenges the notion of the ocean as a timeless place immune to human action, but it also situates that conception in the evolution of people’s dynamic relationship with the sea . . . More significantly, Vast Expanses makes an impassioned, compelling case that a humanistic understanding of the ocean “can form the foundation for positive change” . . . This book deserves wide readership."" - The Mariner's Mirror ""New to paperback, British Comics: A Cultural History examines the history of these beloved artefacts of childhood, from the Victorian era to the present."" - Simon Evans, Choice ""Atkinson seeks to explain the complicated history of the electric guitar – complicated because of the burden of mythology, legend, contradictory statements, and inaccurate dating attached to the instrument. To make sense of the mess, Atkinson did extensive research, conducted interviews, and delved into oral histories . . . The book includes numerous diagrams/patents, and photographs of various electric guitar models help the reader understand which model is under discussion. Recommended."" - Choice ""Peter Davidson&#39s intricate meditation on twilight in European art and literature . . . is at once richly satisfying and as elusive as a ghost . . . Like all good writers, he reveals the sheer strangeness of much that our eyes usually slide over."" - Literary Review ""Peter Davidson enters the twilight zone, tracing the crepuscular in science, psychology, history and the arts. Considering the 60th parallel north, around which long evenings and protracted sunsets stretch, Davidson probes aspects of this transitional state, including visual perception during the stages of twilight (civil, nautical and astronomical) dusk as a metaphor for crisis in Charles Dickenss Bleak House the proliferation of gilt and mirrors in the murky pre-electric era and the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins observations of anti-crepuscular rays."" - Nature ""Absorbing and delightfully readable, Vast Expanses explores an immense topic – the history of the world’s oceans – with the skill and intelligence we have come to expect from Rozwadowski’s writings . . . She crafts a flowing narrative by braiding together three strands of analysis: she demonstrates the interconnectedness of the oceans and human history by examining the enduring human relationship to the sea, spanning back through evolutionary time; she shows that human exchanges with the sea have become increasingly profound over time, especially in the ages of industrialization and globalization; and she reveals that human understandings of the ocean – shaped by science, work, and play – have substantially shaped our interactions with it . . . Remarkable . . . Through its many interesting facts and details, presented with discernible enthusiasm, Vast Expanses reveals not only Rozwadowski’s considerable ability as a historian but also her love for the ocean. This work will appeal to environmental historians, maritime historians, and any reader who wants to know more about our relationship with the sea."" - H-Environment ""Atkinson strives to separate fact from myth in this well-researched, accessible exploration of the electric guitar . . . Readers learn how the basic instrument is created, with fascinating highlights such as the integration of automobile engineering techniques and evocative new body shapes. Beautiful color photographs, contemporary advertisements, and examples of musicians displaying their own favorites add interest . . . Decidedly welcome. Atkinson’s rigorous scholarship and clear affection for the subject shine."" - Library Journal ""well written, well researched, covers a huge range of topics and is full of interesting stuff."" - Ocean Challenge ""With the holidays around the corner, now might be a good time to brush up on your Champagne facts. Epsteins book, slim and elegant like a flute of sparkling wine, is brimming with information, from the essential the evolution of Champagne to the esoteric."" - PalatePress.com ""Beside being a discriminating critic, Davidson has an arrestingly personal voice . . . The Idea of North is one of those books that have you making a long list of references you want to follow"" - The Independent ""a thorough and entertaining journey from amphorae, barrels predecessors, through their period of domination to their relative demise due to replacement with such as plastic and metal containers . . . there is much to interest both the general reader and the beer enthusiast in this well written history of a container that has been with humanity for so long."" - London Drinker ""[The North] is roamed in fascinating, suggestive fashion . . . Davidson is as interesting writing about snow sculptures and 17th-century paintings of the Arctic as he is about Auden, and his reading of the imaginary land of Zembla in Nabokov&#39s Pale Fire as an eternal, symbolic north is highly evocative . . . [a] lovely book"" - The Guardian ""Chapman's British Comics does an excellent job of condensing the rich story of comics in the UK into a very readable narrative, exploring their long history and celebrating recent successes. Chapman provides exactly what the title promises. The book is hugely informative and engaging, focusing on how comics can provide insights into society and often mirror political events . . . there is for the general reader much here that will surprise and delight."" - History Today ""How did individuals and society at large respond to Michelangelos art? This is the central question explored in Bernadine Barnes refreshingly original examination of Michelangelos life, works, and varied audiences. Barnes leaves aside the heroic but fictionalized story of Michelangelo the lone genius to focus on the private individuals and viewing public who were highly attentive to how the artists creations were seen and displayed, praised and criticized."" - William E. Wallace, Washington University in St. Louis ""This important book builds upon Barnes earlier research to integrate the Renaissance viewer more fully into study of Michelangelos art works. Compiling evidence from multiple sources including contracts, prints, contemporary accounts, iconography, technical studies, and site analysis it offers a lucid reconstruction of the material conditions of artistic creation and reception. This approach, which also understands audiences to occupy variously ideal, real, pious, intimate, fixed and shifting viewpoints, situates Michelangelos enduring achievements more securely in time and space."" - Kim Butler Wingfield, American University ""Becky Sue Epstein has been interviewed on the WineGuyMike Radio Show, on Trail 103.3. To listen to the podcast please click play below."" - Quote ""The nearer he gets to the North of England and Scotland the more deeply felt his writing becomes. . . . Marvellously sensitive."" - London Review of Books ""From the Old Norse sagas to the fairytales of Hans Christian Andersen, from the films of Bergman to the paintings of Eric Ravilious, from Nabakovs Zembla to Simon Armitages Yorkshire, [Davidson] finds that the north is a breeding ground for ghosts, a place of exile and punishment, the antithesis of the human. Yet its bleak landscapes have inspired poetry of great beauty: ice, crystal, diamond and glass all blur in recurring images . . . Davidson never lets his learning cloud his enthusiasm for this wide and protean subject and his writing shares the awe of the poets who preceded him on this journey."" - The Observer ""Wood, Whiskey and Wine is an enlightening study of this humble wooden receptacle. In simple, non-academic prose, Work traces the wooden barrel from its Celtic roots, through its heyday as a necessity for seafaring industries, to its current utility in aging alcohol . . . Casual and concise, this is a book for every wine drinker who enjoys a bit of history."" - Terroirist.com ""Much of human experience can be distilled to saltwater: tears, sweat, and an enduring connection to the sea. In Vast Expanses, Rozwadowski weaves a cultural, environmental, and geopolitical history of that relationship, a journey of tides and titanic forces reaching around the globe and across geological and evolutionary time."" - New Books Network ""One would be hard-pressed to name a more culturally iconic piece of technology produced over the past seventy years than the electric guitar. Perhaps only sports cars, like the Corvette or Camaro, resonate as strongly in relation to youth-centered culture in the late twentieth century. Paul Atkinson’s fine overview of how the electric guitar evolved from its humble origins (discovered in an 1890 patent application) to the present certainly bolsters that impression. The book is full of photographs, drawings, and advertisements with richly detailed descriptions of virtually every significant model developed over that span . . . Atkinson draws on a variety of published sources and interviews to augment his commentary, and he tells the story in a clear, accessible fashion . . . a useful and visually striking addition to the literature on the electric guitar."" - Technology and Culture Journal ""Recently published in paperback, this entertaining, thoughtful and detailed analysis of British comics from the late Victorian period to the present day is not to be missed. Written with insight and passion, if you don't see yourself as interested in comic books then this might well be the text to get you started."" - Steve Andrew, Morning Star ""The Last of the Light is a cultural companion . . . A cabinet of curiosities paintings, poems, music framed by the idea of Europe as an archipelago of regret, many of whose most vital artefacts have dealt in echo and obscure longing, translated into a feeling for light . . . It is a theme rather than a subject, and he traces its variations in a blend of memoir, evocation of place and cultural itinerary."" - The Spectator ""No history is ever a complete account; however, this book is a very good introduction to the global histories of the ocean. For all historians, but particularly those of science and technology, it challenges us to think bigger, see globally, and take a plunge into the great beyond of the seascape. It is also an utterly captivating read."" - Isis Journal ""well written, well researched, covers a huge range of topics and is full of interesting stuff . . . for a hardback it represents pretty good value these days,"" - Ocean Challenge ""This slim book was an endless revelation to me. Its a study of the many roles played in human art and society over the centuries by twilight, that strange, pessimistic stretch of time thats no longer day but not yet quite night. Its an easy subject about which to be trite or boring, and virtually every other book or essay Ive read on the subject has been either trite or boring, but Peter Davidsons book eye-opening and wonderful, as lovely and gentle and strange as the daily phenomenon it describes."" - Open Letters Monthly ""The chapters are both informative and gripping and feature countless quotes from expert luthiers, guitar gods, collectors, customization authorities, collectors, music journalists, designers and fans. Furthermore, dozens of vintage ads from the 1940s – 1990s give some impressions on how a guitar, its upgraded design or features, changed over the decades . . . A well-researched, hardcover coffee-table book with excellent pictures."" - www.popcultureshelf.com ""This powerful progressive text demands that we accord the ocean its history, free from the romantic, anthropomorphic and gendered language of the past, and accept the reality that the human role in the story is one of destruction: without humans the oceans would recover from all the their current problems, reversing centuries of exploitation, pollution and folly. All of those who go down to the sea in ships, books or other media will profit from reading Helen Rozwadowski’s timely, concise and compelling book . . . Vast Expanses has the capacity to advance understanding, extend engagement and promote a more sophisticated view of our responsibility for the future of oceans. This is a work of the first importance for students of the sea."" - Andrew Lambert, The Northern Mariner/Le marin du nord ""This is a book about poetry, myth, and art, and the myriad ways in which artists, poets, and explorers have filtered the north&#39s stark natural splendor through their imaginations. . . . Davidson has compiled an extraordinary catalog of the shapes the north has taken in the minds of humans . . . A work of genuine erudition, guiding readers northward out of their home ground and into unknown territory."" - Discover ""Someone was kind enough to give me a terrific book at Christmas called Wood, Whiskey and Wine: A History of Barrels . . . Now it might not look like, yes, a barrel of laughs, but the story of the barrel is a truly fascinating one."" - Irish Post ""This is a book that reminds us of the fantasy worlds we have lived in, and analyses the appeal and structure of those worlds. Only those who enjoy popular culture can write about it well, and British Comics is a book in which not only is a genre analysed with expertise but enthusiasm is recollected."" - Times Higher Education ""Beside being a discriminating critic, Davidson has an arrestingly personal voice . . . The Idea of North is one of those books that have you making a long list of references you want to follow"" - The Independent ""The nearer he gets to the North of England and Scotland the more deeply felt his writing becomes. . . . Marvellously sensitive."" - London Review of Books ""Provocative . . . Davidsons evocative prose and sensitive analyses of an impressive range of sources heighten the readers appreciation of the rich complexity of humanitys imagined Norths."" - Times Higher Education Supplement ""Chapman takes a broad approach but offers specific examples . . . Popping up along the way are issues such as race, gender, censorship, the Cold War. Quotes, anecdotes and gems of knowledge add spice to an already facile reading. This superb, well-researched, well-thought-out volume deserves to be read by comics scholars and enthusiasts alike. Highly recommended."" - Choice ""No history is ever a complete account; however, this book is a very good introduction to the global histories of the ocean. For all historians, but particularly those of science and technology, it challenges us to think bigger, see globally, and take a plunge into the great beyond of the seascape. It is also an utterly captivating read."" - Isis Journal ""Davidsons book is a primer on place and light. It recovers light itself as a phenomenon of place, and thereby complicates twilights temporal and human dimensions, its seasons and densities . . . In Davidsons measure of the twilight, a little light always remains."" - Rain Taxi ""Much of human experience can be distilled to saltwater: tears, sweat, and an enduring connection to the sea. In Vast Expanses, Rozwadowski weaves a cultural, environmental, and geopolitical history of that relationship, a journey of tides and titanic forces reaching around the globe and across geological and evolutionary time."" - New Books Network ""For me, a truly compelling, fact-packed read all about how guitars are made, look, sound and play. Paul Atkinson admirably recounts a century of history, invention and experimentation by experts and amateurs of a revolutionary instrument. Highly recommended for anyone who has a guitar, and for anyone who wants one."" - KT Tunstall, singer-songwriter and guitarist ""Paul has put a fantastically exhaustive amount of work into this book for all of us global guitar nerds to enjoy. It’s so much fun to dive into it full immersion, and glean everything from details on iconic artist guitars to strange inventions from creatives on the fringe!"" - Jennifer Batten, guitarist (Michael Jackson, Jeff Beck) ""The Last of the Light surveys how artists and writers have employed dusk as they might a colour or style to evoke nostalgia and melancholy . . . I finished the book hoping that a brave museum might stage an exhibition on the arts of the evening."" - V&#38A Magazine ""Vast Expanses is a synthetic book that yokes together research in maritime history, oceanic history, and environmental history, but it is largely based on Helen Rozwadowski’s insightful research on the history of the ocean sciences in the nineteenth century and fisheries management in the twentieth."" - Canadian Journal of History ""[a] masterful new book . . . The book is well-organized, highly readable, and thoughtfully authoritative, making it equally useful for academic historians interested in her call to take ocean history seriously and for those less expert, including both undergraduates and general readers . . . Vast Expanses provides a stimulating rethinking of our approach to the oceans and an important addition both to the growing body of scholarship on ocean history and to the broader fields on which it touches."" - Technology and Culture ""Chapman's analysis of key characters such as Dan Dare in their various incarnations is absorbing. Even when discussing well known characters, this book is full of interesting titbits . . . Chapman's attempt to situate both creators and product in relation to social history is fascinating . . . its lively and interesting style makes it more than suited to the active fan and those nostalgic for the comics of their youth."" - Eye ""This is a book about poetry, myth, and art, and the myriad ways in which artists, poets, and explorers have filtered the north&#39s stark natural splendor through their imaginations. . . . Davidson has compiled an extraordinary catalog of the shapes the north has taken in the minds of humans . . . A work of genuine erudition, guiding readers northward out of their home ground and into unknown territory."" - Discover ""[a] delightful work . . . beautifully written . . . an esoteric but important gem original treasure from the north"" - The Herald (Glasgow) ""a valuable contribution to British comics history"" - Comicbitsonline ""Provocative . . . Davidsons evocative prose and sensitive analyses of an impressive range of sources heighten the readers appreciation of the rich complexity of humanitys imagined Norths."" - Times Higher Education Supplement ""[A] gifted prose writer"" - Scotland on Sunday ""Absorbing and delightfully readable, Vast Expanses explores an immense topic – the history of the world’s oceans – with the skill and intelligence we have come to expect from Rozwadowski’s writings . . . Remarkable . . . Through its many interesting facts and details, presented with discernible enthusiasm, Vast Expanses reveals not only Rozwadowski’s considerable ability as a historian but also her love for the ocean. This work will appeal to environmental historians, maritime historians, and any reader who wants to know more about our relationship with the sea."" - H-Environment ""Davidsons twilight writing comes across as something of a barometer for time of day, for twilight. His acute eye, registering tiny gradations of light and tone, shares common ground with the contemporary English environmental observers . . . Richard Mabey, Robert Macfarlane, Tim Dee as well as with the ethos that informs Geoffrey Hills poetry. Davidsons is a bravely unfashionable book, its cadences relentlessly slow . . . Belatedness, as Davidson shows us, is the very essence of dusk, of the melancholy light of the fallen world."" - Public Books ""A great resource for all guitar players, tinkerers and enthusiasts. Paul Atkinson's well-researched book provides essential and fascinating facts of this unique instrument's development over the course of more than a century."" - Paul Brett, rock guitarist, journalist, guitar designer ""This powerful progressive text demands that we accord the ocean its history, free from the romantic, anthropomorphic and gendered language of the past, and accept the reality that the human role in the story is one of destruction: without humans the oceans would recover from all the their current problems, reversing centuries of exploitation, pollution and folly. All of those who go down to the sea in ships, books or other media will profit from reading Helen Rozwadowski’s timely, concise and compelling book . . . Vast Expanses has the capacity to advance understanding, extend engagement and promote a more sophisticated view of our responsibility for the future of oceans. This is a work of the first importance for students of the sea."" - Andrew Lambert, The Northern Mariner / Le marin du nord ""Paul Atkinson has dug deep into the history of the electric guitar to create a detailed view of the ways in which makers and musicians have tried—and in many cases succeeded—to move its design forward. This engaging new book will be required reading for anyone interested in the development of one of the most popular and revolutionary instruments ever created."" - Tony Bacon, guitar historian and author ""And one wanted, since its not dark yet: a history of twilight Peter Davidsons The Last of the Light."" - Tim Dee, Guardian Books of the Year ""Vast Expanses is a synthetic book that yokes together research in maritime history, oceanic history, and environmental history, but it is largely based on Helen Rozwadowski’s insightful research on the history of the ocean sciences in the nineteenth century and fisheries management in the twentieth."" - Canadian Journal of History ""There are indeed a lot of norths to cover, and the charm of the book is it exhaustiveness, zooming into a variety of touchstones to show how theyve influenced global culture in sly, often surprising ways . . . Davidsons north is an enormous, challenging land: humbling, shifting, austere, empty, fragile, desolate, desolating, marginal, authentic a place, as Davidson perfectly puts it, forever suffused with absolute, difficult beauty."" - Ruminator Review (USA) ""[a] delightful work . . . beautifully written . . . an esoteric but important gem original treasure from the north"" - The Herald (Glasgow) ""a well-written, well researched book, which is attractive and quite enjoyable to read."" - Cercles ""Vast Expanses is thought-provoking, intelligent, entertaining, and yet still compact. It could be read in a graduate seminar or on a beach holiday. Professor Rozwadowski has written a great book on an important subject, and it is anything but a dry history!"" - Kurk Dorsey, Associate Professor of History at the University of New Hampshire and author of Whales and Nations: Environmental Diplomacy on the High Seas ""An interesting meditation"" - TLS ""[A] gifted prose writer"" - Scotland on Sunday ""The British comic industry and tradition, often overshadowed by the American one, gets an interesting and important treatment in this book, which traces the history of British comics over the past two centuries in relation to economics and class, gender, war, technology, and the vagaries of the publishing business and popular taste."" - Anthropology Review Database ""For Christmas, Id like Peter Davidsons The Last of the Light: About Twilight."" - Alexander McCall Smith, Guardian Books of the Year ""This is simply one of the best books I have ever read . . . a book to be read in the twilight of a day, or during the twilight of your days."" - Sun News Miami ""There are indeed a lot of norths to cover, and the charm of the book is it exhaustiveness, zooming into a variety of touchstones to show how theyve influenced global culture in sly, often surprising ways . . . Davidsons north is an enormous, challenging land: humbling, shifting, austere, empty, fragile, desolate, desolating, marginal, authentic a place, as Davidson perfectly puts it, forever suffused with absolute, difficult beauty."" - Ruminator Review (USA) ""A truly stunning assessment of the concept of &#34north"" in literature, legend, history and the psyche of &#34Northern"" people . . . Davidson writes with an incredible sense of place"" - Aberdeen Evening Express ""Mesmerising cultural history . . . Davidsons style achieves a lyric expression of phrase. In several passages of personal recollection . . . he achieves a marvel of descriptiveness that is moving as well as expressive"" - The Scotsman ""An interesting meditation"" - TLS ""What an astonishing book this is: a cartography of dusk, an illumination of twilight as it has found its ways into the art, literature, dreams, moods and metaphors of Europe and beyond. Beautiful and subtle in its tracings, it combines memoir, memory, place-writing and cultural history by degrees so fine as to be imperceptible."" - Robert Macfarlane, author of Landmarks ""Twilight – the subject of Peter Davidson’s meditative and beautiful book The Last of the Light . . . Davidson’s book offers us a series of intense, lyrical and surprisingly moving meditations on landscapes, buildings and mythical settings, as seen at the close of day through the eyes of painters and writers . . . a spell bounding exploration of that haunted moment of transition, either on some particular evening or in the history of the civilizations through which Davidson effortlessly roams . . . The poignant sense of the fugitive moment and the coming to an end of things haunts Davidson’s strange and magical book."" - Miranda Seymour, Slightly Foxed Magazine ""A truly stunning assessment of the concept of &#34north"" in literature, legend, history and the psyche of &#34Northern"" people . . . Davidson writes with an incredible sense of place"" - Aberdeen Evening Express ""Mesmerising cultural history . . . Davidsons style achieves a lyric expression of phrase. In several passages of personal recollection . . . he achieves a marvel of descriptiveness that is moving as well as expressive"" - The Scotsman ""In The Idea of North, Peter Davidson dances around the idea that the cold is idealised in the north of England. He quotes lines evoking ‘the quintessence of a winter city’ from Poem Written on a Hoarding, by Sean O’Brien, who resides in Newcastle."" - Andrew Martin, The Financial Times