History

Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason (LUST)

Essentials of Children's Literature (6th Edition)

This book is a concise, straightforward presentation of literature and sharing literature with children. The two chapters in Part One cover current trends and the introductory material parents and teachers need in order to begin selecting, reading, and evaluating children's trade books. Part Two defines and describes specific genres of literature and discusses the types of books that fall within the categories. The last two chapters comprising Part Three present curriculum and teaching strategies. For teachers and parents of children in grades K-6.

The First Ladies Fact Book: The Stories of the Women of the White House from Martha Washington to Laura Bush

The First Ladies Fact Book is the definitive guide to the lives, achievements, triumphs, and tragedies of every first lady from Martha Washington to Laura Bush. Arranged chronologically for easy reference and illustrated throughout with artwork, photographs, and documents, it is a complete overview of everything you’d ever need to know: the major impact of their lives and the legacies they left behind; their personalities and personal habits; their early lives; their family backgrounds, siblings, children, friends, and foes.

What’s more, The First Ladies Fact Book surpasses typical references, featuring selections of the most intimate correspondence of each first lady, from letters to their families to letters to their presidential husbands. Delightful surprises abound, including little-known information about the women’s hobbies, style of dress, habits of socializing, and peculiarities. The more than 700 evocative photographs include sixteen pages of color photography of first-lady fashion, making it a wonderful combination of solid reference and eyecatching visual history.

More Book Lust: Recommended Reading for Every Mood, Moment, and Reason

The Art of Richard Diebenkorn (Ahmanson-Murphy Fine Arts Book)

On the process of painting, American painter Richard Diebenkorn once wrote, "I want painting to be difficult to do. The more obstacles, obstructions, problems ... the better." In part, he meant that the freest artistic expression was often the result of some sort of restraint. Much like Shakespeare writing within the rigorous poetic form of the sonnet, Diebenkorn found his format in the vertical, rectangular, human-size canvases that he used to paint his famed Ocean Park series, which occupied a large portion of his magnificent career and included many figurative works. This sequence consists of more than 100 paintings created primarily over the course of the 1970s. There is a tranquil, mystical quality to his works: geometric lines define fields of color evoking the tones, landscape, atmosphere, and quality of light in Ocean Park. His paintings thus hover on the boundary between abstraction and landscape.

This paperback exhibition catalog of the retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City contains a beautifully produced plate section, arranged chronologically, that spans nearly the entire second half of the 20th century. A special highlight are Diebenkorn's notes to himself on beginning a painting.

Recognized as a major figure in postwar American painting, Richard Diebenkorn (1922-1993) was an artist strongly identified with California but whose work is beloved throughout the United States and the rest of the world. This catalog is the most comprehensive volume on the artist now available.
Jane Livingston's extensively researched biographical essay covers Diebenkorn's entire career and concentrates on the artist's inner life and purposes as revealed in his paintings. Ruth Fine deals primarily with the figurative aspect of Diebenkorn's work (1955-67), and John Elderfield concentrates on the Ocean Park period (1967-93). All three authors provide valuable insights based on their personal relationships with the artist and his widow, Phyllis. On both page and canvas, the reader can sense Diebenkorn's complexity and highly self-conscious working methods, as well as his formidable integrity.
The Art of Richard Diebenkorn will give readers with an interest in all phases of modernism new thoughts about the relationship between abstraction and representation. Stunningly illustrated, with 192 full-color reproductions, this book is an exhilarating testament to a distinctive American artist.

Bizarre Books: A Compendium of Classic Oddities

They say you can't judge a book by its cover—but its title can tell you more than you ever needed to know!

Amazing, illuminating, and gut-bustingly funny, Bizarre Books is the wonderfully twisted product of more than two decades of determined searching in forgotten corners of out-of-the-way libraries and through the literary detritus of eclectic private collections. It is certain to delight every true fan of trivia and the patently absurd.

New Testament Commentary Survey

This much-anticipated sixth edition of New Testament Commentary Survey offers students and pastors an updated look into available resources on the New Testament. Pastors, seminarians, and theology students will eagerly welcome this invaluable tool into their biblical studies libraries. In this succinct yet thorough survey, Carson examines sets, one-volume commentaries, and New Testament introductions and theologies, before offering extensive comments on the available offerings for each New Testament book, noting intended audience, levels of difficulty, and theological perspective. He records the publisher, price, and current publication status, identifies those texts he considers overpriced, and advises readers when to delay purchase for forthcoming works. The book concludes with a useful "Best Buys" section where Carson indicates the most valuable works for each individual New Testament book.

Old Testament Commentary Survey

For the student, minister, and layperson alike, Old Testament Commentary Survey makes finding the best Old Testament commentaries easy. In this fourth edition, Longman focuses on the best of established commentaries and commentaries published in recent years. He lists a number of works available for each book of the Old Testament, gives a brief indication of their emphases and viewpoints, and evaluates them. Longman also indicates who would most benefit from the commentary under consideration (scholar, minister, layperson). Finally, he summarizes his top recommendations for those trying to build a library that covers every book of the Old Testament. The result is a balanced, sensible guide for those who preach and teach the Old Testament and need help in choosing the best tools.

Alphonse Mucha: The Spirit of Art Nouveau

This lavishly illustrated book presents the full spectrum of Alphonse Mucha`s works, from his innovative posters and decorative panels to his architectural designs, jewelry, sculpture, photographs, books, and interiors. The authors discuss Mucha`s years in Paris, his iconography of Sarah Bernhardt, his service to the Czech government, his distinctive style that became nearly synonymous with turn-of-the-century French Art Nouveau, and much more.

A Guide to the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature (Studies in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature)