Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Palm Springs Weekend could have been just a breezy look at the celebrity culture of this California desert playground. Instead, Alan Hess offers an authoritative yet refreshingly nondoctrinaire view of the various ways European and American architects--some famous, some not--adapted the canons of modernism to suit the desert climate, landscape, and lifestyle. With evocative vintage photographs and an engagingly retro design by Andrew Danish, this is one of the most enjoyable popular architecture books in years.
The story begins with "the panorama of brown rock... peppered with ever-changing shadows and the unexpected desert plants that turn this great natural wall into a tapestry of texture and color." Then came the wealthy industrialists and Hollywood royalty who wanted vacation homes and were more or--at least initially--less amenable to modern design. Car culture and casual living morphed the international style into new silhouettes and textures fit for a modern oasis.
Swiss émigré Albert Frey designed minimalist houses "like tents staked in the desert." Richard Neutra's famous Kaufmann House has polished glass walls, flat, floating roofs, and luxury finishes, while John Lautner's Elrod House--seen in the James Bond film Diamonds Are Forever--is a futuristic concrete cave. Tract homes by William Krisel and Dan Palmer for the Alexander Company offered a mass-market modernist solution, with butterfly roofs and patterned concrete block walls crisply defined by the intense sun.
By the early '50s, local projects also included civic and commercial buildings. Memorable nonresidential projects range from William Cody's Huddle Springs restaurant, with its bold angled beams, canvas awnings, and open plan, to Victor Gruen's City National Bank, on which a sweeping curved roof reminiscent of Le Corbusier's Ronchamp chapel meets the desert opulence of gold filigree. --Cathy Curtis
Book Description
This is the first book to reveal the eccentric treasure trove of commercial, civic, and domestic architecture that makes Palm Springs a true oasis of progressive design. Not merely regarded as a Hollywood playground, golf enclave, or retirement mecca, Palm Springs is also a bastion of idiosyncratic modernism that is unparalleled in the world. Creating stunning homes and an impressive array of other buildings in the middle of the desert, such masters as Albert Frey, Richard Neutra, John Lautner, R. M. Schindler, Donald Wexler, and Lloyd Wright exercised their creative potential there. Palm Springs Weekend explores everything from the grandiose, such as Neutra's Kaufmann house, to the more humble features of the city--motels, trailer homes, and the ubiquitous metal and concrete sunscreens that shade them. Filled with hundreds of archival and contemporary photographs, elevations, and vintage ephemera, Palm Springs Weekend reveals an inimitable city where modern design, Hollywood glamour, and the desolate drama of the desert coalesce.
Customer Reviews:
Informative, but not very entertaining........2007-05-18
This book is largerly concerned with the historical and sociological environment that led to the creation of mid-20th century Palm Springs buildings. There is little time spent on the technical side of the sampled designs, and it could benefit from more large colour picture spreads.
A good book for understanding the context of the architecture, not great for admiring the details. If you're after a "coffe table" piece, go for 'Palm Springs Modern: Houses in the California Desert' by Adele Cygelman.
mid-century modern deluxe.......2007-01-04
If you're in to mid-century modern architecture, this book is a must.
Beautiful pics, interesting copy.......2006-07-22
Well worth the price...we had just returned from a weekend in Palm Springs and this book gave us interesting background and history and also great photographs.
An Inspiration.......2006-06-24
This book has enough information in it to turn you into a bit of an expert on Palm Springs mid-century architecture. It has enough beautiful photography and helpful floorplans to make you want a piece of it. My sisters and I are going there in two weeks. We want to see the Alexander tract homes.
The book explores each of the buildings and architects in detailed description - well enough that one can distinguish between the various styles and select a favorite or two. I fell in love with the Sinatra house by Stewart Williams and the Kaufmann house by Richard Neutra. I wished for the sake of the old Biltmore hotel that someone would restore it to it's former glory. I was disappointed to learn from another source that it was demolished in 2003, after this book's publication.
I do have to admit that while the text is full of good information, it is a bit of a difficult read. Either the sentences are poorly constructed or the authors had a hard time sorting out their ideas. However, if you can focus and you really want to know about the architecture in Palm Springs, there is a lot to learn from this beautiful and informative book.
Desert Area Living starts with Mid Century Architecture.......2006-05-26
When I read Palm Springs Weekend I am again reunited with past memories of wonderful warm days and evenings my wife and I spent driving all these neighborhoods. We quickly realized that instead of shouting out to each other ...."Oh my god!! Look at how cool that house is? We would only say something if the house was ugly, the drive quickly became very silent, but our jaws were still on the ground and eyes blink free. Palm Springs is a living museum of style and design and has been flawlessly presented amongst these pages. After driving around for several months drooling on people's doorsteps, we packed it up in LA and headed east. We now own 3 very interesting Mid Century Modern homes in Palm Springs, I sell Real Estate specializing in Mid Century Modern Architecture and life has never been better. Pick up the book, jump on a plane or in a car and come see what all the hype is about, trust me you wont be disappointed with this lifestyle.
Book Description
As the blackface minstrel show evolved from its beginnings in the American Revolution to its peak during the late 1800s, its frenetic dances, low-brow humor, and lively music provided more than mere entertainment. Indeed, these imitations and parodies shaped society's perceptions of African Americans-and of women-as well as made their mark on national identity, policymaking decisions, and other entertainment forms such as vaudeville, burlesque, the revue, and, eventually, film, radio, and television. Gathered here are rare primary materials-including firsthand accounts of minstrel shows, minstrelsy guides, jokes, sketches, and sheet music-and the best of contemporary scholarship on minstrelsy.
Customer Reviews:
History of Minstrelsy with Commentary.......2007-01-11
I reccommend Inside the Minstrel Mask. A fascinating survey of the minstrel show, including some of the songs and skits that were popular.
Also includes some astute analysis.
Gary Winter
Playwright
Book Description
Using a variety of historical sources, Richard H. Brodhead reconstructs the institutionalized literary worlds that coexisted in nineteenth-century America: the middle-class domestic culture of letters, the culture of mass-produced cheap reading, the militantly hierarchical high culture of post-emancipation black education. He describes how these socially structured worlds of writing shaped the terms of literary practice for writers like Stowe, Hawthorne, Fanny Fern, Louisa May Alcott, Sarah Orne Jewett, and Charles Chesnutt.
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Cheap Bibles: Nineteenth-Century Publishing and the British and Foreign Bible Society (Cambridge Studies in Publishing and Printing History)
Leslie Howsam
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0521522129 |
Book Description
The cheap Bibles of nineteenth-century Britain were read in millions of homes, and were also potent symbols of national virtue. In an age of social ferment, cheap Bibles - most published by the British and Foreign Bible Society - represented both the promise of mass literacy and the benefits of industrialisation. This book, based on correspondence and other archival records, tells the story of the BFBS from two perspectives: its place in the history of publishing and printing and in contemporary society. The BFBS, founded in 1804, grew out of the evangelical revival and became a popular crusade. ‘Ladies Bible Associations’ sprang up to supply the poor with cheap Bibles and contribute to the production of Bibles in foreign languages for the salvation of souls abroad. To meet the growing demand the Society experimented with new technologies including stereotyping, machine printing and bookbinding, and a unique distribution system.
Download Description
The cheap Bibles of nineteenth-century Britain were not only read in millions of homes, embodying the Protestant principle of access to the Scriptures, but were also potent symbols of national virtue. In an age of social ferment cheap Bibles--most published by the British and Foreign Bible Society--represented both the promise of mass literacy and the benefits of industrialization. This book, based on correspondence and other archival records, tells the story of the BFBS from two perspectives: its place in the history of publishing and printing and in contemporary society.
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After Dickens: Reading, Adaptation and Performance (Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture)
John Glavin
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
19th Century
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ASIN: 0521032377 |
Book Description
John Glavin offers both a performative reading of Dickens the novelist and an exploration of the potential for adaptive performance of the novels themselves. Through close study of text and context Glavin uncovers a richly ambivalent, often unexpectedly hostile, relationship between Dickens and the theater and theatricality of his own time, and shows how Dickens' novels can be seen as a form of counter performance. Yet Glavin also explores the performative potential in Dickens' fiction, and describes new ways to stage that fiction in emotionally powerful, critically acute adaptations.
Download Description
After Dickens is both a performative reading of Dickens the novelist and an exploration of the potential for adaptive performance of the novels themselves. John Glavin conducts a historical inquiry into Dickens's relationship to the theatre and theatricality of his own time, and uncovers a much more ambivalent, often hostile, relationship than has hitherto been noticed. In this context, Dickens's novels can be seen as a form of counter-performance, one which would allow the author to perform without being seen or scrutinized. But Glavin also identifies a rich performative potential in Dickens's fiction, and describes new ways to stage that fiction in emotionally powerful, critically acute adaptations. The book as a whole, therefore, offers a radical new reading of Dickens through an unusual alliance between literary criticism and theatrical performance.
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Dickens, Novel Reading, and the Victorian Popular Theatre (Cambridge Studies in Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture)
Deborah Vlock
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0521640849 |
Book Description
In this study Deborah Vlock shows that characters, dialogue, and plots from many of Charles Dickens' novels can be traced to the Victorian stage, and that contemporary readers and writers of fiction were strongly influenced by what they saw at the theater. Through an examination of theatrical and popular-cultural sources--including accounts of noted actors and actresses, and of popular theatrical characters of the time--Vlock uncovers unexpected precursors for some popular Dickensian characters, and throws new light on the conditions in which Dickens' novels were initially received.
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- Reflections on gender distinctions within Impressionism
- Understanding feminist Art History
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Impressionism: A Feminist Reading : The Gendering of Art, Science, and Nature in the Nineteenth Century
Norma Broude
Manufacturer: Westview Pr (Short Disc)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Gauguin's Skirt
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Symbolism
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Expanding Discourse: Feminism and Art History
ASIN: 0064302326 |
Customer Reviews:
Reflections on gender distinctions within Impressionism.......2002-03-27
Why and how the author wrote the book is as interesting reading as the book itself. Norma Broude came to realize Impressionism as a subjective art and the fact that is was seen as objective and scientific bothered her. This led to an awareness of myths, misconceptions and the role of gender bias. In Part I she brings out the many continuities between Romanticism and Impressionism. In Part II she reviews much of the scientific and fomalist critical thought of the late 19th century. In Part III, she discusses "feminine gendering" of Impressionism in the late 19th century and it's "Masculinization" in modern times. I learned some important issues about art criticism and its personalities as Ms. Broude explains the positions of several prominent art critics and social historians. If you can manage the author's very academic style, and bear with her occasional sarcastic anger, this is a very scholarly and worthwhile read for anyone interested in art or sociology. It will really make you think and hopefully broaden your appreciation of concepts not usually addressed in the study of art.
Understanding feminist Art History.......1997-10-18
This book did more for my understanding of the magnitude of the number of ways about thinking about art than any other. Broude is able to clearly and coherently explain how standard readings of 19th Century art ignores gender. This is a must-read for anyone who desires to understand the answer to the question'what is a feminist reading?'
Book Description
This innovative collection of essays addresses important issues in the history of the book. The multidisciplinary essays consider different aspects of the production, circulation, and consumption of printed texts, analyzing such topics as market trends, modes of publication, and the use of pseudonyms by women writers. Contributors draw on speech act, reader response and gender theory in addition to historical, narratological, materialist, and bibliographical perspectives to study authors such as Dickens, the Brontës and George Eliot.
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The New Nineteenth Century: Feminist Readings of Underread Victorian Fiction (Garland Reference Library of the Humanities)
Barbara Harman
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding
19th Century
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General
| British
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ASIN: 081531292X |
Book Description
Victorian literature has been an important critical focus for feminist scholarship, but feminist criticism has also established its own canon of central authors-most frequently focusing on the rich accomplishments of Emily Bront', Charlotte Bront', and George Eliot, and the disappointments of Charles Dickens and Henry James. This collection of essays expands the canon to include works not frequently accorded attention either in literary criticism broadly conceived, or in feminist literary scholarship.
The book includes essays on writers from the 1840s to the 1890s, investigating some authors in whom readers are already interested (Anne Bront', Wilkie Collins, Bram Stoker), and those to whom they wish to gain access (Geraldine Jewsbury, Charles Reade, Margaret Oliphant, George Moore, Sarah Grand, Mary Ward, and others). The essays explore important thematic concerns: the relation between private and public realms, gender and social class, sexuality and the marketplace, and male and female cultural identity.
This collection facilitates interpretation of key underread texts for scholars who seek new information and insights. Additionally, the biographical headnote and brief bibliographic survey that accompany each essay are helpful to students and teachers of 19th-century literature, feminist literature and criticism, and cultural studies. Most importantly, the volume offers a richer conception of 19th-century literature and thus contributes both to literary history and classroom instruction.
Book Description
This chronological anthology of recent critical scholarship on 19th-century European art represents a wide range of current methodologies and issues. The book features recent scholarship — since the mid-1980s; represents a diversity of methods; deals with major figures of 19th-century art; emphasizes French art — reflecting the interests of recent scholarship and a contemporary focus; and focuses on the concerns of recent scholarship — e.g., the recurrence of themes such as the female nude, the role of the critic, and exhibitions and institutions.
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