Artifacts Books

I went right to the middle section of this book to read about The Haskell Silk Mills in Westbrook, Maine. Why? Because my Great Grandfather Edwin Haskell was the founder. Excellent research by the author and her obvious love of the subject matter gave us, the Haskell descendants, an incredible look at the success and subsequent failure of this local business. I learned much more about my forebears and the operation of the mills than I had picked up anecdotally all these many years. If you have an interest in the textile industry in New England or in fact, anywhere. This is a wonderful read about the days before the synthetics came to town.
Ben Haskell
Brewer, ME

Co-authored by a former costume curator, a professor of math and science history, and a costume curator, three top authors create a high-quality scholarly analysis of an industry in AMERICAN SILK 1830-1930: ENTREPRENEURS AND ARTIFACTS. At one time America's silk industry was the largest in the world, so even though it hasn't nearly the stature today, it's an essential piece of American and business history. Here three case studies of silk company production mills span the heyday of the silk industry era and cover the technological and social issues surrounding silk. A key college-level title for any holding serious about American and American business history.

`This is a book full of powerful and important ideas. It includes an excellent discussion of the concepts and relationship among tradition, history, and authenticity. Archaeologists would do well to seriously consider Matthew's effort to frame a new approach to historical archaeology and how we might do archaeologies of history.'

Randall H. McGuire, Binghamton University in Journal of Anthropological Research, 59 (2003)

`Matthews interprets the archaeological record and formation of the record itself as a component through which past traditions were created, altered, and replaced. This provocative, specialized treatise ... contrasts and documents the shared interests of poststructural anthropology and field archaeology, joining other critical histories of archaeological practices.'

...at least that's what Professor Philips always tells our ethics class whenever someone asks him to define "reasonably valued ways of life," for instance.

Philips' account of intuitionism shows its holes and explains why many of us are unsatisfied using it as a basis for ethics. From that point we move to a very rational and common sense way of dealing with ethics that has some basis in everyday life. ESA bases itself on a combination of social, biological and psychological needs to create things that are "Good" for humans and a way to judge values between societies. A must read for anyone serious about ethics and unhappy with traditional intuitionist or absolute accounts.

Deja Vu is full of lyrical descriptions of far off lands yet hits home with absolute poignance; it presents the world in a prism of adventure and experimentation, so much so that it reminds one of the enduring spirit of American literature. Kendrick revives Melville, Twain, and Kerouac in a voice that openly rejects the conventions of today, even as it demands fresh perspective. The book is essentially a search for truth, its form is unique and inventive, based upon the cyclical nature of time, subjectivity and the concept of fulfillment. I recommend it to everyone tired of the monotony of an everyday performance without avail, to you who lust for travel!

A rare book that combines modernist formal experimentation with excellent post-modernist content and prose; this novel that is as much about form as it is about plot.. Part bildungsroman part travelogue, both funny and serious, a blend of facts fictions and dreams; it consists of 76 (or maybe 77) chronologically and stylistically disconnected chapters that can be read in any order. The author suggests a series of reading trajectories with 5 possible continuations after each chapter. Some will quickly loop you back to where you've already been and others carry you through a large portion of the book.

Innovative but not extremely so, the book risks comparison with novels like Cortázar's Hopscotch and Perec's Life: a User's Manual (I generally don't like to use the word 'risk' in art criticism, but I think it's appropriate here) and I think it stands up very well. Saying that I actually preferred this to either of them would sound pretentious; but I'll go so far as to say that the content of this novel is more to my liking than that of the others. Although I didn't travel in my youth, my life fits more into the introspective speculative mode of this book.

The traditional prose is easy to read and should please a broad range of readers. I'll assume that anyone who primarily reads romances or historical novels hasn't gotten this far in this review so I can safely recommend it. It's definitely worth a look.

The roots of millions of immigrants to the United States are evident in modern generations of mixed cultures, and celebrating the major gateway into this country is Chronicle Books' The Ellis Island Collection: Artifacts From The Immigrant Experience, providing a 'museum in a box' of 23 reproduced replicas of artifacts found at Ellis Island between 1892 and 1924 from Irish Catholics and Italians to Hungarians and more. Among the relics in a colorful gift box: an immigrant boarding card, passenger list, Ellis Island lunch menu and much more.

This is a little box with reproduced artifacts from some of the people who travelled through Ellis Island. It is really clever, because the items look and feel real. There is a book which explains the background of Ellis Island, and then explains the implications of each item in the box. It literally transports the mind into the mind of the person to whom the replica once belonged.

I felt really quite moved once I had thoroughly explored the contents - better than any book - any day.

This collection is an experience in itself.

By the way - interestingly, I have no connection to any of the immigrants. I am a Brit who visited Ellis Island this winter, and was moved by my experience. This is the best momento I could have wished for, for my visit.

I have loved SpongeBob since I was six. I can't wait until I can read this book! I wonder how SpongeBob's two best friends (Patrick and Sandy) reacted when they find out he is elected mayor of kelp city! Will SpongeBob go with two "strangers" leaving kelp city behind? Will he be able to regain his memory? Well for those of you how are like me, waiting to read this book we'll find out!

We ordered this through the publisher, Scholastic. Since it was for a six-year old, I was disappointed to find that it wasn't a picture book. It was a chapter book with one illustration per chapter.

My son, however, wasn't the least put off by the lack of drawings. For the past few nights, I've read three chapters per night (there are seventeen chapters total). At the end of the three chapter ration, he's begging me to continue.

(Helpful hint for readers: Practice your dopey Patrick Starfish voice. You'll get a lot of laughs over it.)

Joseph Telushkin is an ecumenically minded progressive sort of Orthodox rabbi, probably best known for his giant book on Jewish Literacy.

This book is just 32 over-sized pages, but is PACKED with amazing photos, removable reproductions of fliers and ship passage tickets, various artifacts, etc. He gives a museum-like experience to the reader. You get as good of a taste of the turn of the century Jewish immigrant experience as any such book could offer.

Wonderful book.

This book is very good for educating students about American Immigrants and American Jewish immigrants.

This is a well presented historical collection of the 60's counterculture revolution in terms of the "artifacts" that have been collected for many years by this forward thinking individual.

For anyone who has lived through the Sixties this book will bring back memories of the era with all the background information that is presented.

Any of the younger generation that have interest in this unique era of social change and want to know what it was all about, this book imparts a true feel for the times, thanks to the author--who lived it.

The photos are well presented, the book is organized into different categories of collecting, and I recommend reading it if only just for the comprehensive info of an important but little researched subject.

Lot of fun to see & read including all the many very collectible items, items that I had completely forgotten about.

It's truly worth having for anyone interested in that incredible time period of the 60's! As well as a guide for items that certainly will increase steadily in value, which also makes it a good investment guide on items that one no doubt cares about.

PEACE!

Dr. Bishop has made a fine art out of finding problems with modern polling techniques, and illustrates his abilities in this fine book. While he is quick to point out the problems with commercial and political polling, Dr. Bishop does not discount the practice entirely. This would be a good book for anyone who believes political polls have the pulse of the American public.

Professor Bishop does a wonderful job reviewing a broad range of academic studies and professional practices related to public opinion research and the presentation of public opinion results. Simply as a literature review, this book is invaluable. But the critique is something that the media, academics, and the public should take seriously.

Lastly, by heeding the words of George Bishop and rigorously applying the procedures he suggests, we need not dismiss the value of polls outright.

There is so much to learn in this book, and the writing style has made the book so accessible to a broad readership that I think it should be valuable even outside of the community of public opinion researchers and consumers.

Although Burkina Faso lies between two nations, Mali and Cote d'Ivoire, whose art stands tall in the canons of African sculpture most sought after in the West, Burkina art has been given short shrift by museums, dealers and collectors, and in literature. As a result, long after important older objects had largely vanished from the lands of the Dogon, Bamana, Senufo and Baule, ancient masks, figures, and metalwork could still be
found in Burkina Faso. Author and collector Tom Wheelock had the good fortune to stumble upon this fact in the early 1970s. Persevering through chicanery and art market snobbery he assembled the largest collection of Burkina art in the world over the course of the next three decades. In this remarkable book, Land of Flying Masks, Tom Wheelock shares highlights from his collection in clean, bold images, with informative text and stunning field photography by Professor Christopher Roy, This is not a book of masterpieces- although there are more than a few- it is unique and long overdue survey of the traditional art of a single African nation lovingly rendered. Besides the flying masks one will find gorgeous baskets, stools, rings, hats, pots and musical instruments. A catalog with color thumbnail images and copious identifications takes up a substantial number of pages. For those of us who love African material culture in all its variety, particularly those passionate about the art of West Africa this book is an absolute must.

Hardback, 12" x 10 ", 471 Pages, 557 objects presented in full-color in full-page format. All 557 items are repeated in color thumbnails with concise and informative descriptions.....I own over 200 books on Tribal Art, and this is quite simply one of the best books on African Art I have ever seen. The quality of the selected sculptures is matched by the quality of the photographs, presentation, format and paper. Burkina Faso boasts some of the very best West African art, and the collection of Thomas Wheelock, unlike some private collections, is of a consistently high standard. Superb and essential.