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Living History Museums: Undoing History Through Performance examines the performance techniques of Living History Museums, cultural institutions that merge historical exhibits with costumed live performance. Institutions such as Plimoth Plantation and Colonial Williamsburg are analyzed from a theatrical perspective, offering a new genealogy of living museum performance. ... Read more

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The concept of "living history" can take many forms, from military reenactments to skill, craft, and trade demonstrations presented by guides and interpreters dressed in period clothing. This book provides the first extensive directory of living history exhibits, programs, and events--nearly 600 institutions, from houses, plantations and villages to decommissioned battleships, battlefields, trading posts and settler/ military forts. All entries include a brief description of the site, an overview of its living history exhibits and programs, and contact information, fees and hours. ... Read more

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Brazil's northeastern state of Bahia has built its economy around attracting international tourists to what is billed as the locus of Afro-Brazilian culture and the epicenter of Brazilian racial harmony. Yet this inclusive ideal has a complicated past. Chronicling the discourse among intellectuals and state officials during the period from the abolition of slavery in 1888 to the start of Brazil's military regime in 1964, Anadelia Romo uncovers how the state's nonwhite majority moved from being a source of embarrassment to being a critical component of Bahia's identity.

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Top Secret is definitely not the right word for the International Spy Museum—its launch in 2002 made news and it has been high-profile ever since, with attendance growing by leaps and bounds. The International Spy Museum Handbook of Practical Spying has already been declassified to the delight of those in the need-to-know. Now, following up on that success, here's an illustrated biographical who's who of spydom from biblical days to recent times. I Lie for a Living is a regular rogue's gallery of history's most accomplished intriguers and intelligence operatives, famous and infamous alike.

It's amazing how colorful some of these characters are, like 16th century playwright, brawler and secret agent Christopher Marlow or Virginia Hall and Josephine Baker, femmes fatales both. Organized into ten thematic chapters, this light-hearted but clear-eyed look at lone-wolf moles, double agents, and intricate triple-crosses unmasks a wide-ranging roster from covert patriots whose unheralded heroism sometimes cost them their lives to mercenary traitors for sale to the highest bidder, like Benedict Arnold or Aldrich Ames.

It's a for-your-eyes-only kind of book, so beware—if you don't watch your back it's a sure bet someone will be reading it over your shoulder. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

poor bibliography, no index, prior knowledge required
I spotted this on the non-fiction shelf in my local library teen room and thought "Yeah, that's a book a teen boy would pick up." Being a few decades removed I can still tap into my inner teen boy. I picked it up without a seconds worth of hesitation.

But what a disappointment.

It's a smartly designed book, very contemporary graphics, layout and typeface, very much in step with what attracts a younger reader. It's also in keeping with the style of the International Spy Museum in Washington D.C. which is very interactive and modern as single-subject museums go.

After a brief intro about the long history of international spying we jump into chapters where spies are grouped by like: those who did it for the money, master spies, double agents, femmes fatales, and so on. Each of the spies get a full page photo or illustration and one-to-three pages about their lives as spies. And there are a lot of spies in this book. Easily half I've never heard of, most are single-page treatments (generally the non-Americans get short shrift) and they read like much longer entries that have been edited to within an inch of their lives. Many of the bios assume a large amount of understood history -- for example the bio of Allen Dulles, first civilian head of the CIA, assumes knowledge of The Bay of Pigs invasion and why it failed.

While the format of short bios on the subject of spying makes attractive reading for boys, and there's a lot of background stuffed into the pages, the book overall serves as little more than a jumping off point for further investigation in other books. Books, it should be noted, which aren't listed in the back of the book; the bibliography, such as it is, suggests books for further reading from which some of the information was drawn but it is woefully inadequate for a book that handles its information so loosely.

I've been to The International Spy Museum and they do a nifty thing where you pick up a dossier for a spy when you enter, follow their progress along the way through the exhibits, and in the end learn their ultimate fate. It ties the exhibits together, gives you a narrative to hold onto, makes you pay closer attention than you might if you were merely drifting through the space. It's too bad they couldn't bring some of that innovation to this book.

Good quick, easy read.
Very interesting and informative. Good for bathroom, car, or wherever you may need some quick stories to pass a few idle minutes or as a coffee table book to stimulate engaging conversation.

Each chapter (biographical profile) is 2-4 pages long and the book contains about 60 profiles. ... Read more

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“Entertaining and thought-provoking.”—Kirkus Reviews

Jeremy Cabbage stuck at Harpwitch’s Home for Mean Dogs, Ugly Cats, and Stray Children, where the dogs are treated better than the kids. And things aren’t much better on the outside: the city is ruled by the arrogant and foolish Baron Ignatius von Strompe, who’s on a campaign to stamp out anyone who’s different. At the top of his list are the outlandish people known as cloons, who look like clowns, say what they want, do as they please, and make everyone laugh the whole way through.

Jeremy’s only chance is a good adoption—but who would possibly adopt Jeremy, an unloved, unwanted eleven-year-old? The answer sets Jeremy off on an outrageous, comical adventure that brings him face-to-face with the Baron himself.

“This comical story promises to delight.”—School Library Journal ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Down with the Baron!
"Take a liberal base of Dickens, throw in a healthy helping of Dahl and spice with a bit of Margo Lanagan, and you might approximate the recipe that yielded this fey little fantasy." -Kirkus Reviews

Okay, that is cheating! You can't say that a book is a mix of things. There is not recipe for a sublime story. Besides, this quote is missing a few key ingredients. For example--

Orphans, an abandoned baby found in a box of cabbages, a brave girl that is mother to them all, betrayal, separation, an entrancing cigarette-smoking abomination of a woman, a claustrophobic treasure hunt, tyranny, revolt, totalitarian pomposity, clowns, women coming out of canons, human dictionaries and above all --COMPLETE MADCAP UNBRIDLED OPTIMISM.

It is 200+ pages of quadruped delights!

I Loved it!!!!!
What makes a family? This is only one of the questions that David Elliott seems to be asking in Jeremy Cabbage and the Living Museum of Human Oddballs. There are others, too: What is the definition of tolerance? What are the qualities that make a hero? (In Jeremy's case, rather than the knuckle-bearing, weapon-toting figures we hold up as models for boys today, it is keeping a steadfast heart.) But these important questions are asked subtly, embedded in a rollicking adventure that is both heart-warming and, at times, hilarious. Filled with a cast of eccentric, lovable characters, and with enough villians to make us curl our lips (in one case, one can't help but ask: Was Elliott thinking of a certain foolish but dangerous ego-driven President when he was writing the Baron?) Jeremy Cabbage would make a wonderful read aloud for any classroom or family. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll be sorry when you've finished.

"EVERYBODY DESERVES TO BE HAPPY"
A bit droll.A bit daffy.A lot of enjoyment.In other words, another story by the imaginative, irrepressible David Elliott.

We meet Jeremy Cabbage, an orphan and resident ofHarpwitch's Home for Mean Dogs, Ugly Cats and Strey Children (Ms. Harpwitch did not spell well).The day comes when he is adopted but rather than being clasped to the ample bosom of his new mother (and few bosoms are ampler), he hears, "Yeah, he's kinda scrawny but he'll do."That doesn't bode too well for Jeremy nor does his return to the Home andthe adoptions that follow, including the pair that simply wanted an au pair for their sick goldfish.

Jeremy really misses Polly who cared for him after finding him, an abandoned infant in a crate of cabbages.However,they were separated when a city ordered raid gathered up all orphan children.The city is Metropolis and it is ruledby a heartless man, Baron Ignatius von Strompie.Jeremy wonders where Polly is, if she was taken to a place as horrible as Harpwitch's Home.

At last, there's a ray of light when Jeremy is adopted again - this time by human clowns or cloons as the Baron has dubbed them because he detests everything different.And these clowns or cloons are unique in Metropolis because they're happy and they make people laugh. - anathema to the Baron and he vows to get rid of them.What chance do Jeremy and the cloons have against such power?Will he ever see Polly again?

With fond memories of Elliott's Roscoe Wizzle (2004) this reader adds theirresistible Jeremy Cabbage to my list of favorite characters.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke


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A pictorial history of the museum's life and work so far. Situated in Dudley, it is one of the Midlands biggest tourist attractions and celebrates its 25th anniversary in October 2000. ... Read more

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Living History Reader is the first collection of seminal articles about conducting living history. Written by museum interpreters and enthusiasts, the articles are thought-provoking, readable, and collectively present a cross-section of the best writing about historical simulation. ... Read more

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Trapped by a thunderstorm in a museum of prehistoric creatures that seem to come alive, the reader must find a way out of increasingly frightening situations. ... Read more

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"The Arts and Crafts Movement in California" is on the rich artistic and social history of the Arts and Crafts movement in California, as well as the highly collectible objects it produced. In a brief but intensely prolific period between about 1895 and 1930, California contributed significantly to the Arts and Crafts movement in America. Those contributions included the architecture, furniture and designs of Charles Sumner Greene and Henry Mather Greene; the architecture of Bernard Maybeck and Julia Morgan; the furniture, paintings, and decorative objects of Arthur and Lucia Mathews; the art potteries of Alberhill, Arequipa, Halcyon, Redlands, Rhead, Roblin, and Valetien; and the handwrought metalwork of Dick van Erp, Harry Dixon and Clemens Friedell. In addition, the revival of interest in the Spanish missions and native American mission handicrafts as symbols of honest work and harmonious living was uniquely Californian. This book investigates every aspect of the Arts and Crafts life, placing the works of art, architecture and even garden design in the context of that idealistic, energetically optimistic era. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

What a beautiful book
To be frank, I was looking for more in the arts and crafts of California silversmiths, such as the great Porter Blanchard and Arthur Thumler.They are in there, but the coverage of other arts and crafts as furniture and fabrics is more extensive.All in all, a good value. ... Read more

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In the late nineteenth century, Scandinavian urban dwellers developed a passion for a new, utterly modern sort of visual spectacle: objects and effigies brought to life in astonishingly detailed, realistic scenes. The period 1880-1910 was the popular high point of mannequin display in Europe. Living Pictures, Missing Persons explores this phenomenon as it unfolded with the rise of wax museums and folk museums in the largest cities of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway. Mark Sandberg asks: Why did modernity generate a cultural fascination with the idea of effigy? He shows that the idea of effigy is also a portal to understanding other aspects of visual entertainment in that period, including the widespread interest in illusionistic scenes and tableaux, in the "portability" of sights, spaces, and entire milieus.

Sandberg investigates this transformation of visual culture outside the usual test cases of the largest European metropolises. He argues that Scandinavian spectators desired an unusual degree of authenticity--a cultural preference for naturalism that made its way beyond theater to popular forms of museum display. The Scandinavian wax museums and folk-ethnographic displays of the era helped pre-cinematic spectators work out the social implications of both voyeuristic and immersive display techniques. This careful study thus anticipates some of the central paradoxes of twentieth-century visual culture--but in a time when the mannequin and the physical relic reigned supreme, and in a place where the contrast between tradition and modernity was a high-stakes game. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Scholarly look at waxworks and museums as entertainment
First, let me say I bought this in hopes of discovering more about antique mannequins, perhaps history of the genre.Serves me right for finding the cover photo so attractive.This is a very serious work about the phenomenon of their use as vehicles of entertainment and waxworks as a social commentary.At this, it succeeds but not what I expected at all.Halftone photos only, no color closeups or figure studies as I'd hoped.Certainly no biographies of famous mannequins makers (Madame Tussaud, Lester Gaba).Some of the tableaux pictured were interesting but hardly worth purchasing the book for.

For social studies, definitely.Fashion, art, well, not the intention of this book. ... Read more

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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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In 1830, Louisiana settler William S. Pike established an incredible five-hundred-acre plantation five miles from the heart of present-day Baton Rouge. His progeny continued to cherish the land for generations, all while pursuing unique and active lives. William Stephen Pike Burden Jr. became an amateur magician, and Ollie Brice Steele Burden, inspired by the formal gardens of Europe, designed Windrush Gardens. Today, the land is home to Louisiana State University's Rural Life Museum and houses rare collections of Louisiana folk life and working plantation materials. In this comprehensive history of LSU's beloved landmark, archivist Faye Phillips brings to life the hardships and toils, vision and determination of families in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Louisiana. ... Read more