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From the anguished, screaming, tortured canvases of Francis Bacon to the witty, ironic, twirling, sliced farmyard animals of Damien Hirst, Matthew Collings guides us merrily through art's Yellow Pages. "Matthew's wired and rushy art history, alternately irritating and insightful, gives late 20th century BritArt what it needs--a confusing, loony relevance".--David Bowie. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Needs to be updated.
I bought this book back in 1999. It was a year before the infamous Saatchi exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum. I think this book gives too much praise and favoratism to the British artists featured inside. It doesn't give any information on their flaws, and you need to know the artists' flaws in order to understand their work.

British art has been rising in prestige in the last decade, and this book should be updated for a new edition. It should also include American reactions to the Brooklyn Museum show in 2000, plus the changes in the artists' styles.

Corr!
Matthew Collings is extremely aware of the zeitgeist.His criticisms can be so accurate that it hurts.To get a broad overview on the phenomena of Brit Art I really can't reccommend it enough.

Lightweight but fun
The chattiness is fine.I haven't seen Collings on television but I can imagine how he'd be entertaining there.I wondered about his motives a few times when Collings' own paintings showed up deep in the background ofphotos -- obviously he's so deep in this world that he may have someagendas.But the overall impression is certainly friendly and the fewartists he dismisses are big enough to take it.It's a fun book you canread in a couple of hours.The only problem then is remembering any ofwhat's been said.

EXCELLENT VISUALLY, INCREDIBLY SELF-STROKING OTHERWISE.
I recommend this for the photos, almost completely. And I do not mean the cover photo where the author, Matthew Collings, has chosen to put a huge picture of himself with an eye-trapping bullseye painting behind his head.This mystified me, till I read the incredibly disorganized, ungrammaticalaccount Collings writes, really more of a reminiscence than a history.Along the way he attacks the brilliant R.B. Kitaj and the rest of theSchool of London(including those such as Bacon and Freud) as "a bunchof oldsters exhibiting their charcoal life drawings and stuff."Incisive commentary that. Collings must make Robert Hughes tremble.Basically this is one huge self-promotional book, but generouslyillustrated with works of Damien Hirst, Chris Ofili, Tracey Emin and othersfrom the infamous and brilliant SENSATION show, and contains, in spite ofits obnoxiously chatty style, many interesting anecdotes about the Londonart world. One can almost piece it together despite the annoying narrator.The current London art scene is beautifully dangerous and the SENSATIONShow(and I hope its catalog goes into print in the US soon)may be, in theend, as influential as the 1913 Armory Show, so it deserves study. Artneeded back some kind of edge. The book is an OK intro to the subject andthe photos alone justify purchase.

My only other complaint is theconstant recurrence of those completely nightmarish perversions ofconceptual art, the "living sculptures"(or charlatans, as I liketo call them) Gilbert and George, laced oddly throughout the book for noapparent reason. What do they do? In a nutshell, they go about and placethemselves in context, in photos or live. Why they think they'reinteresting wherever they're placed, or make a place interesting by theirpresence, is beyond me, but they've apparently made a great deal of lootfrom this. Go figure. John Roberson

Nah. It's not really all that good.
I'd recommend something with a bit more... Marc Quinn in it ... Read more

Product Description
Highlights of architecture, preservation, urban planning, and public art described by twoexperienced guides, with pictures, route maps,and transit information.The Municipal Art Society of New York recently celebrated its fiftieth year of offering walking tours to the public; in 2007 more than 10,000 people participated. This illustrated guidebook to highlights of architecture, preservation, urban planning, and public art described by two experienced guides, with pictures, route maps, and travel information, covers Manhattan from downtown skyscrapers to Harlem by way of Madison Square, Art Deco Midtown, Grand Central Terminal, Columbus Circle, Central Park, and more. 165 color photographs; 10 maps ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

fantastic!
This book was recommended by AAA.I bought it for my brother-in-law but couldn't help to flip through it before I gave it to him.He loves it too!!

Been waiting years for a book like this!
I've often wondered why there hasn't been a really good Manhattan walking tour book - it just seemed wierd. But now there is. The guys who wrote this book are outstanding. Really know their stuff. I learned a lot from reading this book - and I'm a lifelong New Yorker! And the photos are gorgeous, which is unusual for a book like this. I highly recommend it. ... Read more

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From the vantage point of the United States or Western Europe, the 1970s was a time of troubles: economic "stagflation," political scandal, and global turmoil. Yet from an international perspective it was a seminal decade, one that brought the reintegration of the world after the great divisions of the mid-twentieth century. It was the 1970s that introduced the world to the phenomenon of "globalization," as networks of interdependence bound peoples and societies in new and original ways.

The 1970s saw the breakdown of the postwar economic order and the advent of floating currencies and free capital movements. Non-state actors rose to prominence while the authority of the superpowers diminished. Transnational issues such as environmental protection, population control, and human rights attracted unprecedented attention. The decade transformed international politics, ending the era of bipolarity and launching two great revolutions that would have repercussions in the twenty-first century: the Iranian theocratic revolution and the Chinese market revolution.

The Shock of the Global examines the large-scale structural upheaval of the 1970s by transcending the standard frameworks of national borders and superpower relations. It reveals for the first time an international system in the throes of enduring transformations.

Customer Reviews (1)

They Don't Make Decades Like This Anymore
The 70s. An era sandwiched between the chaotic hedonism of the 60s and the finanical hedonism of the 80s. A 10 year span that began with the Kent State police-state murders and had the BeeGees, Watergate, Pol Pot, Ayatollah Khomeini, Obi Wan Kenobi and Jonestown sprinkled in before the drama-filled year of 1979 ( year, in fact, that merits its own book.) This collection of essays has, like all such books, some good and some not so hot entries. I generally found the economic ones a snoozefest (though the revelation that securitized mortgages started in 1970 was interesting) but the best ones concerned global politics, interdependence and security issues. The eradication of smallpox, a triumph of both medicine and Cold war superpower cooperation, is heralded as an example of the harmonization of human interest, though the author notes this was an under-the-radar low budget program that no one bothered to politicize. Sexual, feminist and decolonization liberation movements are discussed as being the natural successors of the 1960s cultural revolutions, and even rock music's groupie followings are discussed in this context. Overall, for any contemporary history buff,a must read. You may not agree with all of the essayists (the obvious apologist for Kissinger ignored so many of his evil legacies I almost thought he was referring to some alternate universe bizarro Kissinger), but hey, that's what historians are for, controversies, thought provocation and debate. ... Read more

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Publication date is uncertain, not given in book. Small, Maynard & Co. was established 1897 and filed bankruptcy in 1927. ... Read more

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This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.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

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.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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Approximately 75 detailed period photographs from the Francis Frith archive with extended captions and full introduction. Suitable for tourists, local historians and general readers. Includes a voucher for a free mounted print of any photograph shown in the book. ... Read more

Product Description
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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A brief biography of the southern plantation owner whose knowledge of the swamps helped keep the Revolution alive in the South. ... Read more

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In the early 1990s the American academic, political commentator and government advisor, Francis Fukuyama, leapt to prominence with his argument that society had entered a new and lasting phase. He claimed that the change was so dramatic that it might be accurately depicted as the end of history. Fukuyama derived his argument from the writings of Kant, Hegel and a critical reading of Marx. This new phase represented the worldwide triumph of liberal democracy with the collapse of communism. History has ended in the sense that there is no more room for large ideological battles. This volume is an in-depth discussion of Fukuyama's argument. It also relates Fukuyama's theory of history, to Karl Popper's criticism of historicism and attempts to denote the connection between Fukuyama's account of history and its importance in evaluating the recent course of international relations and US foreign policy. ... Read more

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The Gospel According To Matthew
The book was in very good conditon, and arrived sooner than expected. I was very pleased with this purchase. ... Read more

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A catalogue designed to accompany a display of over 40 of Francis Bacon's working drawings mounted at the Tate Gallery in Spring 1999. The show provides the first detailed examination of a hitherto unknown aspect of Bacon's work, together with revealing archival material. ... Read more

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Secret Vices
This short book served as a catalogue for an exhibition at the Tate in London in 1999 and is one of the more sensitive explorations into Francis Bacon's artistic thoughts.Though known to approach unfixed canvas (in his much talked about trashy studio) with brush and paint and palette knife in hand and attack his story until it was complete, Bacon actually spent a considerable amount of time sketching ideas which often became his huge scaled painting.David Sylvester opens this Pandora's box with a pithy introduction and Matthew Gale presents a sophisticated, scholarly examination of this heretofore unknown aspect of Francis Bacon.The plates of the sketches, all included in the atalogue, prove startling even to the most ardent Baconophile.This is a treasure chest of nascent thought and aborted ideas.....and makes for splendid reading. ... Read more

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This study re-evaluates the religious beliefs of Francis Bacon and the role which his theology played in the development of his program for the reform of learning and the natural sciences, the Great Instauration. Bacon's Instauration writings are saturated with theological statements and Biblical references which inform and explain his program, yet this aspect of his writings has received little attention. Previous considerations of Bacon's religion have been drawn from a fairly short list of his published writings. Consequently, Bacon has been portrayed as everything from an atheist to a Puritan; scholarly consensus is lacking. This book argues that by considering the historical context of Bacon's society, and his conversion from Puritanism to anti-Calvinism as a young man, his own theology can be brought into clearer focus, and his philosophy more properly understood.After leaving his mother's household, Bacon underwent a transformation of belief which led him away from his mother's Calvinism and toward the writings of the ancient Church Fathers, particularly Irenaeus of Lyon.Bacon's theology increasingly came to reflect the theological interests of his friend and editor Lancelot Andrewes. The patristic turn of Bacon's belief in the last two decades of the reign of Elizabeth significantly affected the development of his philosophical program which was produced in the first two decades of the Stuart era.This study then examines the theology present in the Instauration writings themselves and concludes with a consideration of the effect which Bacon's theology had on the subsequent direction of empirical science and natural theology in the English context. In so doing, it not only offers a new perspective on Bacon, but will serve as a contribution toward a better understanding of the religious context of, and motivations behind, empirical science in early modern England. ... Read more

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A first collection of poetry explores the dark side of the human personality, exploring the themes of nightmares, alienation, the threat of extinction, existential terrors, and a host of anxieties, real and petty alike. ... Read more

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This adaptation of Dicken's famous epic novel of the French revolution tells the story of English lawyer Sydney Carton and French aristocrat Charles Darnay, both caught up in the bloodshed of the French Revolution. The dramatization attempts to stay close to the atmosphere of the original text, by utilizing a simple set, with numerous lighting changes and sound effects, minimal props and vivid stage images. ... Read more

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This is a straightforward, no-nonsense guide for children using Microsoft Windows for the first time, an d for those who want to improve their skills. ' ... Read more