David Brown Book Company

Aegean wall painting; a tribute to Mark Cameron.

In honor of the late Mark Cameron, a scholar of Minoan painting, Morgan compiles 12 essays and two technical studies concerning recent discoveries and ideas in the study of Aegean painting of the Bronze Age. She provides an overview of characteristics of the paintings, followed by essays on chronology and dating, the artists' perception of the natural world, ideology and ritual activity, and the relationship between image and reality. The technical studies present analyses on plasters, pigments and methods of production. Sixty-four color and b&w plates are included. Many of the contributors were colleagues of Cameron and draw upon his work. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Agora excavations, 1931-2006; a pictorial history.

Of the 125 years that the American School of Classical Studies at Athens has been around, it has been excavating the ancient agora in Athens for 75, and counting. To celebrate the anniversaries, Mauzy has assembled a representative collection of photographs, from the first clearing of rubble with horses and carts to the latest reconstruction efforts. Books from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens are distributed in the US by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Anglo-Saxon attitudes; a short introduction to Anglo-Saxonism.

Hilton, who seems to be based in Manchester, describes the history, current state, and variations of the study of Anglo-Saxons. He considers not only the body of knowledge about the people, but also the methods used to study and interpret them in such fields as philology, literary criticism, history, and archaeology. The varieties down the centuries include Renaissance, Enlightened, Romantic, Germanic, democratic, patriotic, and post-modern. He does not include an index. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Arabia Felix; an exploration of the archaeological history of Yemen. (reprint, 1996)

Since 1970, De Maigret has been the director of the Italian archaeological mission ISMEO in Yemen, helping reconstruct the prehistory and pre-Islamic history of that country. His synthesis of findings, Arabia Felix — un Viaggo nell'Archaeologia dello Yemen, was published by Rusconi Libri s.r.l. in 1996, and translated into English that same year by Rebecca Thompson. Though more information has come to light since then, the original text was thought worth reprinting without change. Distributed in the US by Interlink Publishing Group. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Archaeomalacology; molluscs in former environments of human behaviour; proceedings.

Papers from an August 2002 conference describe the latest findings in archaeomalacology (the study of molluscs in archaeological contexts) in America, Europe, and Asia. Some specific topics examined include seasonal collections of coquina clams during the Archaic and St. Johns periods in coastal Northern Florida, shell middens on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua, and reconstructing murex Royal Purple and Biblical Blue in the Aegean. There is no subject index. The book is distributed in the US by The David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Archaeology of the Jubilee Line extension; prehistoric and Roman activity at Stratford Market Depot, West Ham, London 1991-1993.

Archaeological investigations at a site in the suburbs of London uncovered a multi-period site with evidence of human habitation going back to the Mesolithic and Neolithic periods. Reports from the project are offered here. An introduction gives background on the project, and later chapters describe the topology and geology of the area and look at the artifacts and other evidence found there. B&w photos of the site are included, but author information is not given. The book is distributed in the US by David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The artist as polyhistor; "The intellectual superstructure", in the work of Per Kirkeby.

Morell cites Tojner as saying the first part of Kirkeby's art deals with history and the second with nature, but asserts that in fact Kirkeby works within an epistemological space and concentrates on the relationship between science and art as a "polyhistor," or one of the multi-learned. Morell examines Kirkeby's treatment of literature and philosophy, theology, genetics, museology, crystallography, tectonics and architectonics, anti-hermeneutics, scopics, erotics, and cosmology in his paintings. Morell's text makes very good use of his significant access to Kirkeby himself and to the scholarly community that has grown to admire his work. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Artemisia Gentileschi; taking stock.

In this volume 10 art historians respond to a 2002 exhibit at the St. Louis Art Museum with conflicting opinions about the work and life of Artemisia Gentileschi. The articles address particular paintings as well as more general themes such as attitudes toward women's improper sexual behavior in 17th-century Rome, Artemisia's production, and the politics of reputation. The text is accompanied by b&w reproductions and color plates. Distributed by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Bayt al-'Aqqad; the history and restoration of a house in old Damascus.

The Danish Institute in Damascus is housed in a splendid 18th-century stone building that the Institute restored beginning in 1996. Accessible to the popular reader, though especially directed at archaeologists and architectural historians, and illustrated with many full- page color photos in an oversize format (the book is 10.75x10.75 inches), this volume presents a detailed description of the process of restoration, including selection of media, source of materials, methods and history of the use of the materials in the area, and the history of the house itself. A lengthy separate chapter describes the reconstruction of the part of the house that incorporates part of a Roman theatre built by Herod. Distributed in the US by David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The big show; British cinema culture in the Great War; 1914-1918.

Parallel to the Great War ran the Big Show in Britain, and eventually their two paths crossed. Here Hammond (English/film, U. of Southampton) shows how the situation resulted not in Hollywood's domination of the British film market but in the eventual cultural acceptance of the cinema as a part of British social life. In a series of case studies, which he wisely locates in Southampton, he traces the ways cinema expressed the experiences of war; he explains the impact of films based on the heroes and the fallen, the various reactions to realism the beginnings of the respectability of film with Griffith, the work of Chaplin which needed no transatlantic translation, and the emergence of a remarkable and compelling combination of tragic and comic imagery in 1918. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Body language in the Greek and Roman worlds.

Paintings, sculpture, stage directions, and literary representation are among the evidence that 10 papers from a panel at a classics conference in Glasgow in September 2002 draw on to explore how classical Greeks and Romans understood and used body language. Their topics include the semantics of ancient Greek smiles, bullish looks and sidelong glances, gestures in early Roman law, and nonverbal behavior on the Roman comic state. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Borders, barriers, and ethnogenesis; frontiers in late antiquity and the middle ages.

Historians of the middle ages, especially those interested in expanding their knowledge of the countries in eastern Europe, will find much to value in this collection of articles. The topic of boundaries expands to touch on many social and cultural issues as well as political ones concerning frontiers and the conceptualization of states. Of particular interest are the articles on the lengthy fortified walls, dikes, and forts of Bulgaria. Borders and ethnicity in Persia, the Byzantine-Arab border, Carolingian and Ottonian borders, and Rome and the ancient Germans are some of the topics. Most of the contributions draw their resources from archaeology. Not indexed. Distributed by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Byzantine to modern pottery in the Aegean; the 7th to 20th century; an introduction and field guide.

In the kind of guide she wishes had been available when she began research into the relatively neglected study of post-Classical Aegean pottery, Vroom (archeology, U. of East Anglia, UK) offers a historical time-line from the Early Byzantine to Modern periods, well-illustrated descriptions-cum-identification keys of table and kitchen wares, an overview of their main shapes, and site maps. For each period, she discusses the most important and frequently found wares. The reference also features a review of dating issues, glossary, and references for each period. Her 2003 PhD thesis is titled After Antiquity: Ceramics and Society in the Aegean from the 7th to the 20th century A.C.. Distributed by the David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Calima and Malagana; art and archaeology in southwestern Colombia.

Making 25-years of research in Calima and the Cauca Valley available to the public, this volume describes the distribution of various styles and chronicles changes in the landscape and its human use in the Holocene, Ilama, and Sonso periods. It also covers the Malagana people and the Spanish conquest in the area. To provide material for professionals and non-specialists alike, the editors present some data and the more complex or contradictory arguments in note form and provide two-tiered captions, with a brief description in bold type and more detailed description in normal type. Distributed by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Care for the here and the hereafter; memoria, art and ritual in the middle ages.

Based on presentations made at two conferences (in 2000: Life After Death: Commemoration in Medieval Utrecht; and in 2001: Care for the Here and the Hereafter), 12 papers (two are in German) and an epilogue focus on a broad range of topics related to commemoration of the dead in the Middle Ages. The contributions look at monuments, liturgies, funeral regulations, and art donations, and address themes such as culture and memory after the Black Death and genealogical representation in gendered perspective, among other topics. The volume includes numerous b&w reproductions and a section of color plates. Indexing is by names, places, and illustrations. Editor van Bureren is an art historian affiliated with Utrecht University. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Castles in context; power, symbolism and landscape, 1066-1500.

Writing for castle enthusiasts and scholars who might not be aware of the revolution in the subject that has occurred in the last decade, Liddiard, (landscape history, U. of East Anglia) describes new thinking about castles that extends beyond their role as military fortresses. The emphasis is on how people experienced castles in the Middle Ages and the intent and impact of architecture, site, and design in the social and landscape context. The text is accessible, and the illustrations include color and monochrome photographs and period and modern illustrations. Distributed in the US by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Çatalhöyük perspectives; reports from the 1995-99 seasons.

Hodder (cultural and social anthropology, Stanford U.) presents the sixth volume in the sequence of McDonald Institute/British Institute of Archeology at Ankara monographs publishing the work of the Çatalhöyük Research Project, which excavated a large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement near the present-day city of Konya, Turkey during 1995-1999. The volume draws on the materials in the earlier publications to synthetically deal with broad themes in which data from architecture and excavation contexts are liked into discussion of topics such as seasonality, art, and social memory. Other topics discussed in the 14 chapters include foodways, group identity and the politics of dwelling, the history of settlement, life-course of buildings, and fire technology. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Chatsworth; a landscape history.

Chatsworth has been the seat of the Cavendish family since 1546. The building is stunning, but the gardens, parks, and rolling pastoral scenes around it are spectacular. Here nearly a hundred photographs and period illustrations give readers a sense of how a very imposing house can seem to belong to its surroundings. Archeologist Barnett and Williamson (landscape history, U. of East Anglia) include stories of how a succession of Dukes of Devonshire, the truly impressive Elizabeth of Hardwick, Capability Brown and Joseph Paxton each shaped the landscape around the house and how the medieval field system that preceded them affected the outcome. Amongst the most interesting illustrations are the period maps of the parks and house and photographs of how the surrounding landscape refers to the parks and gardens. Distributed by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Chalkis Aitolias I; the prehistoric periods.

Archaeologists begin a series of volumes reporting the results of excavations in and around the ancient Greek coastal city of Chalkis from 1995 to 2001. This first volume summarizes the studies of the Bronze Age of Aghia Triada, and catalogs contexts and finds from that site. It also looks at social transformation and changing ideology at neolithic Pangali, on the east slope of Mount Varassova, and the pottery found there. Appendices examine shellfish and animals bones from the two sites and ages. There is no index. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Changing materialities at Çatalhöyük; reports from the 1995-99 seasons.

Hodder (cultural and social anthropology, Stanford U.) presents the fifth volume in the sequence of McDonald Institute/British Institute of Archeology at Ankara monographs publishing the work of the Çatalhöyük Research Project, which excavated a large Neolithic and Chalcolithic settlement near the present-day city of Konya, Turkey during 1995-1999. This volume focuses on aspects of the material culture excavated and contains 18 chapters detailing findings related to pottery, domestic uses of clay, stamp seals, figurines, obsidian use, ground-stone artifacts, beads, worked bone, and basketry, in addition to discussion of methodological issues of dating, residue analysis, and statistical integration of contextual data. The CD-ROM contains supplementary text, figures, and tables related to a number of the books chapters. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Christians and Christianity in the Holy Land; from the origins to the Latin Kingdoms.

Historians, religious scholars, and scholars of the Middle East begin with five chronological essays on Christianity in its native land during the millennium from its origins to the Crusades and subsequent 100-year European occupation of the Holy Land. Then they focus on major themes and issues such as monasticism, Christians and Jews in Byzantine Palestine, pilgrimage and Christian sacred landscape, the liturgy of Jerusalem in the Byzantine period, and the Holy Land in Christian art. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2007 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)