Category Archives: Books

Literary Tribute: Rachel Carson “Dreams Of The Sea” (The New Yorker)

The New Yorker Radio Hour logoBefore she published “Silent Spring,” one of the most influential books of the last century, Rachel Carson was a young aspiring poet and then a graduate student in marine biology. Although she couldn’t swim and disliked boats, Carson fell in love with the ocean. Her early books—including “The Sea Around Us,” “The Edge of the Sea” and “Under the Sea Wind”—were like no other nature writing of their time, 

The Edge of the Sea Rachel CarsonJill Lepore says: Carson made you feel you were right there with her, gazing into the depths of a tide pool or lying in a cave lined with sea sponges. Lepore notes that Carson was wondering about a warming trend in the ocean as early as the 1940s, and was planning to explore it after the publication of “Silent Spring.” If she had not died early, of cancer, could Carson have brought climate change to national attention well before it was too late?

Excerpts from Carson’s work were read by Charlayne Woodard, and used with permission of Carson’s estate.

Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 – April 14, 1964) was an American marine biologist, author, and conservationist whose book Silent Spring and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement.

Carson began her career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely praised 1951 bestseller The Sea Around Us won her a U.S. National Book Award, recognition as a gifted writer, and financial security. Her next book, The Edge of the Sea, and the reissued version of her first book, Under the Sea Wind, were also bestsellers. This sea trilogy explores the whole of ocean life from the shores to the depths.

Late in the 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation, especially some problems that she believed were caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was the book Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented share of the American people. Although Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy, which led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides. It also inspired a grassroots environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter.

Bio from Wikipedia

1950’s Artwork: English Painter John Minton’s “Lavish” Food Book Covers

From Apollo Magazine article (April 13, 2020):

John Minton Illustration for French Cooking by Eizabeth DavidMinton had gone on to produce a series of spectacularly colourful oil paintings of Corsica on his return to London, exhibiting them at the Lefevre Gallery in 1949. Many of them depicted fruit and fish and other ingredients for Mediterranean cuisine, and so confirmed Minton as the obvious choice for the David commission. 

David delightedly recalled that: ‘In the shop windows [Minton’s] brilliant blue Mediterranean bay, his tables spread with white cloths and bright fruit, bowls of pasta and rice, a lobster, pitchers and jugs and bottles of wine, could be seen far down the street.’

Variations on these two images were used for the double-page spread on which the title appeared in David’s second book, French Country Cooking (1951), while the wrap-around image on the dust jacket depicted the interior of a well-stocked kitchen, many of its utensils borrowed from the author to ensure accurate representation.

Read full article

Francis John Minton (25 December 1917 – 20 January 1957) was an English painter, illustrator, stage designer and teacher. After studying in France, he became a teacher in London, and at the same time maintained a consistently large output of works. In addition to landscapes, portraits and other paintings, some of them on an unusually large scale, he built up a reputation as an illustrator of books.

In the mid-1950s, Minton found himself out of sympathy with the abstract trend that was then becoming fashionable, and felt increasingly sidelined. He suffered psychological problems, self-medicated with alcohol, and in 1957 died by suicide.

From Wikipedia

New Hospitality Books: “Amerifine – Hotels: Icons Of American Luxury (2020)

The fifty independently owned and operated hotels in this book make up the best of Amerifine Icons of American Luxury - Hotels - Assouline April 2020what the United States can offer: extraordinary locations, exquisite design, fantastic food, and boundless comfort. These first-class establishments are run by American hoteliers with a passion for proper American hospitality.

Over the course of the last two centuries, the American hotel has become a fixture of the modern lifestyle and a concept that has revolutionized travel, created subcultures, and given new meaning to locales both urban and remote. A superior hotel is much more than a place to spend the night: it is an institution, a cultural center, an icon of luxury. Since the 19th-century opening of the Tremont House—America’s very first five-star hotel—the great American hotels have come to symbolized style, opulence and social distinction to well-heeled travelers from around the globe.

Amerifine Icons of American Luxury - Hotels - Assouline April 2020

Amerifine, a discerning voice of American luxury, has endeavored to curate the finest, most iconic expressions of American hospitality currently in operation. Without exception, each hotel pictured here fulfills and transcends the great responsibility of the modern hotel: to turn each visitor’s experience of their destination into something truly memorable.

Faye Mythen was born in London but lives between the USA and Europe. She is a passionate Ameriphile and founded Amerifine to promote the most ambitious and well-loved American luxury brands and hotels and experiences. Mythen’s career spans 25 years as a entrepreneur, uncovering new businesses, several of which embody America’s proud history of excellence, craftsmanship and great design.

Read more or purchase

New Photography Books: “Peter Beard” – “Life As Works Of Art” (Taschen)

Peter Beard Book Taschen 2020He collaborated with Francis Bacon and  Salvador Dalí, he made diaries with  Andy Warhol, worked on books with scientists like Dr. Norman Borlaug, Dr. Richard Laws, and Alistair Graham, and toured with Truman Capote, Terry Southern, and the Rolling Stones—all of whom are brought to life, literally and figuratively, in his work. He delved into the world of fashion for its beautiful women, taking Vogue stars like Veruschka to Africa and bringing new ones back to the U.S. with him.

Seba

Artist, diarist, collector, and writer Peter Beard has fashioned his life into a work of art; the illustrated diaries he kept from a young age evolved into a serious career as an artist and earned him a central position in the international art world.

Peter Beard Taschen 2020

After spending time in Kenya and striking up a friendship with the author Isak Dinesen (Karen Blixen) in the early 1960s, Beard bought 50 acres next to her farm with the stipulation that he would film and write about the land and its flora and fauna. He witnessed the dawn of Kenya’s population explosion, which challenged finite resources and stressed animal populations—including the starving elephants of Tsavo dying by the tens of thousands in a wasteland of eaten trees. So he documented what he saw—with diaries, photographs, and collages. He went against the wind in publishing unique and sometimes shocking books of these works, including The End of the GameThe corpses were laid bare; the facts carefully recorded, sometimes in type and often by hand. Beard uses his photographs as a canvas onto which he superimposes multi-layered contact sheets, ephemera, found objects, newspaper clippings that are elaborately embellished with meticulous handwriting, old-master inspired drawings, and often swaths of animal blood used as paint.

In 2006, TASCHEN first published the book that has come to define his oeuvre, signed by the artist and published in two volumes. It sold out instantly and became a highly sought-after collector’s item. In the decade since, the monograph has been revived in two smaller versions; but sometimes, bigger is better. Now, the book you haven’t been able to get your hands on is available in one large-format volume.

The artist

Born in New York City in 1938, Peter Beard began taking photographs and keeping diaries from early childhood. By the time he graduated from Yale University, he had developed a keen interest in Africa. Throughout the 1960s and ’70s he worked in Tsavo Park, the Aberdares, and Lake Rudolf in Kenya’s northern frontier. A constant creator, Beard the chronicler photographs, writes, draws, collages and assembles a history of his life experiences and our own. He lives in New York City, Long Island, and Kenya with his wife, Nejma, and daughter, Zara.

The editors

Nejma Beard is Peter Beard’s agent and Executive Director of the Peter Beard Studio. Her spirit and experience are synchronous with Beard’s—having been born and raised in Kenya. This deep familiarity and a devotion to a place and a people forms their unique collaborative relationship. Primary to her work is a deep concern for the future of the world and a commitment to ecologic efforts. She curates exhibitions, art-directs photo shoots, and edits and assists with all Beard publications.

David Fahey is co-owner of the Fahey/Klein Gallery, Los Angeles. During his 31-year career in the field, he has collaborated on over 45 fine art photography books. He is the co-vice president of the Herb Ritts Foundation and serves on the Photography Advisory Council for the J. Paul Getty Museum.

The authors

Owen Edwards has written about photography for more than 30 years for numerous publications including American PhotographerNew York Times Magazine, and Smithsonian.

Steven M. L. Aronson, a former book publisher, is a writer and editor. He edited and published Peter Beard’s book Longing for Darkness and wrote the T.V. special The End of the Game. He is the author of HYPE and the co-author of Savage Grace.

The contributor

Ruth Ansel is an award-winning art director known for her innovative design at many of America’s top fashion and cultural magazines since the 1960s. Ansel Design Studio (est. 1992) has produced international fashion campaigns and books with photographers including Peter Beard, Richard Avedon, and Annie Leibovitz.

 

Read more or purchase

Travel & Culture Books: “Mykonos Muse” In The Greek Islands (Assouline)

Mykonos Muse Assouline May 4 2020With such names as ‘Paradise’ and ‘Super Paradise,’ the sands of these shores have captured the imaginations and hearts of industry titans, artists, and party-goers alike from all around the globe, marking it as a stable cosmopolitan destination and as a paramount it haven on the jet-set circuit.

Located in the Cyclades and surrounded by the blue-green water of the Aegean sits whitewashed, windmill-strewn Mykonos, the island of the winds. This ancient island and those surrounding it, mythologized as the bodies of gods felled by Hercules in the time of antiquity, are older than legend and have played host to countless cultures for more than millennia. At forty-square-miles and boasting a population of only ten-thousand, the ‘Ibiza of Greece’ has become prized for gorgeous architecture, welcoming and open-minded locals, and fantastic beaches.

Mykonos Muse Assouline May 4 2020

This book chronicles the culture and society that has defined Mykonos over the past century—from its days as a hideout for such luminaries and elites as Le Corbusier and Antonis Benakis, to its moment as a sanctuary for the gay community,to its predominant party scene—all the while indulging the reader with the ruins and myths hidden there.

Lizy Manola is a Greek photographer. A freelancer, her focus is on documentary photography. For more than fifteen years, she has traveled and shot in distant places, where culture and everyday life preserve their natural authenticity. She has published two books with Assouline, Certain Realities and Ethiopian Highlands. Her work has featured in solo and group exhibitions in Greece and worldwide. She lives and works in Athens and New York. Thirty years ago, she bought a house on Mykonos; she has spent endless summers holidays on the island ever since.

Read more or purchase

New Travel Books: “Athens Riviera”, Stéphanie Artarit (Assouline, May 2020)

Athens Riviera Assouline May 25 2020Overlooking the Aegean Sea, a charming string of coastal neighborhoods form the Athens Riviera, a serene escape from the constant activity in the city’s center. A selection of high-end hotels lines the pristine stretch of beaches down to the southernmost point of the Attica Peninsula.

The revamped Four Seasons Astir Palace, with a history of housing foreign dignitaries and film stars of the 1960s, is the most luxurious hotel in Athens, perhaps even in all of Greece. The night club, Island, is bringing back the glamour and excitement of the twentieth century bouzouki clubs reminiscent of names such as Melina Mercouri and Stavros Niarchos.

Athens Riviera Assouline May 25 2020

Athens is experiencing a revival—in art, night life and design. For a metropolis constantly associated with the past, the modern strides in development and culture are sometimes overlooked in favor of the ruins and artifacts from antiquity. When in fact, the juxtaposition only enhances the beauty of both. Athens Riviera puts the old-world beside the new-world and a deeper understanding of this ancient capital emerges. With one foot in the past and one foot in the future; access to both the electricity of city life and the tranquility of a beach side resort, Athens cannot be defined in simple terms. One just has to experience it for themselves.

Stéphanie Artarit began her career as a journalist, and worked as a psychoanalyst for many years in Tokyo. She then went on to write the novel Variations of the Devil in 2013. Today, she divides her time between homes in Athens and the Cycladic island of Antiparos, where she also operates her boutique, Petit Tipota, and represents several French fashion labels in Greece. In 2018, she began her company, The Gang of Style, which specializes in designing in-house boutiques for luxury hotels all over the world.

Read more or purchase

Video Profiles: 60-Year Old British Painter-Author Billy Childish Talks About “Th Future Of Art” (Artsy)

The Uncorrected Billy Childish“The art world is the same as the rest of the world,” says British artist, writer, and punk-rocker Billy Childish. “What it requires is new, more, and now.” Childish has worked defiantly and prolifically outside of the mainstream since his expulsion from art school in the early 1980s. To the polymath—whose paintings, poems, novels, and music draw heavily from his autobiography—art is a deeply personal experience that should not rely on external validation, whether from critics or audiences. From his painting studio located on a historic dockyard in Kent, United Kingdom, Childish speaks passionately about the freedom that comes with self-validation. When asked about his perspective on the future of art, he demurs. “People think we’re continually ascending a mountain to success or to enlightenment,” he says. “It’s here and now and this is it.”

Read more

Podcast Interviews: Craig Brown, Author Of “One Two Three Four – The Beatles In Time” (Monocle)

Monocle on Culture PodcastsRobert Bound speaks to writer Craig Brown about his new biography of the Beatles, called ‘One Two Three Four: The Beatles in Time’. How do you say something fresh about one of the most written-about bands in history?

Author/writer Craig Brown
Author Craig Brown

From the award-winning author of Ma’am Darling: 99 Glimpses of Princess Margaret comes a fascinating, hilarious, kaleidoscopic biography of the Fab Four.

John Updike compared them to ‘the sun coming out on an Easter morning’. Bob Dylan introduced them to drugs. The Duchess of Windsor adored them. Noel Coward despised them. JRR Tolkien snubbed them. The Rolling Stones copied them. Loenard Bernstein admired them. Muhammad Ali called them ‘little sissies’. Successive Prime Ministers sucked up to them. No one has remained unaffected by the music of The Beatles. As Queen Elizabeth II observed on her golden wedding anniversary, ‘Think what we would have missed if we had never heard The Beatles.’

One Two Three Four traces the chance fusion of the four key elements that made up The Beatles: fire (John), water (Paul), air (George) and earth (Ringo). It also tells the bizarre and often unfortunate tales of the disparate and colourful people within their orbit, among them Fred Lennon, Yoko Ono, the Maharishi, Aunt Mimi, Helen Shapiro, the con artist Magic Alex, Phil Spector, their psychedelic dentist John Riley and their failed nemesis, Det Sgt Norman Pilcher.

From the bestselling author of Ma’am Darling comes a kaleidoscopic mixture of history, etymology, diaries, autobiography, fan letters, essays, parallel lives, party lists, charts, interviews, announcements and stories. One Two Three Four joyfully echoes the frenetic hurly-burly of an era.

Read more or purchase

New Art & Nature Books: “What It’s Like To Be A Bird” – David Allen Sibley (2020)

While its focus is on familiar backyard birds–blue jays, nuthatches, chickadees–it also examines certain species that can be fairly easily observed, such as the What It's Like To Be A Bird David Allen Sibley Cover April 15 2020seashore-dwelling Atlantic puffin. David Sibley’s exacting artwork and wide-ranging expertise bring observed behaviors vividly to life. 

The bird book for birders and nonbirders alike that will excite and inspire by providing a new and deeper understanding of what common, mostly backyard, birds are doing–and why.

“Can birds smell?” “Is this the same cardinal that was at my feeder last year?” “Do robins ‘hear’ worms?” In What It’s Like to Be a Bird, David Sibley answers the most frequently asked questions about the birds we see most often. This special, large-format volume is geared as much to nonbirders as it is to the out-and-out obsessed, covering more than two hundred species and including more than 330 new illustrations by the author.

What It's Like To Be A Bird David Allen Sibley April 15 2020

And while the text is aimed at adults–including fascinating new scientific research on the myriad ways birds have adapted to environmental changes–it is nontechnical, making it the perfect occasion for parents and grandparents to share their love of birds with young children, who will delight in the big, full-color illustrations of birds in action. Unlike any other book he has written, What It’s Like to Be a Bird is poised to bring a whole new audience to David Sibley’s world of birds.

Author Website

DAVID ALLEN SIBLEY is the author and illustrator of the series of successful guides to nature that bear his name, including The Sibley Guide to Birds. He has contributed to Smithsonian, Science, The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, Birding, BirdWatching, North American Birds, and The New York Times. He is a recipient of the Roger Tory Peterson Award for Promoting the Cause of Birding from the American Birding Association and the Linnaean Society of New York’s Eisenmann Medal. He lives and birds in Massachusetts.

Read more or purchase

Travel & Photography: “Amalfi Coast” – “Pinnacle Of The Italian Dream” (Assouline, April 2020)

Amalfi Coast by Carlos Souza and Charlene Shorto Assouline April 2020The Amalfi Coast is the pinnacle of the Italian dream. Tucked amongst the lemon blossoms and the bougainvillea is a line of thirteen towns that comprise the Amalfi Coast. Known for its vertical landscape, the villages are only accessible via the Strada Statale 163 — a narrow, winding, cliffside route that while unsettling to traverse, offers unparalleled views.

This magical strip joins the mountains and the Mediterranean Sea below and aesthetes from around the world flock here year after year to enjoy its quaint pebbled beaches, scenic hikes, perfect climate and legendary establishments, which are not limited to storied hotels and restaurants.

Amalfi Coast by Carlos Souza and Charlene Shorto Assouline 2020

Landmarks from the Cathedral in Amalfi to Villa Rufolo in Ravello, all evoke the culture and the spirit of bygone centuries, and landmarks enjoyed by the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy, John Steinbeck, and Gore Vidal abound. With its signature limoncello, both grown and enjoyed locally, finest villas and breathtaking vistas, the Amalfi Coast is in a class of its own.

Carlos Souza is a global brand ambassador for Valentino and a contributor at Architectural Digest with over forty years of experience in the art and fashion world. His photography career began at the request of Andy Warhol, who asked him to shoot fashion shows for Interview. He has previously worked with Assouline on #Carlos’s Places (2014) and Comporta Bliss (2018).

Charlene Shorto was born in Recife, Brazil, and educated in Switzerland and Great Britain. She is wed to Carlos Souza and has two sons, Sean and Anthony. The family moved to Rome, where Charlene worked tirelessly under the fashion designer Valentino, eventually ascending to the position of director of Oliver by Valentino. Shorto also collaborated with Souza on Comporta Bliss (2018).

Read more or order