Today’s Washington Post included a strong review by Michael Dirda of David Crystal’s A Little Book of Language: “Like Gombrich’s A Little History of the World, Crystal’s A Little Book of Language may be for children (of all ages, as the saying goes), yet it’s by no means childish or juvenile. In other words,
With the 2010 FIFA World Cup little more than a week away, host country South Africa is putting the finishing touches on preparations that began more than six years ago. The decision to stage the competition in South Africa is an historic one, as it represents the first time an
Y-IPPY! YUP and our museum distribution partners won ten awards at the 2010 Independent Publisher Book Awards! Fine Art Cézanne and Beyond, by Joseph J. Rishel and Katherine Sachs (Philadelphia Museum of Art) The Drawings of Bronzino, by Carmen C. Bambach, Janet Cox-Rearick and George R. Goldner (The Metropolitan Museum of
The youngest son of the powerful Whig minister Robert Walpole, Horace Walpole (1717-1797) was famous in his day for his extraordinary collections of rare books and manuscripts, antiquities, paintings, prints and drawings, furniture, ceramics, arms and armor, and curiosities, all displayed at his pioneering Gothic Revival house at Strawberry Hill,
Ahmed Rashid, the internationally acclaimed journalist and author of Taliban, has been in high demand with news media lately. Rashid has a column in today’s New York Daily News, was on NPR’s Talk of the Nation yesterday while another column of his ran in the Washington Post, and last weekend,
Niccolò Machiavelli, the Florentine public servant and political theorist best known for his brief yet highly influential work of political philosophy, The Prince, was born on this day in 1469. Though the man’s name may be now synonymous with cunning and deceitful political tactics, the debate as to whether Machiavelli’s
Before there were LOLcats, there was the art of Victorian photocollage. Today’s Wall Street Journal features an online slideshow of whimsical assemblages created by highly creative women in 19th century England. These images, which place human heads on animal bodies and assemble bizarre dinner parties in painted landscapes, are taken
Alberto Manguel delivers the Finzi-Contini Lecture at Yale University, entitled “Borges and the Impossibility of Writing”. He is introduced by Maria Menocal, director of the Whitney Humanities Center. An acclaimed anthologist, translator, essayist, novelist, and editor, Manguel once served as a reader for Jorge Luis Borges and has been hailed
Back this week with more interesting YUP-related links from the Twitterverse: @LDWeinberg‘s link to a cheat sheet for Matisse: Radical Invention was passed around by several art enthusiasts. @TorontoSymphony placed Sibelius in an unlikely locale as part of an online contest. @arbitrix and @vitamingc checked in from Ken Chen’s book
Faced with the impending blitz during the Second World War, Winston Churchill and his cabinet sought protection in an underground headquarters beneath the Treasury building in London. Though the prime minister much preferred to observe the war from the keener vantage point of the top floor of 10 Downing Street