A well-written, beautifully produced piece of ancient history.
A fresh history of King Tut and his world, generously illustrated and lucidly written.
The ancient Egyptian obsession with burying important people in elaborate tombs has rewarded archaeologists with more Egyptian artifacts than those found for all other ancient civilizations combined. British journalist Wilkinson, author of many books on this subject, including A World Beneath the Sands, builds this expert history on items recovered from Tutankhamun’s tomb, which, only lightly looted, contained more than 5,000 well-preserved objects and drawings, making it “the greatest archaeological discovery of all time.” Following tradition in the genre, the author includes a history of Egyptology, initially a sophisticated form of looting in which European antiquarians snapped up objects for their collections. By the 19th century, scholars had solidified the study of ancient Egypt, and the establishment of the Antiquities Service (by the British, who ruled Egypt) produced a steady stream of discoveries, capped by the bombshell of Howard Carter’s 1922 opening of Tutankhamun’s tomb. Wilkinson writes that the early rulers of the Nile Valley were the first humans to exercise authority over a geographically extensive state, beginning around 3000 B.C.E. The pharaonic government endured unchanged—though often challenged—for three millennia until Cleopatra surrendered to Rome in 31 B.C.E. It remains the longest-lived nation in history; as the author notes, “a greater span of time separated the Great Pyramid from Cleopatra than separates her from our own age.” Even better, artifacts include innumerable written documents because papyrus preserves better than paper. Uniquely blessed with material, scholars have had no trouble filling multivolume tomes on ancient Egypt, but readers will have no regrets at the end of this one. Beginning not with “prehistoric” but “predynastic” people who settled in the river valley, he moves smoothly through the Old, Middle, and New Kingdoms, inevitably emphasizing religion but not ignoring politics and war as well as the surprisingly well-documented daily lives of the people. The book includes 50 black-and-white photos and 16 pages of color.
A well-written, beautifully produced piece of ancient history.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-393-53170-1
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2022
A vigorous, timely, necessary defense of creativity.
Eloquent essays on the vital meaning of art.
Arthurs is a senior fellow at the John Brademas Center at NYU, and DiNiscia is Deputy Director for Research and Strategic Initiatives at the Center. In this important collection, the editors gather a racially, ethnically, and culturally diverse group of more than two dozen eminent scholars, artists, professionals working in the field of arts and culture, and funders who support the arts. Jazz pianist Fred Hersch (interviewed by Arthurs), composer Tania León, choreographer and dancer Alice Sheppard, and Deborah Willis, historian of African American photography, join the other contributors in responding to the title question with a resounding “yes.” They argue forcefully for the importance of the arts in strengthening social ties, benefiting individuals, fostering community, engaging with the sciences, and recording and sharing human experiences. As music history scholar Karol Berger notes, “when you think that art is inessential and useless,” remember those artists who have been persecuted, marginalized, silenced, incarcerated, and killed because of the power of their creations. Like Berger, several contributors underscore the political significance of the arts. Philosophy professor and ethicist K. Anthony Appiah asserts that art “readies us for our real lives, enlarges our political possibilities, connects us within and across identities.” For Zeyba Rahman and Hussein Rashid, the arts, speaking through the language of imagination, “can bring alive communities and urgent problems that are unfamiliar to us by creating a universal resonance and relatability.” The arts nurture individuals, just as with other forms of sustenance. “All people…yearn for beauty,” writes Ford Foundation president Darren Walker, “also long for grace, also have hearts as well as stomachs that need to be fed and filled. And people inevitably create beauty and grace when they lift their voices in song, move their bodies to music, shape color and form on canvas or in sculpture, or use language to tell stories in ways that delight and surprise.”
A vigorous, timely, necessary defense of creativity.Pub Date: Feb. 22, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-4798-1262-2
Page Count: 496
Publisher: New York Univ.
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
PERSPECTIVES
A wondrous mix of races, ages, genders, and social classes, and on virtually every page is a surprise.
Photographer and author Stanton returns with a companion volume to Humans of New York (2013), this one with similarly affecting photographs of New Yorkers but also with some tales from his subjects’ mouths.
Readers of the first volume—and followers of the related site on Facebook and elsewhere—will feel immediately at home. The author has continued to photograph the human zoo: folks out in the streets and in the parks, in moods ranging from parade-happy to deep despair. He includes one running feature—“Today in Microfashion,” which shows images of little children dressed up in various arresting ways. He also provides some juxtapositions, images and/or stories that are related somehow. These range from surprising to forced to barely tolerable. One shows a man with a cat on his head and a woman with a large flowered headpiece, another a construction worker proud of his body and, on the facing page, a man in a wheelchair. The emotions course along the entire continuum of human passion: love, broken love, elation, depression, playfulness, argumentativeness, madness, arrogance, humility, pride, frustration, and confusion. We see varieties of the human costume, as well, from formalwear to homeless-wear. A few celebrities appear, President Barack Obama among them. The “stories” range from single-sentence comments and quips and complaints to more lengthy tales (none longer than a couple of pages). People talk about abusive parents, exes, struggles to succeed, addiction and recovery, dramatic failures, and lifelong happiness. Some deliver minirants (a neuroscientist is especially curmudgeonly), and the children often provide the most (often unintended) humor. One little boy with a fishing pole talks about a monster fish. Toward the end, the images seem to lead us toward hope. But then…a final photograph turns the light out once again.
A wondrous mix of races, ages, genders, and social classes, and on virtually every page is a surprise.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-250-05890-4
Page Count: 432
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
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