2 comments about Roy Lichtenstein: Interiors.

1. Roy Lichtenstein has a distinctive pop art style which blends social commentary with caricatures: Interiors profiles many of his drawings of structures and space, with occasional people included in the sketches. Full-page color drawings accompany surveys of Lichtenstein's works and achievements.



2. Roy Lichtenstein is one of America's premier "pop art" painters and print makers. His style is instantly recognizable and powerfully influenced the popular culture of the last thirty years. Roy Lichtenstein: Interiors is an informative, wonderfully illustrated introduction and analysis of his "interior" paintings -- many published her for the first time. Robert Fitzpatrick is Director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and effectively collaborates with Dorothy Lichtenstein, the late Leo Castelli, Sidney B. Felsen, and Cassandra Lozano to present an impressive and fully rounded presentation on the life, work, and artistic innovations of Lichtenstein. Roy Lichtenstein: Interiors is a very highly recommended addition to personal, academic, and community library American art history collections.

No comments about Roy Lichtenstein: Beginning to End.

No comments about Who Built America? Working People and the Nation's Economy, Politics, Culture, and Society, Vol. 1: From Conquest and Colonization through Reconstruction and the Great Uprising of 1877, 2nd Edition.

1 comments about Roy Lichtenstein.

1. This book is the catalogue for an exhibition held at the Kunsthaus Bregenz in 2006. It studies Lichtenstein's work chronologically and dividing it by themes (women, interiors, early paintings...). The reproductions are very good and even show the paintings in their current frame (an unusual step which I think gives an extra dimension to the works). A very interesting book, easy to read, on an artist that changed the way we look at art.

No comments about Roy Lichtenstein: Prints 1956-1997.

No comments about Roy Lichtenstein, 1923-1997 (Taschen Basic Art).

No comments about Roy Lichtenstein (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists).

5 comments about Who Built America? Working People and the Nation's Economy, Politics, Culture, and Society, Vol. 2: Since 1877, 2nd Edition.

1. Who Built America? Is an excellent look at US history in the 20th century from the foundation up. The authors provide relevant and insightful information about immigration, the working class, unions, and the political and military events that shaped our country. The events are thoroughly discussed in terms of cause and effect, and followed through with anecdotal side bars and highilights. Because the text follows a contextual historical line, the information is readily understood and retained. Who Built America? was used as the assigned text in a US History class I took. While I read it willingly as assigned in the class, it is a book I have returned to on numerous occasions since. I highly recommend Who Built America? for everyone and anyone who would like to know not just who was elected when, and what wars were fought with whom, but why and how it effects every one of us.



2. When I saw this book, I bought it straightaway, because labor history gets short-shrift in American society. I'm sorry to see it's out-of-stock, but am unsurprised.

   While this book is fairly mainstream in its orientation, it is very readable and thorough, covering the struggle of working people through the late 1800s to the early 1990s.

   I consider this book a good starting point for people interested in working people's history. What makes it especially rich is the narrative flow and personal stories that appear throughout it, and the sidebars with songs and other miscellaneous information. This is the way a history book should be written.




3. The book takes a completely different view of our nation's history from the late 1800's through the late 19000's than the average history text book most of us read in high school. Side bars and tid bits add anecdotal highlights to the information covered in that section or chapter which keep it relevant and interesting. It was very refreshing to see things from the bottom up. i.e. What was happening with this or that wave of immigration that caused the City's and Urban areas to change in this way, that caused the political and religious environment to change in that way, that caused this person to be elected, that caused this law to be passed, that caused this backlash, that led to this conflict, that led to this resolution. Instead of - this war was faught and this official was elected and this country won. It is biased towards labor and labor's role in building this country, so if you want traditional conservative history, this isn't the book for you. But if you like to read some of the stuff they don't tell you in high-school history 101, this is it. I'll never look at labor disputes or the immigration question the same way again. I came away from the book with a greater understanding and retained more of how we got to the 21st century in America from the 19th century.



4. I think it is okay to have a specific perspective to U.S. History as long as it is stated within a specific discipline such as Social History of the U.S. or an Economic History of the United States. This book is somewhat misleading because it gives a hint of what this book is about a history of labor in the United States and its relationships to the economic forces of the various time periods it covers. That to me, is in the domain of Economic History of the United States. This book basically is an introduction to the economic history of the United States, eventhough, that is really not explicityly stated. It does do a good job of providing detailed descriptions of labor history in the U.S. But I do not think it should be used in a classroom where the students have not have had a generalized introduction into U.S. history; unless of course, the trend is to now slice American history, into specific topics, and provide that one specific aspect as a introduction to American history.



5. I bought this book a few years ago on the recommendation of a professor of labor history. History is often told from the point of view of the "winners", so I thought it would be good to absorb a perspective that is not usually taught. I admit that all history is a form of narrative, and there are no "pure" facts in history since all narratives make value judgments at least implicitly. But some narratives "work" better than others; some narratives enshrine values that would be better for us to hold than others. Some ways of understanding the past are more helpful, and thus more correct, than others.
   
   The narrative presented in this book is not very helpful for the same reason that ruling-class narratives are unhelpful: both are heroic narratives. The only difference is that those who play the role of hero and those who play the marginalized have switched places. History is far too complex of a process - of a story - to say that "so-and-so was responsible for such-and-such". In this case, we learn that poor laborers, minorities, women, and immigrants are "really" responsible for America's accomplishments. Of course, this is partially correct, for it is surely the case that we would not be where we are were it not for these groups. But to imply that educated white men - people like two of the authors of the book themselves - made little "real" contribution to America's accomplishments but instead were responsible for all of our social failings is preposterous. This is simply a swing of the pendulum to the opposite extreme. In fact, I think that the whole project of parcelling out persons into groups, and then telling a group-based historical narrative is problematic. Which group defines your identity?
   
   The failing of this book is that it mistakes the the part for the whole, the necessary for the sufficient. A much better narrative that includes the marginalized and the working class can be found in Howard Zinn's *A People's History of the United States*.
   
   I gave the book two stars instead of one because the writing is quite good - just like an absorbing historical fiction.

No comments about Who Built America? Volume One: To 1877: Working People and the Nation's History.

No comments about Who Built America? Working People and the Nation's History, Vol. 2: 1865 to the Present.