Mussolini's Rome: Rebuilding the Eternal City (Italian & Italian American Studies)

Book Description

An eye-opening look at the architectural mark fascism left on one of the world's most beloved cities R ome was Mussolini's obsession. After coming to power as a result of his famed march on the city in 1922, he promised Italians that his fascist revolution would unite them as never before and make Italy a major power on the world stage. In the next two decades, he set about rebuilding Rome as the foremost site and symbol of the new fascist order. Through an ambitious program of demolition and construction, he sought to make Rome a capital that both embraced modernity while preserving and glorifying the city's ancient past. Building the new Rome put people to work; 'liberated' ancient monuments from cluttered surroundings; cleared slums; produced giant complexes for education, sports, and cinema; produced wide new boulevards and piazzas; and provided the regime with a showcase in which to assert the power and identity of fascism. This intriguing book reveals Mussolini's tremendous and lasting impact on the city to which millions flock each year. MARKETING - Print Advertising Campaign - Academic Marketing Campaign'

Customer Reviews:

pretentious buildings.......2007-06-11

Rome. The Eternal City. Was there something in its water that Mussolini drank? Painter tells of his maniacal obsession with leaving his mark on this city. With such a storied history, he wanted to add his indelible contributions. So we get a grand tour of Rome. From the 1920s to the present. With black and white photos showing buildings added or altered. Several of which still remain to this day.

There is a comic opera feel to the sheer pretentiousness of Mussolini's activities. He comes off as a bumptious oaf, preferring shallow facades to the reality of a second rate economy.

MUSSOLINI'S ROME REBUILDING THE ETERNAL CITY

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MUSSOLINI'S ROME REBUILDING THE ETERNAL CITY

Manufacturer: PALGRAVE MACMILLAN
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: 0403966043

Mussolini's Rome: Rebuilding the Eternal City.(Book review): An article from: Canadian Journal of History

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Mussolini's Rome: Rebuilding the Eternal City.(Book review): An article from: Canadian Journal of History
Anthony L. Cardoza
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Canadian Journal of History, published by Thomson Gale on September 22, 2006. The length of the article is 935 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Mussolini's Rome: Rebuilding the Eternal City.(Book review)
Author: Anthony L. Cardoza
Publication: Canadian Journal of History (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 22, 2006
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 41 Issue: 2 Page: 380(2)

Article Type: Book review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Book Description

Preeminent among rare reference books, this 1849 work reprints (with the original-language version and its English translation on facing pages) manuscript collections on painting and related arts from the 12th through 17th centuries. The treatises describe European oil painting practices, methods of mixing pigments, much more. Preliminary commentary on each treatise, plus excellent introduction discussing social history, artistic practices. Glossary. Index. 6 illus.

Customer Reviews:

It is still one of the most important books on the argument.......1999-08-31

Written in 1848-9, this book contains some of the most important manuscripts on the arts, like the MANOSCRITTO BOLOGNESE, HERACLIUS BOOK, MANUSCRIPT OF JEHANN LE BEGUE, ecc.. Each manuscript is in its original language together with the english translation. The introduction by M.P.Merrifield is still very interesting.

It is still one of the most important books on the argument.......1999-08-31

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From his legendary association with Alfred Stieglitz in the groundbreaking 291 Gallery to his selection of photographs for The Family of Man exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, Edward Steichen (1879-1973) stood at the forefront of artistic innovation in America and Europe. Penelope Niven, biographer of Carl Sandburg (Steichen's brother-in-law), affectionately depicts her subject. She carefully assesses Steichen's three marriages, his supportive relationships with other artists, and the humanistic vision that informed his photography. Her comprehensive study reminds us of Steichen's central role in elevating photography to a crucial 20th-century art form.

Book Description

Not since 1929 has there been a biography of Edward Steichen, photographer, painter, and a pivotal yet enigmatic figure in twentieth-century art and culture on two continents. Steichen, who died just short of his ninety-fourth birthday, was fifty and internationally famous when Steichen the Photographer was written by his brother-in-law, the poet and biographer Carl Sandburg. Now Penelope Niven, whose highly acclaimed biography of Sandburg appeared in 1991, has written the first comprehensive biography of Steichen.

Here, she illuminates the full story of Steichen's avant-garde life in Paris and New York and his roles in introducing modern art to the American audience, in shaping aerial reconnaissance photography in World War I and navy photography in World War II, in revolutionizing American fashion and portrait photography through his years as chief of photography at Vanity Fair and Vogue, and in creating the unprecedented photographic exhibition The Family of Man, which has touched a global audience of millions since it opened in 1955.

Searching the world over for Steichen's letters, paintings, and photographs, Niven has reconstructed his major, pioneering achievements. Steichen's enduring contributions to the fine art of photography have not been fully recognized because they have not, until now, been fully documented and placed within the context of his times and his turbulent, romantic, and often tragic personal life.

With the help of public and private papers and interviews, Niven builds a compelling portrait of the charismatic, complex, very human man behind the camera. We explore Steichen's gardens and his artful love of nature, manifested in his obsessive achievements as a master breeder of delphinium. We step inside his intimate, private world--and view his passionate attachment to his mother, his sister, and his two daughters; the heartrending battles of his first marriage; and his alleged and actual love affairs. This biography also explores Steichen's catalytic relationships with August Rodin, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Alfred Stieglitz, Gertrude and Leo Stein, and Carl and Lilian Steichen Sandburg.

"Steichen was a rebel, stubbornly independent and largely self-taught, who also believed passionately in the fundamental intersections of art and life," Penelope Niven writes. As this biography reveals, Edward Steichen's life, like his art, was brilliantly original, dramatic, and unforgettable.

Customer Reviews:

Best Bio on artist I have found.......2006-06-22

I borrowed a copy of this from a friend and found it so interesting I had to order a copy for myself. Unfortunately, its out of print and I had to settle for a used copy. If you can find one, grab it! For photographers interested in the history of our art form, it will be inspiring.

Perhaps Out-of-Print, but Not Out-of-Mind!.......2001-05-14

This is an exhaustively researched and beautifully written book about a major force in American photography and American life. There have been many academic and art books devoted to the work of Edward Steichen, and he has written about himself on one or two occasions, but never had someone written the definitive biogaphy . . . until Penelope Niven decided to do so after "getting to know Steichen" during the years she spent researching and writing about his equally famous brother-in-law, Carl Sandburg.

Readers should not be put off by the book's density (it runs to almost 800 pages). Niven is exhaustive but not exhausting, and her narrative is easy to read, detailing the long and fascinating life of an extraordinary man. The biography is also extremely accurate. Future writers in years to come will look to this book for critical source material. The author is a born researcher.

The book is presently out-of-print, a lamentable situation given the recent Whitney Museum of American Art Steichen retrospective and a dazzling new book by Steichen's widow, Joanna Steichen. This biography, if it had been available, would have been a fine accompaniment to both, giving museumgoers and general readers the chance to learn more about this American artist,and providing a counterbalance to Joanna Steichen's more visual, personal, and introspective book.

In sum, this is the grand story of the life of an important American artist, written by a biographer not an art historian. As such, it will appeal to a wide range of readers. We look for a paperback edition of this book, and can only hope one will soon be available.

The only biography about an extraordinary man.......2000-11-04

Surprisingly, this is the only biography I have found so far about Edward Steichen. Thank goodness it is an excellent one, combining extraordinary research with fine writing. For those interested in Edward Steichen's long and productive life as well as his work, this is a "must have" book, especially now that there is a retrospective exhibition of his work at the Whitney Museum in New York.

Well written, well researched and well documented........1999-08-25

Steichen was a genius, and never more so than when he influenced Alfred Steiglitz to show Picasso, Matisse, Rodin, Marin, etc for the first time ever in the United States. Steiglitz is given credit, sometimes wholly, but truly it wouldn't have happened without Steichen. I recommend this wonderful book!

Excellent Read!.......1999-05-08

This book may look formidable by its size, but what a wonderful world you will enter once you begin the story of this photographic genius and his place in time. Niven's work is carefully researched and Steichen's relationships with Steiglitz, Rodin and other artistic greats of the turn of the century are all detailed . She carefully documents his work at the Army and Navy, Vanity Fair, and MOMA. Of added interest is the story about his sister's marriage to Carl Sandburg and the close relationship Steichen and Sandburg devleoped. Enjoy!

The Poet and Dream Girl: The Love Letters of Lilian Steichen and Carl Sandburg

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A wonderful well-written love story and socialist primer.

The Poet and Dream Girl: The Love Letters of Lilian Steichen and Carl Sandburg

Manufacturer: University of Illinois Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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A Great and Glorious Romance: The Story of Carl Sandburg and Lilian Steichen

ASIN: 0252068491

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A wonderful well-written love story and socialist primer........1998-08-22

We think of socialists in one way, Carl Sandburg was probably not it. But his letters to his soon-to-be wife, Lillian Steichen, are full of his fabulous prose and whimsy. They met briefly in January, this book takes us from then until their marriage in June. Sweet and full of love, their letters also tell the story of the socialist party in the early 1900's.

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a thoroughly nuanced account of a problematic figure
Entirely worthwhile read.

Stieglitz: A Memoir/Biography
Sue Davidson Lowe , Anne Havinga , Arthur Dove , Georgia O'Keeffe , Mark Strand , and Marsden Hartley
Manufacturer: MFA Publications
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Artists, A-Z | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0878466495
Release Date: 2002-09-02

Book Description

"Stieglitz is as scholarly a production as anyone could wish, crammed with facts and trailing informative appendixes. It is also a loving and occasionally exasperated look at a contentious relative and the intimate circumstances that formed him." --Time A tireless exponent of the avant-garde and of photography as a fine art, as well as a consummate photographer in his own right, Alfred Stieglitz was both the embodiment of rebellious New York modernism and an oddly domestic man who retained a lifelong attachment to his family's country estate. In Stieglitz: A Memoir/Biography, author Sue Davidson Lowe, Stieglitz's grand-neice, presents the man in all of his complexity, tracing his background and revealing the interplay between his character and his multifaceted career. She offers new insight into Stieglitz's relationships with artists such as Marin, Hartley, Dove, Steichen, and O'Keefe; his pioneering promotion of Europe's most radical artists through the Photo-Secession group and the 291 gallery; and his creation of some of our century's most enduring photographic images. Gracefully weaving personal reminiscence and verifiable fact as she lucidly interweaves Stieglitz's career with his personal life, Lowe presents a uniquely compelling and intimate portrait of a hugely influential, hugely enigmatic American artist.

Customer Reviews:

a thoroughly nuanced account of a problematic figure.......2006-07-07

My interest in this biography was piqued by my mounting scepticism of the claims of early 20th century modernist artists and their promoters, whether critics, collectors or curators. Much of what we think we know about early American modernism is little more than oft repeated hand-me-down information that manifests the bearer's uncritical satisfaction with the modernist enterprise. Such information serves to maintain the artist's place in the modernist temple that subsequent enthusiasts and fans have constructed and served as keepers of the flame. Critical, layered and thorough historical study reveals such notions as ideology, mere mythologizing constructs.

Readers of Ms. Lowe's exceptionally well written biography will find a fair and balanced AND critically engaged account of an adequately talented photographer who was one of the principal apologists of modernist ideas in New York, with a reputation in Europe as well. With his small enclosed (are modernist gatherings ever open?) circle of artists and holding court in his galleries, Alfred Stieglitz combatively denounced skeptical visitors who didn't or wouldn't "get it." This was was the Stieglitzian modernist "my way or the highway" pronouncement which cowed fawning acolytes.

A vorcious AND impressionable reader, he embraced Freudian ideas subsequently discredited in the later 20th century. Believing in the "pure artist untainted by commerce,Stieglitz turned against his young associate Edward Steichen when the latter became successful as an artistic commercial photographer (his career was also characterized by attracting the public; Stieglitz's publications always shed their subscribers who got fed-up with his sermonizing enthusiasms that strayed from photographic matters) Mind you, Steichen accomplished a multi-faceted career without "daddy's money," with which Stieglitz was bankrolled for much of his bohemian life (danke, PaPa!). He seems to also have been his mother's favorite.

Among the book's strong sections are its coverage of the regular gatherings of the Stieglitz clan at the family's summer house in upstate New York. Here family dynamics were played out that revealingly throw Stieglitz's personality into contrast with those of his siblings, friends and younger lover Georgia O'Keefe (one of the more over-rated American artists of the 20th century) who also shared his inflexible termperament.

The author, who spent years meticulously researching available archives (some still remain sealed), has produced a fully-orbed account of the glories and contradictions of an archetypal American modernist. It is a definitive study of Steiglitz and his personal world.

Entirely worthwhile read........2001-07-25

This is an excellent biography. Written by Sue Davidson Lowe, Alfred Stieglitz's niece, "Stieglitz : A Memoir/Biography" is written objectively, yet with the knowingness and acceptance of a relative. This book presents a well-balanced picture of Stieglitz, his accomplishments (not only his own artistic endeavors, but his efforts to make photography an accepted art form), friends, family, and life. When I was done reading this biography, I felt that I had been presented with a coherent, entertaining, and candid portrayal of Stieglitz. I have read many biographies and autobiographies, of these, I have felt that about one-fourth are well-written and worth reading -- this Stieglitz biography is one of them.

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My Connemara : The Carl Sandburg Story
Paula Steichen
Manufacturer: Eastern National
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0915992469

Edward Steichen: Selected Texts and Bibliography (World Photographers Reference Series, 9)

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Edward Steichen: Selected Texts and Bibliography (World Photographers Reference Series, 9)

Manufacturer: G. K. Hall & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Collections, Catalogues & Exhibitions | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0783818912

The Great and Glorious Romance: The Story of Carl Sandburg and Lilian Steichen

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The Great and Glorious Romance: The Story of Carl Sandburg and Lilian Steichen
Helen Sandburg
Manufacturer: Harcourt
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Poet and Dream Girl: The Love Letters of Lilian Steichen and Carl Sandburg

ASIN: 0151368945

Book Description

Helga Sandburg is the youngest daughter of Carl Sandburg and his remarkable wife, Lilian Steichen. Her uncle was the great photographer Edward Steichen. Like so many other Americans today, she sought the story of her origins and inheritance, of the grandparents who were immigrants from Sweden and Luxembourg. This is the story of a daughter's search into her past, a story of beginnings and ends, of doubts and joys. It is the account of a great and glorious romance that flowered over the years and survives in this book.

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My Connemara
Paula Steichen
Manufacturer: Eastern Acorn Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Poetry | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0007HORH8

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Steichen: A Life in Photography
Rh Value Publishing
Manufacturer: Random House Value Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Photography | Arts & Photography | Subjects | Books

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0517468050
Release Date: 1985-02-23

Biography - Calderone, Mary Steichen (1904-1998): An article from: Contemporary Authors Online

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Biography - Calderone, Mary Steichen (1904-1998): An article from: Contemporary Authors Online
--Sketch by Mary Sullivan
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B0007SAMR6
Release Date: 2007-06-13

Book Description

Word count: 1902.

Book Description

Set in the Japanese countryside of the lawless and chaotic Muromachi Period, PRINCESS MONONOKE is the story of a young man's quest to reconcile the powerful forces of human civilization and industry with the need to live harmoniously in the natural world. It is a time when Samurai warriors raid each others' territories whenever they sense weakness or advantage. Men and women driven from areas of conflict have begun to eke out their livings in even the most remote forests where the gods of old still rule the land.

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