Book Description

Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel (1883-1971) is a fashion icon unlike any other. She invented modern clothing for women: at the height of the Belle Époque, she stripped women of their corsets and feathers, bobbed their hair, put them in bathing suits, and sent them out to get tanned in the sun. She introduced slacks, costume jewelry, and the exquisitely comfortable suit. She made the first couture perfume-No. 5-which remains the most popular scent ever created.

In this beautiful volume, the glorious life of the incomparable Coco Chanel shines again through hundreds of illustrations and the lively prose of Edmonde Charles-Roux, her official biographer and close friend. Chanel knew and collaborated with the likes of Picasso, Diaghilev, Stravinsky, Cocteau, Jean Renoir, and Visconti-even as she matched their modernist innovations by liberating women from the prison of 19th-century fashion and introducing a whole new concept of elegance. The staggering collection of photographs amassed by the over decades of friendship with Chanel sheds new light on one of the great stories of the modern age. AUTHOR BIO: Edmonde Charles-Roux began her journalistic career at Elle and ultimately became editor-in-chief of French Vogue. She has published three novels, among them To Forget Palermo (Oublier Palerme), which won the Prix Goncourt in 1966. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Coco Chanel - The Originator of Modern Women's Fashion
I am so glad this book is back in print.Written by the Senior Editor of French Vogue, who was also a close friend and biographer of Chanel, this is a must have for fashionistas.I own the original version which has all black and white photos.This new version, published 25 years after the original has new color photos and illustrations added.The book has also been revamped with all the new additions, but retains the original text.If you only get one book about Chanel, get this one.It is worth every penny.

The Big Beautiful World of Chanel
Visually pleasing and well-written, here is a book that would surely please Mademoiselle Chanel if she were still with us.

Fans of Chanel and "Fashionistas" alike will undoubtedly be delighted with this big, beautiful book and its vast number of Chanel photos, which document Coco's personal world of fashion.

Linda Painchaud-Steinman, Park Edge Books

Please bring this book back!
*Chanel and Her World* is a great document of a great woman!I've neverseen another Chanel book with so many pictures, and that's what it's allabout when it comes to one of the century's most important style-makers. It's a CRIME that it's out of print, because I MUST OWN IT. ... Read more

Book Description

For six decades, Saul Steinberg's covers, cartoons, features, and illustrations were a defining presence at The New Yorker. As the magazine became a standard-bearer of taste and intelligence in American letters, Steinberg's drawings emerged as its visual epitome. This richly illustrated book, featuring Joel Smith's astute text and a captivating introduction by the artist's friend and colleague Ian Frazier, explores the remarkable range and unceasing evolution of a major American modernist-one whose art reached a grateful public not from museum walls but from the pages of the periodical he called "my refuge, patria, and safety net."

All Steinberg's New Yorker covers appear here in full color, along with over 130 examples of inside art, from black-line drawings to elaborate color portfolios. Also included are Steinberg's most beloved, intuitive, and brilliant inspirations, among them a New York populated with stoical cats, precocious children, puzzled couples, and a menagerie of vivid grotesques. A vibrant celebration of one of the most original and engaging artists of the 20th century, Steinberg at The New Yorker brings alive a genius, a magazine, and an era. AUTHOR BIO: Joel Smith has been the Fisher Curator at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College since 1999. He is the author of Edward Steichen: The Early Years. Ian Frazier is a frequent contributor to The New Yorker. His previous books include the national bestseller Great Plains. ... Read more

Book Description

In Everything About Me Is Fake…and I'm Perfect, the hilarious and candid follow-up to the national bestseller No Lifeguard on Duty, Janice Dickinson tackles our society's unattainable standards of beauty and reveals the secrets behind her own lifelong struggle to achieve perfection -- from her bra-stuffing days as a flat-chested teenager through her career as the world's first supermodel to her ultimate comeback as a bestselling author and television star on the top-rated reality television hit America's Next Top Model.

most men don't seem to care about my age either. Once you hit the supermodel level, your numerical time spent on Earth doesn't matter to men.

Even as she graced the glossy pages of Vogue and Cosmo, Janice had to struggle to keep up the image of brazen self-confidence and bravado that became her trademark. Behind every smile and pose was a sea of self-doubt and insecurities. Now, after years of experience as a supermodel -- being stitched into clothing, starving herself, and undergoing cosmetic surgery -- Janice debunks the beauty myths and breaks down what's real and what's not. Drawing on her vast knowledge of fashion, beauty care, and fitness, Janice offers no-nonsense advice and tips on how to look and feel your best on your own terms.

you see on the magazine pages starve themselves for weeks on end, smoke up a storm, and scarf down enough diuretics to blast out the Pacific Ocean.

No one tells a story like the world's first supermodel, and Janice's eagerly awaited follow-up is filled with outrageous anecdotes from her personal life, including how she stole Donald Trump's heart after jacking his limo, her steamy date with JFK Jr., and the wonders and pitfalls of going under the knife. In a fabulous fashion that only Janice can deliver, she tells all about her bumpy and unpredictable road to a healthy self-image and pulls back the curtain on the modeling industry, as well as her own life, proving why, as Janice explains: "Everything about me is fake . . . and I'm perfect."

I think it's best to treat most men like they're pets. Treat 'em mean and you'll keep 'em keen.”

Reviews (18)

Janice does it again!!
If you read her first book, No Lifeguard on Duty, this will be just as much of a treat. She delivers advice and details about her life in her typical blunt, ballsy, take-no-prisoners style. You'll laugh more reading this book than her last, because her first was more soul-searching through the most painful moments of her life, this book takes a more light-hearted look at how her life has been since the first one, how being a judge on America's Next Top Model has affected her, and how being a full-time mother and supermodel hasn't slowed her down one bit.
She truly speaks from the heart and from experience. Janice gives it to you straight, whether you like it or not. No apologies. Yet she lets her vulnerable side shine through, like when she talks about her children, her family, etc.
She also gives good advice to women about how the fashion industry is selling us all lies with their airbrushed and digitally enhanced images of perfection(not a shock, right?). She really helps put it all in perspective.
If you're looking for a warts-and-all look at how a supermodel's life REALLY is, this is the book. Also read her first book, once you try Janice, you've GOT to go back for more!

I'm ADDICTED to PLASTIC!
I have to say that this is a great read! It's funny, has TONS of gossip about celebrities, and shockingly a BIG HEART! You may know Janice from the TOP MODEL show on UPN, or as a fashion model ... but the biggest shock is underneath her hard exterior is a woman who really cares. She tells things like they are, and she makes no apologies for some of her bad behavior! But she also lets you know that PERFECTION can be a disease, and she lets you in on how to fight that.

I love this book! It's not a literary masterpiece in conventional terms ... more like a gab session with one of your wildest friends. Definitely funny! Definitely shocking! And so much fun you don't want it to end.

I don't care if her modeling advice is suspect (as one reviewer noted), or if she's seen as just another washed up model. She's a courageous woman who deserves to be celebrated. I admire her for being who she is ... the super model with the SUPER MOUTH! :-)

Janice is scary...
Janice is really a sad babe. Abused as a child, she grew up, it seems hating everything and everyone. In this book Janice gives advise to women on how to get and keep their man, shares celebrity stories, and talks about how she manages to stay looking good.
The cover of the book is creative with Janice set up to look like a Barbie doll but the content of the book is weak. Janice shares good information in the beginning of the book when she explains in depth how artificial the looks we see in magazines are. Though real women compare themselves to models in magazines, these images are false as the models have been computer enhanced and in true life are most likely staying slender in unhealthy ways. The book goes downhill from there.
She rips apart fellow models for their wrongdoings like Christie Brinkley who moved in with Janice's boyfriend soon after they broke up. But then in typical Janice double standard fashion she sees nothing wrong with sharing her bed with other men who are already taken.
Janice does her best to treat the reader like they are her best buds and baring her soul but her rough, abrasive personality, and foul language permeate the book and its just not pretty. Her egotistical, "I am so hot and beautiful" nature is immature and becomes old quickly. Her photos reflect this too.
I really feel sorry for the worlds first self- professed "supermodel" a fact she reminds you of constantly throughout the book, and I feel sad that she bases her self worth on how many men desire her. Hopefully one day she will find true inner beauty and peace.
Meantime skip the book or borrow it.

Honest and Funny
I liked this book better than her first one, because she is more of herself in the writing. Although she does get carried away sometimes with the beauty tips and work out tips. Nonetheless, it is a page turner. I wonder what she is going to write for her third and last book in this trilogy, i am sure it's going to be funny. This one is a lot more lighter and her delirious personality shines through the series of her honest biographical anecdotes. I think in a way we can all relate to Janice and her insecurity. What it matters is how we deal with it and reading about her story helps.

Well I liked her first book....
I have to say that I was looking forward to this book. Boy was I disappointed! Her first book was filled with her life story, gossipy tidbits, and more. This new book of hers barely skims the surface. There's a few good modeling anecdotes about her's and other's experiences in that oh-so-glamorously-drugged-up-world, but most of the book seems to be her reapeating the same phrase in different ways over and over and over again just to fill up space! She repeatedly contradicts herself, and even her wit doesn't compensate for that. It's as if she was trying to write a self-help/mini-autobiography (unfortunately, it went terribly downhill....fast!). Basically, it was like a really long and really bad diary entry. So if you were looking for a great follow up to, No Lifeguard on Duty, you will be very disappointed. Also, Janice doesn't even come across as that super confident tough girl who she claims she is...in fact she comes across as terribly insecure and pathetic (her incestent rambling about how she is so confident makes this even more evident). ... Read more

Book Description

An intimate photographic journey through Edward Gorey's home. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

A specialty item for the true Gorey collector
Even dedicated fans of Edward Gorey will probably know very little about his personal life: he was an enigmatic recluse and few were permitted past his front door. Photographer Kevin McDermott's Elephant House will delight students of architecture and photography, providing rich duotone works of Gorey's intriguing home and its contents. A specialty item for the true Gorey collector, Elephant House is an impressive photographic showcase and a welcome addition to both architectural studies and photographic studies reference collections.

Fruitful Coursework
M. McDermott's luxuriant photos admirably capture the subversive hermeneutics of desire at work in every compartment of Edward Gorey's capacious mind. To judge from these photos, at home as much as in his work Gorey enacted a subaltern erotics of duplicity and dialectic: the precise, almost fussy, arrangements of salt shakers and stones, frog spectators and secret guests which echo the Edwardian-styled detail of his famous books and their ecstatic decodification of heterosexual longing into a polysemous weave of interleaved multitextuality illuminate a life's work spent dancing on a metacritical pin. Queer and gender theorists take note: Elephant House will reinvigorate your every critique -- about Edward Gorey and his work, and of course, the texts his prism redacts.

At Home With Edward Gorey
Kevin McDermott's Elephant House is an impressive new photography book. The photographs, taken only days after Edward Gorey's death, afford us an intimate portrait of the man as he lived. The book contains insightful photographs that capture the fine details of the way Edward lived and worked in his own space. Gorey clearly had a fascination with light and texture. He scattered a massive array of objects all about his home with a nearly curatorial eye. McDermott's well composed photos not only capture this aspect of Gorey but illustrate a common thread between these two artists: texture. One photograph depicts groups of small stones as they congregate idly on the rough wood of the porch. The cityscape of salt and pepper shakers and a plate of gourd-like, spherical shapes are beautiful studies in the texture and form of ordinary objects abstracted from their normal contexts, while many others are still lives made of the house's windows and the eclectically arranged objects in front of them. The blue bottles in a few images glow like stained glass as the washed-out light of a cloudy day streams in through them. What makes many of the color images so interesting is the spare, nearly monochromatic palette of colors in the rooms which are offset by only the blue luminosity of bottles or the green leaves of spring showing in the background. These are beautiful photographs independent of their connection to Edward Gorey, but serve also to enhance our understanding of him. The text is an entertaining and candid glimpse of Gorey as a friend knew him, and provides a nicely guided tour through each room. This book is handsomely crafted and thoughtfully designed, and I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in photography or Edward Gorey.

Elephant House or the home of Edward Gorey
Edward Gorey was a mysterious personage. His works often leave one thinking "what next?". Elephant House by Kevin McDermott helps relieve much of this worry. Mr. McDermott has captured through his photographs and text what it was like to spend time with the elusive Mr. Gorey. This is a personal and moving tribute to a friend that never feels intrusive, but rather illuminates Mr. Gorey and the daily world he invented and inhabited. For those of us who have made Mr. Gorey a part of our own daily lives, Elephant House lets us spend some quality time with the man through his surroundings. A gem and a gift.

Elephant House, Or the Home of Edward Gorey
This Fabulous book gives us a photographic incite into Edward Gorey, the man. It enlightens the reader with an increased knowledge of the sources of the characters and whimsy of the Groey books. The personal anecdotes of McDermott, made you wish you could have known the man in real life. Gorey would have been pleased with his friend's understanding of who he was. The photographers eye, saw the "art" of Gorey in his everyday surroundings. It was like walking in Gorey's shoes from room to room. A must have book for every Gorey fan. ... Read more

Amazon.com

For generations, Thomas Eakins--whose famous paintings include "The Gross Clinic" and "The Champion Single Sculls"--has been regarded as a 19th-century American hero. In Eakins Revealed: The Secret Life of an American Artist, art historian Henry Adams offers a radically different view that allows us to better understand "the intensity and emotional desperation of Eakins' art." Eakins' brush with scandal--he was dismissed from his teaching post at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in 1886 for removing the loincloth from a male model posing for a class of women students--is generally described by admiring art historians as a brave attempt to modernize stuffy old rules. Adams reveals that the artist was a life-long exhibitionist who appears to have preyed on vulnerable young women. Drawing on the Bregler papers, a cache of revealing documents from Eakins' studio that surfaced in the mid-1980s, Adams describes a man whose sense of masculine identity was thwarted by a deep identification with his mentally ill mother and an inability to please his father. Reviewing the major Eakins studies, beginning with the landmark monograph by Lloyd Goodrich, Adams finds that many aspects of the artist's life were suppressed to establish him as an all-American hero.

Adams presents his case with the mesmerizing power of a star attorney-at-law, painting a detailed picture of the artist's troubled personal life before launching into correspondences between the life and the art. Although readers may question some of Adams' interpretations--whether of Freudian theory or the emotional effect of a specific painting--the author's direct, probing style makes Eakins Revealed as riveting as a courtroom drama. In his concluding arguments, Adams proposes that the subjects of Eakins' late portraits, almost uniformly pensive and hollow-eyed, are in fact multiple versions of the brooding artist himself. Ultimately, the author's new assessments endow Eakins' work with an anxiety about the body and gender roles--issues that preoccupy many artists of our own time. Readers new to Eakins may be disappointed to find only small, black-and-white reproductions of the works in this book, and a few of the works discussed (such as "Crucifixion") are not illustrated at all. But skeptical specialists will be pleased to see that Adams includes copious (and often fascinating) notes and a full bibliography. —-Cathy Curtis ... Read more

Reviews (3)

a very strange book
I have long been fascinated by Thomas Eakins's life and career.Over the years I have enjoyed Lloyd Goodrich's two volume biography and Elizabeth Johns's book about his art.This book by Adams has left me thoroughly confused.

Twisted Freudian Interpretation of An American Icon
If a reader were to believe the many ludicrous claims that Adams makes about Thomas Eakins, one would think that the artist was homosexual, heterosexual, bisexual, and a pedophile, exhibitionist, voyeur, sadist, and masochist; and further, that he practiced incest and bestiality (all of which, Adams suggests, was driven by a desire to posses his own mother).Take your pick!Adams covers all the bases. Eakins is not so much "revealed" in this book as he is "concealed."He seems to ignore altogether, what to my mind, are the most fascinating things about this remarkable man: that he studied logarithms for fun, that science, not art, was his first love, that he was conversant in five languages, and that he found beauty where others saw ugliness.Among the more humorous assertions that Adams makes about Eakins is that the artist painted while sitting on the floor (he used an easel), that he shot his sister's cat for fun (Adams conveniently leaves out the fact that Eakins' father ordered him to do so because the animal was rabid), and that he painted clergymen because they wore dresses, which supposedly reminded Eakins of outfits his dead mother wore.After reading this dreadful book I came to actually like it as a study of how inbred (dare I say incestuous?) that some members of our academic community have become.Even if you are convinced, or want to believe that Abraham Lincoln was homosexual, you will still have difficulty making the creative leaps necessary to take this book seriously.

Riddled with Errors
This book is so riddled with errors and exaggerations that it is a wonder why Oxford University Press would publish it. ... Read more

Book Description

An elegant, witty, frank, touching, and deeply personal account of the loves both great and fleeting in the life of one of America's most celebrated and fabled women.

Born to great wealth yet kept a virtual prisoner by the custody battle that raged between her proper aunt and her self-absorbed, beautiful mother, Gloria Vanderbilt grew up in a special world. Stunningly beautiful herself, yet insecure and with a touch of wildness, she set out at a very early age to find romance. And find it she did. There were love affairs with Howard Hughes, Bill Paley, and Frank Sinatra, to name a few, and one-night stands, which she writes about with delicacy and humor, including one with the young Marlon Brando. There were marriages to men as diverse as Pat De Cicco, who abused her; the legendary conductor Leopold Stokowski, who kept his innermost secrets from her; film director Sidney Lumet; and finally writer Wyatt Cooper, the love of her life.

Now, in an irresistible memoir that is at once ruthlessly forthright, supremely stylish, full of fascinating details, and deeply touching, Gloria Vanderbilt writes at last about the subject on which she has hitherto been silent: the men in her life, why she loved them, and what each affair or marriage meant to her. This is the candid and captivating account of a life that has kept gossip writers speculating for years, as well as Gloria's own intimate description of growing up, living, marrying, and loving in the glare of the limelight and becoming, despite a family as famous and wealthy as America has ever produced, not only her own person but an artist, a designer, a businesswoman, and a writer of rare distinction. ... Read more

Book Description

These biographies of the great quattrocento artists have long been considered among the most important of contemporary sources on Italian Renaissance art.Vasari, who invented the term "Renaissance," was the first to outline the influential theory of Renaissance art that traces a progression through Giotto,Brunelleschi, and finally the titanic figures of Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, and Raphael.This new translation, specially commisioned for the World's Classics series, contains thirty-six of the most important lives and is fully annotated. ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Better than many Modern Art History Books
If you were to read a modern art history book of the high Renaissance, chances are the author of the book drew at least some of his information from this book written by Giorgio Vasari. Giorgio Vasari was an Italian Renaissance artist who also wrote about the various artists of his time. A contemporary of Michangelo, Georgi Vasari's book reads like a Who's Who of Renaissance artists. For a book more than four hundred years old, the style is amazingly modern and interesting.
Vasari has an artist's eye for critiquing another artist's work. His writing style is not boring, whereas many would be reduced to general descriptions like "beautiful" and "amateurish", he dissects the artist's work between strong and weak points, pigments and flesh tones or landscapes vs. portraits or the use of light and perspective. He states the reason why some art or one artist is renowned and others ignored. His judgments have generally stood the test of time. Vasari also weaves in some interesting tidbits and anecdotes of the Artist's life. I found this book more interesting than many modern day Art History books.

Necessary for art historians and college students
Vasari's prose is effusive but easy to follow because it says the same things over and over about each artist. If you have any interest in the Italian artists this book is a crucial and reliable source of information. Artists lives with an emphasis on their contemporaries and their development are lavishly detailed in this book. It's a crucial source for a college-level art history report. Art historians respect Vasari's analyses of the artists' lives.

Vasari LOVES the High Renaissance artists, especially Michelangelo and Raphael, so you'll find that those chapters are especially long and informative. At times the praise of these artists, and others of the Renaissance, seems exaggerated and excessive. But you get the general gist of things, and find yourself itching to see the paintings that he tells stories about after you read about each artist.

Some hard work, ultimately worth it.
Slogging a little bit, because it's difficult to read even interesting prose descriptions of paintings and also painfully aware that I lacked a lot of the technical understanding of what he was discussing-- my history of art knowledge has huge holes in it. I turned frequently to the Internet to find the paintings Vasari was discussing and that helped a great deal.

I read the George Bull translation and it felt really clunky, although it's a plus that the footnotes are at the bottom of the pages rather than at the rear of the book. If I'm going to go on to read Volume 2 then I have to say that I'd choose another translator.

I knew in an intellectual way that a lot of the Renaissance was about reclaiming lost arts and sciences, but reading Vasari gave me a much better gut level feel about that really meant about the development of the arts. Connects real people to the history lesson, albeit in a gossipy and occasionally too-flowery way.

In the Land of the Blind . . .
This is badly-written, badly-structured, gossipy, confused, misleading, and in too many places downright dishonest. Nevertheless it remians our main source of biographical information on the great artists of the Renaissance and Mannerist periods.

Most of these geniuses were considered so unimportant in their own lifetimes that the details of their lives weren't thought worthy to be recorded. It is telling therefore that it was Vasari, himself a rather vainglorious and self-important artist, who first conceived the notion of setting down the minutae of his own class. Unfortunately he was more a man of the brush than the pen and used his biographical duties to settle a few old scores and to pass on rumor and gossip.

Of course, the very ineptitude with which this work is written gives it an extra appeal in our own dumbed down age, but compared to great biographers of the past, like Plutarch, this is clearly inferior goods. Unfortunately, it's all we have to go on for most of the artists here. If it's a great work, it's a great work solely by default.

'In the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king.'

Absolutely fascinating
I read this book in preparation for an upcoming trip to Florence. I am a big Michelangelo fan to begin with, and the idea of reading something written by a contemporary and aficionado of his was intriguing. I was well rewarded for my interests.

Vasari clearly idolized Michelangeo and Raphael. That is apparent, but as he did for every other artist's Life he covered, the level of personal detail and anecdotes is invaluable for someone like me looking for the story behind the artists. Artists from each phase of the Renaissance are covered with detail of both their personal and artistic lives. I can say I learned so much from each chapter that I will surely be taking this book with me for reference when I am in Florence.

One caveat, I think it would be helpful to have a book with photographs of the works Vasari discusses. Unless you are already up to speed on the major Renaissance works, it is more helpful to visualize them with the assistance of Vasari's descriptions. I found myself running to the internet often to see what he had been talking about.

Kick back and relax with this very easy to read and thoroughly enjoyable guide to some of the Renaissance's finest artists. ... Read more

Book Description

The fascinating first-person account of the cross-dressing prince who poisoned Rasputin with rose cream cakes laced with cyanide and spiked Madeira is now back in print. Originally published in France in 1952, during the years of Prince Youssoupoff's exile from Russia, Lost Splendor has all the excitement of a thriller. Born to great riches, lord of vast feudal estates and many palaces, Felix Youssoupoff led the life of a grand seigneur in the days before the Russian Revolution. Married to the niece of Czar Nicholas II, he could observe at close range the rampant corruption and intrigues of the imperial court, which culminated in the rise to power of the sinister monk Rasputin. Finally, impelled by patriotism and his love for the Romanoff dynasty, which he felt was in danger of destroying itself and Russia, he killed Rasputin in 1916 with the help of the Grand Duke Dimitri and others. More than any other single event, this deed helped to bring about the cataclysmic upheaval that ended in the advent of the Soviet regime.~The author describes the luxury and glamour of his upbringing, fantastic episodes at nightclubs and with the gypsies in St. Petersburg, grand tours of Europe, dabbling in spiritualism and occultism, and an occasional conscience-stricken attempt to alleviate the lot of the poor.~Prince Youssoupoff was an aristocrat of character. When the moment for action came, when the monk's evil influence over the czar and czarina became unbearable, he and his friends decided that they must get rid of the monster. He tells how Rasputin courted him and tried to hypnotize him, and how finally they decoyed him to the basement of the prince's palace. Prince Youssoupoff...is perfectly objective, remarkably modern and as accurate as human fallibility allows. His book is therefore readable, of historical value and intimately tragic. It is as if Count Fersen had written a detailed account of the last years of Marie Antoinette.--Harold Nicholson, on the first English edition, 1955 By Prince Felix Youssoupoff. Hardcover, 5.25 x 8.25 in./300 pgs / 0 color 14 BW0 duotone 0 ~ Item D20143 ... Read more

Reviews (2)

A Glimpse Into A Vanished World
Prince Felix Yousssoupoff is best known as one of the murderers of Gregory Rasputin just before the Russian Revolution. He was a member of one of Russia's most aristocratic families, and in this memoir, originally published in the 1950s, he gives us a glimpse of life for a nobleman in pre-Revolutionary Russia.

Life was certainly rich, if not always good, for Prince Felix. As a younger son, he was given very little education and basically allowed to do as he pleased during his formative years. Most of the time what he was pleased to do was to get into trouble. I lost count of the number of servants, governesses, and other retainers who quit with nervous breakdowns after trying to look after Felix. Under the influence of his elder brother, whom he adored, Felix had an early initiation into sexual and other kinds of debauchery. He enjoyed dressing as a woman and living the high life in St. Petersburg, London, and Paris. Felix was reticent about his sexuality, claiming several affairs with women but speaking more warmly about his men friends, including Grand Duke Dmitri, who helped him murder Rasputin. When Felix's brother was killed in a duel Felix became the heir to a vast fortune. He married Tsar Nicholas' niece Irina, whom he claimed to adore but otherwise said little about.

The most interesting parts of this book deal with Rasputin, whom Felix met several times. Typically, Felix hints that there was a sexual nature to these encounters, but divulges few details. Felix describes the murder and his subsequent exile, which saved him from being in St. Petersburg during the February Revolution in 1917, and his internment in the Crimea with other members of the Imperial Family from 1917 through 1919, when he escaped on a British warship.

This book is interesting but highly reticent. Felix never loses a chance to glamorize himself and his activities, with the result that some undeniably brave actions, like his several trips to St. Petersburg to rescue treasures while the Bolshevik terror was at its height, tend to get less attention than they deserve. A more open and informative biography of Prince Felix, The Man Who Killed Rasputin, by Greg King, was published several years ago and will help fill in the gaps left by Felix's own work.

A historical treat
I first encountered this book as a teenager and was just enchanted with it, and I'm thrilled a new printing has come out. Of the many autobiographies of exiled Russian nobility, this one stood out. Perhaps because of the historical role he played. There are fascinating stories of eccentric personalities (how about getting a mountain for a birthday present, complete with sheep?). A complex personality, Felix was, admittedly, spoiled rotten, used to getting his way and yet, had admirable traits (it's not in this book but once in exile, he never turned down a request for help from another refugee). And then there is Rasputin and his part in that assasination. Of course, Felix leaves out some details about himself other historians have noted. However, the book is still an accurate picture of a lost world. If you enjoy this era, this book is worth having in your collection. ... Read more

Book Description

A graphic genius of phantasmagorical originality, Lee Brown Coyes pictures are the visual expression not only of his own emotional turbulence, but also the turbulence of his times. ARTS UNKNOWN is the first biography/art book on Coye (-), a uniquely macabre and eccentric artist, and it will surprise many people unaware of his fine art, non-genre book illustrations, cartoons, and sculpture credentials. ... Read more

Book Description

"The Mitford girls were probably the most spectacular sister act of thetwentieth century."—Vogue

This is the story of a close, loving family splintered by the violent ideologies of Europe between the wars. Jessica was a Communist; Debo became the Duchess of Devonshire; Nancy was one of the best-selling novelists of her day; the ethereally beautiful Diana was the most hated woman in England; and Unity Valkyrie, born in Swastika, Alaska, would become obsessed with Adolf Hitler. 24 b/w photographs. ... Read more

Reviews (27)

Powerfully Engaging Story
Mary S. Lovell made a wise decision when she took up her pen and joined the Mitford industry. The Sisters (The Saga of the Mitford Family) is a truly fascinating and endlessly engaging book. And there was no way it could not be with those crazy Mitfords: Nancy, Jessica, Debo, Diana, Pam and, of course, the very tragic Unity Valkyrie, conceived at Swastika Canada and devoted friend of Hitler. The story of these sisters spans the twentienth century and travels all over the political spectrum. The author shows her own conservative bias clearly throughout and was obviousaly charmed by Diana Mosely (nee Mitford), the still living wife of Sir Oswald Mosley, leader of the British Fascists during the interwar years. But her prejudices and political naivete (the author's suggestion that World War II could possibly have been avoided if Diana just brought Hitler and Churchill, a relative of hers, together is quite silly and should have been edited out) are so apparent that one can enjoy the book regardless. The portrayal of the mother of the girls, Sydney, is the most interesting to come along of her. A wonderful, delightful read of six powerfully individual women.

A readable and entertaining look at social history/biography
This carefully researched and constructed biography of the six Mitford sisters, Nancy, Pam, Diana, Unity, Jessica and Deborah, and their brother, Tom, is a fascinating look not only of their lives but at the time in which they lived. The reader is drawn into the world of minor British aristocracy and is treated to characters who, although somewhat eccentric at times, seem much like people we know: Parents are well-intentioned if somewhat misled, children are willful and spoiled. Life, however, is frivolous and carefree in an increasingly dangerous and threatening world. It's easy to understand where Nancy got her sense of humor and her ability to write social satire -- it was bred into the bone.

It's also understandable (and not at all uncommon) that the older siblings found some measure of success while the younger ones behaved like the over-indulged, spoiled children they were and never seemed to cease to be.

The reader who remembers (and the student of) the early- and mid-20th century will recognize the famous names that wander through these pages with the infamous family: Aly Khan, Winston Churchill, Katharine Graham, Diana Cooper, Evelyn Waugh and more -- it's a star-studded group of friends, relatives and acquaintances that touch and often seriously influence the lives of the Mitfords.

I loved this book. The story is fascinating and almost surreal as it unfolds through the girls' schooling, debutante years and various adult exploits played against the backdrop of the developing World War and its aftermath. Lovell has done a superb job of presenting the zeigeist of their era and their lives in a readable and entertaining text.

A Good Familial Portrait of the Wacky Mitford Family
I first read Jessica Mitford's "A Fine Old Conflict" when it was published in the early 1970's. It remained in my bookcase and I recently re-read it and also read "Hons (Daughters) and Rebels" which whetted my appetite for more information on what the sisters came to label as the "Mitford Industry". I then purchased "The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family".

I was not disappointed. I found The "Sisters" really enjoyable and well researched, and the photos excellent. There is much interesting information in the many footnotes, too.

Like Sydney said, "What a Set!"

A Fascinating, Riveting Book
"The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family" tells the (true) story of the Mitford sisters, six beautiful and talented aristocratic young women who came of age in the interwar period.(There was a brother Tom who died during WWII. He does not play a major role in this book nor does it seem in their lives.)

These women lived, for the most part, amazing (though not admirable in all cases) lives: Nancy, the oldest, became a best selling novelist; Pamela, the "least interesting" (to the biographer and her family, though not necessarily the reader), lived a country life after a marriage to a brilliant man who married compulsively (six total); Diana, the society beauty, who left her husband for the fascist Oswald Mosley and who befriended Hitler; Unity, who became obsessed with Hitler and met him 140 times during a short period before WWII; Jessica, the rebel, who eloped at 18, became a communist, moved to the states, and became a best selling author on such topis as the funeral home industry; and Deborah, the youngest, who made the most brilliant marriage, to the future Duke of Devonshire.

This book details the eccentric but loving childhood of these sisters (though the father had murderous rages that seemed to have a lifelong impact on the children) and the diverse set of political causes and men that both brought them together and drove them apart over the years. Any book that affords the reader glimpses of Churchill as an uncle, Hitler as a "friend", Maya Angelou as an honorary "sister", is worth its price. Lovell presents her material in a straightforward manner. The book is thoroughly researched.

However, there are flaws. Lovell could probe further than she does into the psyches of the sisters. Three of them became obsessed with men in ways that bordered on the unhealthy and bizarre (Nancy had a lifelong infatuation for a count that would never marry her, the beautiful Diana dedicated her life to the unfaithful Mosley, and Unity's fixation on Hitler was downright psychotic.) And she lets Diana off the hook a bit too easily for her fascist and pro-Hitler views (Diana never repented.) She seems somewhat bewitched by Diana's external beauty-she met her at the age of 90--and doesn't focuse on the fact that it was external. (As obituary writers did this past summer after her death in August.)
Still it is a great read particularly for those fascinated by the British upper classes between the two wars.

A Very Flawed Masterpiece
To begin, the author has done an outstanding job of research, compilation, and organization. Quite a balancing act with multiple subjects, and the author has superbly achieved her feat. This said, the biography has too many serious flaws for it to be given the rave notices of most reviewers. I'm afraid most readers are too enchanted by the fascinating lives of these highly unusual women and, thus,have not critically approached the book. The author has provided us with a literary tea party with her subjects, but other than the superficial facts of their lives, she has provided us with only an elementary analysis or understanding of who and what they were, and more importantly, how and why they got that way. Perhaps a more thorough grounding in psychology could have benefited the writer in her profession. The unique characters of David and Sydney Mitford are the key to understanding their daughters. Both of them had troubled emotional lives that were fully transfered genetically and environmentally to their offspring. Sydney lost her mother at a very young age and emotionally "shut down" for the rest of her life. A paragon of virtue, totally devoted to her family, she was like a dead-pan, sonombalant iceberg. It must have been maddening to these six girls to have such an outwardly unfeeling, unaffectionate mother. Imagine how it must have felt to know that nothing you did, even threatening suicide by jumping off the manor roof, could ever do more than raise a polite and tranquil eyebrow of your mother and elicit only a supremely detached and blaise reaction. And the father - even as a boy it seems apparent that he had mental problems - just not eccentricity - but blind rages that alienated him from his boyhood family. As a father, David deeply loved his children but completely undermined them by his relentless volcanic fits of rage. His good side was his sharp, sarcastic humor which amused his children, but sadly taught them that it was the only acceptable vehicle for expressing their emotions. Thus, the four famous daughters adopted a sharp-tongued pose to hide their damaged emotions. There's way too much of these things to go into at any depth here. Suffice it to say, the author failed to give her subjects the psychological analysis and understanding that they were screaming for their entire lives. She also failed to give an objective view of the British caste system and way of life that helped create their attitudes, such as the emotional sterile childhoods of he upper classes that necessitates the life-long use of childish nicknames. Nicknames are almost a sub-theme of the book, but the author fails to note their importance in both helping to keep the users securely attached to their meager childhoods with their nannies in the nursery and also to perpetuate the upper class eliteness of having a private club with secret passwords - you know you belong because you use the ridiculous childhood nickname - thus today you could not be more upper class than if you referred to Her Majesty the Queen as "Lillibet". As for the technical, a good editor is screamed for here. The author has no gift for sentence construction or the usage of words. She loves introducing a sentence with a dependant clause that has nothing to do with the subject of the sentence. It is so often confusing and irritating - the reader has to skip back a few sentences to see what she's referring to. An example: "Indulging in these constant volcanic eruptions with loud shouts and dangerously flashing blue eyes, the house was not a pleasant place to be." Now, where's the editor? It's absurd that an author be allowed to drop or confuse her subject noun literally dozens of times in a book. And the sloppy choice of pronouns is also confusing and sometimes disastrous. When five or six women are previously mentioned by name, and then the author proceeds to refer back to one of them with the "she" pronoun, you have to almost disect the paragraph to figure out which she is being referred to. Like I said, a great researcher this author certainly is - a great organizer - but a very untalented writer, and, alas, a very mediocre biographer who lacks the skills of critical analysis and intellectual understanding to give these fascinating subjects the presentation that they truly deserve. But a worthy attempt. Once again, WHERE WAS THE COPY EDITOR?! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Theodor Seuss Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, was one of the titans of 20th century American children's literature--a legacy that shows no sign of diminishing in the 21st. But such epochal fare as The Cat in the Hat and enduring, whimsical characters as Horton, The Grinch and Sam-I-Am represent but one corner of the late writer/artist's vast artistic universe. Other Geisel biographies have detailed his remarkable life and vibrant art, but Massachusetts dentist/Seussiana collector nonpareil Richard D. Cohen serves up a "visual biography" that's part lovingly illustrated coffee table book and part insightful analysis of a creative mind and the various historical and cultural forces that shaped it. Cohen richly illustrates his compelling tribute with key, telling artifacts from his own massive collection. No corner of the author/artist's life has escaped Cohen's obsessive collector's eye, including: turn-of the-century bottles of the Geisel family brewery, Geisel's teenage writings and illustrations, later work that spans careers in cartooning advertising (successful campaigns for Esso, Flit and others), wartime propaganda (including uncredited work on the Oscar-winning Hitler Lives!) and Hollywood (The 5000 Finger of Dr. T). Indeed, in Cohen's thoughtful, lavishly illustrated analysis, Geisel's latter-day incarnation as children's author supreme was but the logical distillation of a lifetime devoted to wit, wordplay and whimsical art.--Jerry McCulley ... Read more

Reviews (5)

Yes I Love It, Sam-I-Am!
As we celebrate the centennial of Ted Geisel's birth, material is appearing that looks at the influence of Dr. Seuss on generations of American readers. Dr. Cohen brings us what is obviously a labor of love. Drawing inspiration on his extensive collection of Seussiana, he has produced one of the most lavishly illustrated and broadly scoped book on the life and works of the good doctor.

Cohen reaches back to Geisel's school days and illustrates the development of the artist's style and humor. Continually he will point out how pieces done at various points in Geisel's life can be traced as part of the development of what would become some of his trademark images and beloved characters, including the Grinch. Instead of focusing heavily on Seuss's books, he draws attention to the vast collection of other artwork that was drawn, mostly before the books even came into being. Seuss's work as a humorist, advertising artist, sculptor, and cartoonist (political and otherwise) are shown here as he continued to improve and hone his craft. The end results are the books that are so beloved to multitudes of people who were lucky enough to grow up with Seuss in the house.

The book would be worth it for the pictures alone, but the accompanying text helps get below the surface of many of the pieces, and to tie them together into a artist's whole output. Even if you only look at the pictures and read the captions to the pictures, you will get a whole new appreciation of Dr. Seuss's work over the years. If I any complaint, it is that in some ways the books almost get shorted too much in this narrative, and too often the captions for the illustrations are repetitive to the text. But these are minor quibbles that in no way detract from the glorious whole.

For the Seuss lover, and for the casual reader, this book brings the reader a whole new appreciation of a beloved illustrator's work and the genius that was Dr. Seuss.

The many facets of Dr. Seuss
Since 2004 is the Seussentennial, or the hundredth anniversary of Dr. Seuss' birth, this is a great time to get to know more about one of America's most popular icons of children's literature. Ted Geisel, aka Dr. Seuss, was far more than an author and illustrator of children's books and movies. His career includes humorist, journalist, advertising genius, magazine and political cartoonist, creator of wartime training and propaganda films, president of a publishing company, and spokesman for children's education.

Author Charles Cohen, a dentist and avid collector of Seussiana, is well qualified to write this visual biography of Ted Geisel. Through lavish illustrations, many from his own collection, Cohen shows the many facets of Geisel's art and imagination. The reader is treated to Geisel's earliest works from long before his first published children's book. These include examples of his college newspaper cartoons and his many successful advertising campaigns that blended humor and salesmanship. These creations are juxtaposed with his later children's books to provide the reader a deeper understanding of how culture and history shaped the evolution of his ideas and whimsical bestiary, and to point out the same themes cropping up over and over again in his works.

Although this book provides a fascinating view into many unusual perspectives of Dr. Seuss the artist and innovator, there is little here about Ted Geisel the man. In the introduction, Cohen says that he neither met Geisel nor interviewed anyone who knew him. Instead he delved into Geisel's works to discover what made him tick. As a result, there are many facts missing about Geisel's personal life and friendships. The few personal facts that were thrown in, mostly towards the end of the book, came from out of nowhere and made me crave more details. It is for this reason, especially since this book is called a "visual biography," that I rated it four stars instead of five. It is more a visual exploration of Geisel's works than a biography. Nevertheless, I strongly recommend this book. It will open your eyes to a creatively obsessed man that you never realized existed. It will also rekindle your fond memories of the Dr. Seuss books you read as a child. Perhaps it will even shed a bit of light on why you loved those books so much.

Eileen Rieback

A Grown-up Biography of a Children's Hero
With the awful, distorted, contrived pile of wasted film, conjured up in the form of Mike Myers' take on the "Cat in the Hat," it would be nice to know why, in the beginning of it all, Dr. Seuss was ever popular at all. He was a great writer and cartoonist before his famous cat's striped hat became chic fashion among post-grunge era teenagers.

In "The Seuss, the Whole Seuss and Nothing But the Seuss: A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel" by Charles Cohen, we are shown the greatness of Seuss -- of Theodor Geisel, through drawings, paintings and text. We get to learn about his early days at Dartmouth, as he toyed with hybridic animals, wit and satire.

Not every idea worked. Seuss, an experimenter, evolved from being a talented but rustic styler of odd creatures into a sophisticated artist of odd, if not bizarre beasts that had genuine identity.

Before he write and drew books about green eggs, grinches, and elephants named Horton, he was an editorial cartoonist. His language in many of the cartoons was far from being politically correct, but his social commentary decrying racism was right on. He hard-handed racist thought with no evidence of his sweet children's characters kindness.

Cohen has produced an array of research. Samples of Seuss' art grace most pages. We also get a look at the vast merchandising, parodies, and unlicensed knock-offs.

This is not a children's book. Don't be fooled by the name of the publisher. It is for someone interested in reading a serious look at the history of one of America's beloved cartoonists.

I fully recommend "The Seuss, the Whole Seuss and Nothing But the Seuss: A Visual Biography of Theodor Seuss Geisel." by Charles D. Cohen.

Anthony Trendl

Fabulous!
This book is not all about reiterating the Seuss stories we've already read, but instead an objective well researched pictoral and written account of the man so many love. Cohen does a great job researching the possible meanings of Geisel's cartoons and later texts. There are many, many Judge magazine and other political cartoons that are absolutely hilarious, and absolutely adult in nature (similar to alot of his "childrens" stories).

I highly recommend this book to anyone what likes to drop into a chapter then skip to another at an opposite end of the book because they are somewhat independent although chronological, it is easy to skip around to the parts you feel like reading for that day.

Also, at 400 pages full color, who can pass up the bargain?

f.y.i. This biography seems to coincide a lot with *In Search of Dr. Seuss* the movie that just came out in dvd

Gorgeous book
Kudos to Dr. Cohen. The writing is insightful, the illustrations and pictures are outstanding, the sheer volume of content is overwhelming and of course, the dedication is tear-jerking. A must have for any Seuss fan. Read the inside jacket-I'm guessing someday there will be a Poem Repair Shop. ... Read more

Book Description

Love-ins and sit-ins, the "back to the earth" movement, nude beaches, the "New Age" quest for spirituality, reggae culture and The Grateful Dead, the New York Mets, and life on Martha's Vineyard-from an early age Peter Simon has delighted in documenting the world around him through photography. Here is his life's work thus far, an astonishing record of the far-ranging experiences of his generation, featuring many of the major figures, both in the mainstream and counter-culture, of the past 40 years. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

If You Remember the '60's...
It's been said that if you remember the '60's you probably weren't really there. It's a good thing Peter had a camera because he probably would have been wondering himself what those days were like. Parts of his world, beautifully recorded, jar our memories. Whether these memories are painful or delightful, they are part of our collective story. Many '60's communes didn't allow photographs, so these may be rarer than one assumes. The book is worth looking at and reading.

Uninspired photographs and more boomer self aggrandizement
I wanted to like this book, I really did, but I couldn't get past the amateurish tone as Simon retreads that well trod path that amounts to the sixties generation stations of the cross--wealthy childhood, discovering drugs and sex at college, dropping out and living off your parents on a commune, plugging into Eastern philosophies and, finally, capitalizing on "the good old days". I found the photographs mundane and the essays almost unbearable as Simon chronicles his constant drug taking and drifting from place to place. As another reviewer wrote, I don't think we would have seen this book printed if not for his name and his celebrity sister.

Makes me wish I was born a few years earlier
Peter Simon is a talented photojournalist, and this book is the story of his life, with a definite emphasis on the 60's and early 70's counterculture years, which he lived to the fullest. It's all here: the protests, living on a commune, the eastern spiritual gurus, flirtations with nudism, the (impressive) series of hippy girlfriends, the rock stars (he's Carly Simon's brother).

I'm sure other members of his generation will find the book very nostalgic. As for me, it's almost enough to make we wish I'd been born 10 or 15 years sooner. I went to college during the early years of the Reagan administration. The 60's obviously weren't a very happy time, but it would be hard to imagine someone of my generation putting out a book like this: who would care?

The later chapters of the book are an odd lot of whatever he was shooting during those years of his life. Therefore we have some baseball coverage, some photos of landscapes and his celebrity friends on Martha's Vineyard and some coverage of Woodstock 1999. I'd judge these chapters as substantially less interesting than the early ones.

One thing this book does illustrate is the importance of connections in getting a book of photography published. I'm not saying it's not a worthy project: it certainly is. But a lot of worthy projects are never published, and it's hard to believe his sister's celebrity and his family's connections in the publishing industry ("Simon" is the "Simon" in "Simon & Schuster") weren't key factors, especially for a virtually unknown photographer.

A Titillating Journey
Ah! From the intricacies of Tree Frog Farm to the open arms of MV's shores, the reader is webbed into every fiber of Peter's life through his descriptive words and vivid photographs - so much so, that he leaves you with a dream of being one of the free spirits on the beaches of Martha's Vineyard.Thank you, Peter, for the journey!

A Great Retrospective from a Well-Timed and Well-Placed Man
In my humble opinion, the baby boomer generation lived through some of the most captivating days our world has seen. In their 57 years (and growing) life, these people have witnessed heroes rise and fall, movements come and go, events take place and gracefully (or not) assume their places in the books of time. Peter Simon seemed to always be at the right place at the right time with his ever-ready camera aimed in history's direction. His eyes, both literally and creatively speaking, have witnessed Jackie Robinson play at Ebbetts Field; they saw student unrest at Boston University in the late 1960s; they watched his generation live simply off the earth in nature-based communes in the 1970s; they traveled with Grateful Dead and Bob Marley; they captured the 1986 Mets' victory over the Red Sox in the World Series; and dearest to my heart, his eyes have seen Martha's Vineyard come of age along with he, himself. If you lived through these days, or if you wish you had, I and Eye is more than a wise choice. It is a chronicle of your greatest memories and imaginations - one that you will want to hold in the deepest space in your mind.
-
A fan,
Craig Sherman ... Read more

Amazon.com

Frida Kahlo's diary, like her art, is painted in breathtakingly vivid colors. It covers her tumultuous last decade and encompasses love letters, political musings on Communism, and resplendent paintings. The paintings, peopled with mythic figures, self-portraits, and monsters, articulate Kahlo's fantastic visions. One drawing melds a procession of crying faces onto an intertwined couple surrounded by body parts, only to dissolve into a mass of roots and dendrites.

In the introduction, Carlos Fuentes writes, "...a streetcar crashed into the fragile bus she was riding, broke her spinal column, her collarbone, her ribs, her pelvis.... The impact of the crash left Frida naked and bloodied, but covered with gold dust." Her paintings depict her bodily experience, from anguish to sensuality. Kahlo said, "I never painted dreams, I painted my own reality." This visionary ability earned her a place among the surrealists.

Kahlo's prose delves into the associations between images and words, feelings and thought. Her writings shed welcome light on her active intelligence and provide an outline of the events of her life. This Abradale edition features plates reproducing the pages of the diary, and essays by Carlos Fuentes and Sarah Lowe that place it in the context of Mexican art, politics, and history. It is a magical work that adds to an understanding not only of Kahlo's work, but of her interior world as well.--Madeline Crowley ... Read more

Reviews (6)

If unique is what you seek
I was put off by this book for a few years before I got around to reading it because of the odd nature of Frida's drawings and doodlings, inks spillls morfing into "art" and in general the seemingly difficult text to follow. All this changed upon a recent trip to Mexico, amongst the tranquil backdrop of Mismaloya and unforgetable sunsets in this tropical paradise I was able to whip through this book. The serenity of the place helped me get through Frida's chaos. After reading her own insights and feelings about life I wanted more. Her bizarre life, filled with more theatre and characters than a Fellini film, more physical and mental agony than most humans can endure is one that deserves her own thoughts, although at times they are convoluted. Whether she was under the influence(many of her last years she was doped to mask the pain) or not is irrevelant because the text is spellbinding with illustrations that captivate the imagination, taking the reader along a surrealistic journey as only Frida can. It is a grotesquely beautiful book, rich in imagery , both literally as well as illustrated in the unique style of Frida Kahlo, reflective of the pain and suffering she lived, both self inflicted and her own fate. It is quite simply, Frida in her own words. The book is a handsome collection of thoughts and drawings by one of the greatest Latin American artists of the twentieth century. The author takes the liberty of interpreting each page, giving her perspective concerning the thoughts of Frida in a very helpful manner. The first part of the book is the diary, in writting and print and as colorful and bold as Frida was, whereas the second part is the type written text of the Frida's hallucianatory ramblings and drawings. This proves to a beneficail companion to reading each page, first by Frida followed by the clearer typed "translation" in thesecond part of the book. Without the type written text some sections are nearly impossible to decipher. The various sketches are shown in their embyonic stages and would later become part of her major works are truly amazing. If you are a lover of the works of Frida Kahlo this is a fine book to add to your collection of Kahlo memorabilia. This book is a perfect companion to Hayden Herrera's definitive biography. Incidently, my desire for more of Frida in her own words (this one is in Spanish mostly)was quenched recently by finding a book entitled "Escritura" by Frida Kahlo that is series of poems, letters and notes selected by Raquel Tibol. I highly suggest reading both if you are a Kahlophile.

Intimate and hallucinatory
This very intimate book accomplishes what no bio can: show us inside Kahlo, via her own ramblings and disorganization and odd illustartions and ink spills and lines, and drawings, etc. It is a weird highway to the inner mind of the goddess of 20th century art.

With a movie in the works ..., Kahlo is sure to solidify her position as the top-of-the-art-food-chain Latin American artist of the century (Georgia O'Keefe considered her the best female artist of the 20th century) and make her iconic face even more famous.

Kahlo deserves this position because she painted honestly and brutally. She painted her memorable Jewish-Austrian-Spanish-Mexican face, single eyebrow and slim moustache in stark honesty; she had many lovers of both sexes (when such a course of sex exploits was practically unknown); she grabbed her Mexicanity with a fierce pride and ferocity that would not be in vogue until decades after her death (Kahlo was born in 1907 and died in 1954) and yet during her life she was just the wife of a very famous Mexican muralist and a champagne Communist who partied with the Fords and Rockefellers while marching with the workers down the wide avenues of Mexico City. It is thus ironic that it is Kahlo, whose astonishing life and unique paintings are now the subject of lawsuits between governments and collectors, has taken the limelight from her talented womanizer husband and is rightfully considered one of the best artists of the 20th century, period. This is a nice addition and a must read for Kahlophiles.

Hallucinatory and lovely
This book gives an interesting view of the person who was Frida Kahlo, in her own very personal words and images. It is a bit sad that something so private has been made rather accessible, but it is good for lovers of Kahlo's art. The book is inspiring; it is quite creatively stimulating with the lush, free images and round scrawls in many colours. The introduction by Carlos Fuentes is well-written, and I especially liked his description of seeing Frida Kahlo at a Wagner opera. The essay by Sarah Lowe is likewise good. The reproductions of the diary pages look very good and clear (though since I haven't seen the originals, I'm just assuming they are accurate), the size of the pages is large enough, and the colours are all very vivid. The commentary is in a separate section from the diary reproduction, which is nice because you can look uninterrupted at the diary part, and not have to worry about what it all means. It does make for a lot of flipping back and forth when reading the commentary and referring back to the diary page, even though the page discussed is reproduced in black and white (very small) in the commentary. The commentary is rather sparse, and not all the pages of the diary are discussed. All in all a fascinating read.

A Must Own for Frida Junkies
This is not a book that you read, per se. If you are looking for a biography or autobiography of Kahlo and want to find out about her life and times - this is Not the book.

If you already have a lot of knowledge of Kahlo then this diary is a fantastic addition. It provides you with an insight into her mind, dreams and pain. The beautiful color reproduction of her actual drawing and writing is accompanied by a type-set explanation of her words.

No scholar of Frida Kahlo should be without this amazing, gorgeous portfolio. It is inspiring on many levels.

Graphically rich!
If you are expecting a standard diary, full of descriptions of what happened today, who visited for breakfast, and what Frida had for dinner - then don't order this book. Frida's diary is an amazing combination of text and paintings. She writes random comments with little consideration of form. In fact, many of the things she writes are random lists of words, or letters to loves that are never sent, or even descriptions of fantastic events that never occur outside of her imagination. It's like a huge and colorful experiment in free writing and unconscious expression. Combine these words with the sketches, paintings, and drawing scattered about - sometimes on pages of their own, sometimes in the midst of words that are written around the edges of the artwork - and you have an incredible and extremely unique diary. Personally, I found it inspiring to read and have incorporated many of the elements into my own journal. (If you are looking for a way to break out of writers block, or artists block, I would seriously consider getting a copy of this book and mimicking the technique. It's very freeing and has a way of generating ideas.) ... Read more

Book Description

Hailed by readers and critics across the country, this engrossing biography of Mexican painter Frida Kahlo reveals a woman of extreme magnetism and originality, an artist whose sensual vibrancy came straight from her own experiences: her childhood near Mexico City during the Mexican Revolution; a devastating accident at age eighteen that left her crippled and unable to bear children; her tempestuous marriage to muralist Diego Rivera and intermittent love affairs with men as diverse as Isamu Noguchi and Leon Trotsky; her association with the Communist Party; her absorption in Mexican folklore and culture; and her dramatic love of spectacle.

Here is the tumultuous life of an extraordinary twentieth-century woman -- with illustrations as rich and haunting as her legend.

Reviews (21)

The Best Book on Frida Kahlo
One cannot live in the modern world without regularly encountering self-portrait images of the beautiful and tragic Frida Kahlo. Whether on coffee mugs, t-shirts, posters, or Mexican artifacts, Frida's exquisite face with its darkly joined eyebrows and beribboned hair is immediately familiar to most observers, even if they do not know who she was. Yet Frida Kahlo's popularity in the twentieth century can be wholly attributed to her brilliance. Unlike the work of most modern artists, almost all of her 200 paintings depict realist, surrealist, and primitive self-portraits symbolizing the concerns and agonies of her life. Hayden Herrera's fine biography is still, seventeen years after its publication, the champion text on one of the most important, original, and phenomenal painters of our time.

Frida was born in 1910 (the year the Mexican Revolution began)to a Mexican mother and German father in the same cobalt blue house in Coyoacan, a suburb of Mexico City, where she later worked and shared her life with the great muralist Diego Rivera. Ironically, it is the house where her life also ended. Today it is a museum, open to the public and still festooned with her beautiful collections of retablos, pottery, and Mexican folk art. Frida's life was consumed by pain as a result of suffering polio at age 6 and a bus/trolley collision as a teenager when, thrown from the bus, she was gored by a steel rail. Frida spent most years of her life bedridden and in body casts (which she also painted)after some 30 surgeries meant to alleviate her suffering. Throughout her life,and even while prone in a bed with a mirrored canopy, she painted herself because of the focus created by chronic pain and said, "I paint self-portraits because I am so often alone." Her self-portraits suggest deep meanings as her face is always encircled with images derived from her physical and psychological life. The paintings are vibrant and, typical of many of her women contemporaries' works, tiny.

Hayden Herrera's book presents a comprehensive life study of the great artist, incorporating photographs, diaries, letters, painting reproductions, eye witness accounts, and local history and politics in the most readable, enjoyable, intelligent work available. An art historian, Ms. Herrera is thoroughly knowledgeable and writes beautifully, as well. One will be as engrossed by this book as by any great novel. Her work convincingly recreates the scenes from Frida's life and populates them with important contemporaries Frida knew and loved, including Andre Breton, Leon Trotsky, Tina Modotti, Pablo Picasso, and, of course, her own Diego Rivera who called her the greatest painter of our time.

There isn't a more engaging biography available about Frida Kahlo (in second place is Herrera's other text, Frida Kahlo:The Paintings), and one need not be an art student to be enthralled by this work. Ms. Herrera's compassionate, energetic account will capture anyone who wonders just what Frida Kahlo was like--her inspirations, occupations, and truly vivacious approach to her one very painful and amazingly productive life.

Thanks to this book, I discovered Frida!
It was thanks to this wonderful book that I discovered Frida Kahlo, who is now my heroine. I have