New Amsterdam Books: 25 books

This is probably the most notable of all regional books about New York and Long Island. It is the work of Walt Whitman, and its pages reveal the serious professional journalist, and not seldom the poet, writing brave things in prose. The editor comments in his introduction, "Whitman, though a native...

Books are fragile objects. In the wring environment, excessive bent and cold, humidity, animals and insects—even people— can cause rapid damage to a book's fabric. In this practical guide to maintaining a collection at its best, the author explains the reasons for decay in books and documents...

Between 1946 and 1958, the U.S. conducted some 66 nuclear bomb tests in the Marshall Islands. In 1959, this scattering of coral atolls was again chosen as the testing site for a new generation of weapons—long-range missiles fired in the U.S. Then in 1984 a missile fired from California was intercepted...

...a magical parable of love, death and the power of familial bonds. —Stephen Salisbury, New York Times Book Review

The West Indian kitchen today, five hundred years after Columbus, is a wonderful blend of flavors and cooking styles. The islands are blessed with some of the richest soils in the world, and the different peoples who have settled there have developed a vibrant hybrid cuisine. Scottish rebels, enslaved...

In the heart of Corfu, away from the tourist beaches, old traditions of living and eating still flourish. Over the centuries culinary influences from all over the Mediterranean have been absorbed into the classical Greek cuisine and adapted to suit the extraordinary variety of produce that comes from...

Here is another feast of ideas and practical information from the author of Costumes for the Stage for anyone who needs to dress a drama production on a tight budget or by the simplest means. Sheila Jackson's first book has been in constant demand for over a decade. Now, in addition to developing...

This updated edition of Costumes for the Stage aims at simplicity in all aspects of designing and making costumes. It is designed primarily for those who need to dress plays on a small budget, whether for amateur, semi-professional, or professional groups. Starting with five pages illustrating the...

Compellingly written and even-handed in its judgments, this is by far the clearest account of what has happened through the years in the Northern Ireland conflict, and why. After a chapter of background on the period from 1921 to 1963, it covers the ensuing period—the descent into violence, the...

English artists have made a unique contribution to the art of watercolor painting. In no other Western country has this very attractive medium been used so consistently, or for works of such stature, as in England between 1750 and the present day. In this general survey of the whole period, Graham...

In 1937, the Scottish writer, Neil Gunn, gave up his job in the civil service, sold his house in Inverness, and bought a boat. With his wife and his brother John, he set off on a three-month voyage around Inner Hebrides. The boat had outlived its first youth, and its engine was somewhat cranky; she...

The purpose of this absorbing collection is to illuminate the world of the theatre by setting it squarely in its historical context. To that end, Professor Evans draws on the whole spectrum of Elizabethan-Jacobean writing, from official documents to diaries and letters. Part I, The Theatre and the...

In A Woman of Passion, Julia Briggs chronicles the life of author Edith Nesbit who is credited with being the first modern writer for children and the creator of the children's adventure story. Nesbit recorded her life with varying degrees of honesty in verse and prose, and while she seldom wrote...

James Hamilton-Paterson spends a third of each year on an otherwise uninhabited Philippine island, spear-fishing for survival. Playing with Water tells us why he does. Beyond that, it gives an account of life in that class-bound country as a whole. For it is in places like this rather than Manila...