The visual arts throughout the post-war era have made an invaluable contribution to the cultural development of modern and contemporary Scotland. Joan Eardley, Alan Davie, Eduardo Paolozzi, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Boyle Family, Craigie Aitchison, Barbara Rae John Bellany, Alexander Moffat, John McLean, Bill Scott, Joyce Cairns, Steven Campbell, Ken Currie, Lys Hansen, Alison Watt, Douglas Gordon and Kevin Harman – these are some of the artists whose work reflects the radical and complex trans...

In comparison with many who write about contemporary art, Hare is never self indulgent or wilfully obscure – there is no bogus theorising to be found here. From the Foreword by ALEXANDER MOFFAT Alan Davie • Eduardo Paolozzi • William Turnbull • Janet Boulton • Ian Hamilton Finlay • Joan Eardley • Anthony Hatwell • Colquhoun and MacBryde • Boyle Family • Jack Knox • Barbara Rae • Lys Hansen • Joyce Cairns • Doug Cocker • John Kirkwood • Steven Campbell • Ken Currie • Peter Howson • Henry Ko...

Illustrated with 167 full colour images, this landmark book charts Alexander Moffat's career from student days at Edinburgh College of Art in the 1960s to the recent Scotland's Voices. Iconic portraits of major figures in literature and the other arts are represented. The cultural significance of the visual chronicle Moffat has created lies in his approach to portraiture. He aims not only to capture a sitter's appearance but also to convey something of their inner character, reaching 'a ba...

JCPenney was the quintessential American company. Since James Cash Penney opened his first store in the small mining town of Kemmerer, Wyoming, in 1902, this unique institution has been an iconic part of the national landscape. Founded and run on the core principles of thrift, hard work, and good citizenship, the retail giant prospered throughout the 20th century, even during the Great Depression, as American citizens came to rely on it for its good values and service. But by the year 2000...

As archaeologists quickly learned, there are numerous temples dedicated to gods all across Mesoamerica, from the Olmec and Toltec to the Aztec and Maya. Furthermore, thousands of people still gather in the ruins of Mesoamerican cities, even as researchers learn more about the civilizations that continue to fascinate modern societies.To the Aztec, Huitzilopochtli wore a blue-green hummingbird helmet and was draped in pure white heron feathers. He carried a smoking mirror, an obsidia...

More often than not, the Romani are branded by even those who fancy themselves liberals as “pikeys,” “gyppos,” and “gips.” There's also a regrettably common term, “gypped,” meaning “to cheat, or swindle,” which perpetuates the damaging stereotype that the Roma are dishonest nuisances and societal pests. Even well-intentioned attempts to shine the spotlight on the community have sometimes been counterproductive, for they are often reduced to no more than exotic, whimsical entertainers for t...

International trade in the ancient world was a more intricate and far-reaching system than many have been led to believe. The Silk Road and the Incense Trade Route have been heavily investigated in recent decades, but the Amber Road trade network dominating northern Europe has been given far less attention. Amber, the hardened sap of prehistoric trees, has washed up on Baltic shores for generations, and though it had little value to the locals beyond religious symbolism and aesthetic beaut...

In his introduction to The Jackie Robinson Reader, sports historian Jules Tygiel succinctly observed, “Extraordinary lives often reveal ordinary truths. Jackie Robinson was born in 1919 and died in 1972. He crammed into these brief fifty-three years a legacy of accomplishment, acclaim, controversy, and influence matched by few Americans. He was, even before his historic baseball breakthrough, an athlete of legendary proportions. He won fame and adulation as the first African-American...

On October 21, 1600, two massive Japanese armies, totaling an estimated 200,000 soldiers armed to the teeth with swords, yari (spears), arrows, muskets and cannons, faced off on a battlefield near the town of Sekigahara. A bitter fight to the death ensued, and the results would determine the course of Japanese history for the next 250 years.On the battlefield was the warlord Ieyasu Tokugawa, a man desiring domain over the entire island of Japan, but standing in his way was Ishida M...

After being forced out of Rhodes by the Ottomans in the early 16th century, the Knights Hospitaller spent seven years residing in Sicily without an official home or garrison, but around 1530, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V decided to gift the order the islands of Malta and Gozo, as well as the port city of Tripoli in North Africa, as a fiefdom. The emperor’s motivations varied, but most historians believe he granted the knights the territory partially out of religious devotion and mainly to ...

Even at a distance, the acrid stench of asphalt and sulfur singes the hairs of people’s nostrils, and when the blustering winds subside, the potent miasma lingers in the air. To the untrained eye, the La Brea Tar Pits seem to be nothing more than simply pools of thick, viscous black sludge, its obsidian-like surface bestrewn with an assortment of autumn leaves and dirt. Gooey methane bubbles spurt up periodically, shattering the glassy veneer of the grease-black lakes, and the shiny bubble...

In time, all the hard work led to the growth of the OSS into an organization with over 13,000 staff and 40 offices scattered across the world. Its purposes were initially similar to that of Britain’s Special Operations Executive, including espionage, sabotage, and intelligence assessments, but with time and experience, it expanded to include economic, psychological, and guerrilla warfare, as well as counter-intelligence work. And of course, it would all chart a path for the early days of A...