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Customer Review: A unique book which takes you into the soul of a slave.
This work, steeped in accurate historical settings and moving religious allegories, takes the reader into the very core of a southern slave.
Customer Review: Slavery breeds violence, violence breeds slavery.
Written in 1968, Styron’s “Confessions” delves deep intothe psychology behind Nat Turner’s 1831 slave revolt. Almost unbearable in its graphic violence and Biblically-dimensioned heartbreak, the novel (for it *is* fictional) has Turner telling the whole story in painfully honest detail. Styron neither defends Turner nor paints him as crazy; he is less interested in pointing out right or wrong than in trying to understand the broad ironies of the system of slavery and its effects on the people who ran it and were subject to it. Styron’s Nat Turner is a man who is both educated and destroyed by his masters; he is both uplifted and misled by the Bible. His hatred is not fueled by the hatred of whites, but by the pity of whites. And when he kills, he is only able to commit one physical murder, though he takes responsibility for 60. The book is often painful to read, especially for one who might think that race relations today have little to do with 19th-century slavery. But in its wealth of detail and its ability to enter into the mind of a complex and criminal mind, it is unique, and should be required reading for every self-termed patriotic American.
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Customer Review: A comprehensive overview
Arranged chronologically the book is divided into six chapters; chapter one covers the first twenty five years of Turner’s life with the other five chapters covering ten years each. Well written and very readable the text provides an insight into Turner the man and Turner the artist, and includes numerous quotations from Turner and his contemporaries; it succeeds among other things in bringing alive the artist as a person. Concluding the book is an extensive Chronology; Inventory of the Late Residence of J.M.W. Turner; Turner’s Library; Bibliography; a detailed List of Illustrations and an Index. The book is fully illustrated throughout, with the images usually on or close to the page on which they are discussed. In total there are 186 illustrations of which 164 are in colour. The illustrations not in colour are mostly engravings and the like, period photographs or the work of other artists. The majority of the illustrations of Tuner’s work are full page (or as large as the picture format will allow on the page with a margin), with some full-page or page-and-half bleed images along with a few double page images. There are a few actual-size details of paintings; very informative. The quality of the pictures is excellent, often revealing the texture of the paint, and the colour very good. Very usefully each picture is accompanied by a brief description or commentary, but irritatingly not with the details of the pictures dimensions; surely with the great range in size of Turner’s work these should be included alongside the image, (there are of course to be found in the List of Illustrations). This is a large handsome volume, almost square in format, which provides a very good survey of the artist and his work. It covers all aspects of Tuner’s output, including his oils, water colours and examples from his sketch-books. The choice of work ranges from the very well known to the “I didn’t know Turner painted that!” Very interesting are the few examples of his very early work, including a water colour produced when he was about eleven years old. Providing as it does a comprehensive overview of the artist and his work, this is a very worthwhile publication.
Customer Review: A must have for any Turner fan!
This book delivers a wonderful insight into the life of both Turner the man and Turner the artist. His vast body of work is very well represented by an excellent selection of sketches, watercolors and oil paintings. From the bucolic English landscapes to the Venetian watercolors, right through to the true genius of pre-impressionism. I was delighted to see all of my Turner favorites represented! If you only get one book on Turner get this one!
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Customer Review: fine recordings from another age
`Legendary Recordings’ is what it says. These don’t all live up to that billing, but what we are given here are revealing mid twentieth century performances of four fine Vaughan Williams works. The CD begins with the `On Wenlock Edge’ song ycle with words taken from A.E.Houseman’s `A Shropshire Lad’ poems. This is a 1955 recording of the London String Quartet with Ivor Newton at the piano and George Maran singing. The contrast to modern performances is striking and refreshing. There is no attempt to place Vaughan Williams’s style (I notice English Folksong with a French impressionist accent is popular these days). They take the first track at a cracking pace for a blustery `On Wenlock Edge’ and revel in this music’s description of the natural elements all the way to the burbling brook of piano on `Clun’. They only fail to do justice during what should be the short terse 49 seconds of `Oh, When I was in love with you’, which gets lost in a wistful haze. But overall this is something of a revelation when placed next to recent recordings. Old King Cole: Ballet For Orchestra begins with the start of the `Old King Cole was a merry old soul’ song and dances its way through 19 minutes of tom foolery, pratfalls and general riotous behaviour. Anyone who thinks Vaughan Williams couldn’t let his hair down should listen to this. A good 1954 performance with Sir Adrian Boult conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra. The Song of Thanksgiving was originally called `Thanksgiving for Victory’. It was commissioned by the BBC in 1944 so that they would have something with which to celebrate victory over Hitler. Their original choice of composer was William Walton. As he was too busy composing his music for Olivier’s Henry V film Vaughan Williams got the job. He delivered a suitably ceremonial work that refuses to turn into a populist flag waving exercise, instead rising to the grandeur of its texts - from the Bible, Kipling and Shakespeare. A 1951 recording with The London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Adrian Boult again, with The Luton Choral Society and solo singer and narrator. The recording of the Serenade to Music that rounds off the disc is a genuine legendary recording. The work sets words from Shakespeare’s `The Merchant of Venice’. Vaughan Williams wrote it specially for 16 of the finest British opera and concert singers of the time, giving each a part that suited their voice. The work was premiered at the Royal Albert Hall under the baton of Sir Henry Wood on 5th October 1938. This recording was made shortly afterwards using the same artists. The work is a brilliant slice of late romantic ear candy, a kind of love letter by the composer to the ability of the human voice to charm the senses. As the recordings were made between 1938 and 1955 we do not get anything like the clarity of modern recordings, but neither are we treated to any of the classic weaknesses of historic recordings. There is no annoying shrillness or thinness of tone. No pops, clicks or scratches, and no `noises off’ like musicians moving their chairs, which are often evident on the recordings of Sir Adrian Boult. The notes are informative, interesting, but hard to navigate: as they describe the disc artist by artist rather than work by work. All in all a thoroughly enjoyable CD.
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The sixth Hanna-Barbera syndicated cartoon after their departure from MGM starred Peter Potamus (a purple hippopotamus), and his traveling companion So-So (a monkey), who fly back and forth through time in a balloon participating in historic events. Whenever they get into serious enough trouble, as they do in every episode, Peter defeats his enemies with his trademark “Hippo Hurricane Hollar.”
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Supreme Court of the United States, October term, 1966, no. 399 ; William Turner …, petitioners, against the people of the State of New York, respondent. Brief for petitioners