Art History Nonfiction

Charlotte Mullins brings art to life through the stories of those who created it and, importantly, reframes who is included in the narrative to create a more diverse and exciting landscape of art. She shows how art can help us see the world differently and understand our place in it, how it helps us express ourselves, fuels our creativity, and contributes to our overall wellbeing and positive mental health.

Five women revolutionize the modern art world in postwar America in this "gratifying, generous, and lush" true story from a National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist (Jennifer Szalai, New York Times). Set amid the most turbulent social and political period of modern times, Ninth Street...

“An absorbing and humane account . . . Mr. Herman is at pains to remind us that the Viking world was never just a stage for mayhem. It was, he says, ‘about daring to reach for more than the universe had gifted you, no matter the odds and the obstacles.’ In short: We might all take our own...

From the New York Times bestselling author comes the definitive, illustrated history of one of the greatest battles ever fought—a riveting nonfiction chronicle published to commemorate the two-hundreth anniversary of Napoleon's last stand. On June 18, 1815, the armies of France, Britain, and...

The unbelievable true story of how one man stole tens of thousands of priceless artifacts and human remains from around the world—and the FBI’s massive undertaking to set things right. In The Grave Robber, Tim Carpenter, former FBI Lead Investigator on the Art Crime Team, recounts one of the...

Rand takes listeners step by step through the writing process, providing insightful observations and invaluable techniques along the way. She discusses the psychological aspects of writing and the roles played by the conscious and subconscious mind. She talks about articles and books, explaining how to select a subject and theme, how to identify your audience, and how to write the first draft.

There’s more to winning battles than fists and feet For world-renowned professional fighter Georges St-Pierre, the greatest asset is not physical strength or athleticism—it’s a sense of purpose. From his beginnings as a small, mercilessly bullied child first discovering karate to his years...

Can unsuccessful people be genuinely happy? Does being successful mean the same as being happy? What is the price you’re willing to pay for your success? Is what you’re doing now helping to create the life you want? Do you truly want to succeed? Do you relate to any of these questions? If yes, then this book is for you. Regardless of your specific objectives and whatever troubles you could be experiencing right now, this guide will empower you to move ahead and achieve your goals. Here are the key topics you'll explore when you go through this book: We can control our lives to make them...

In 1939, 50 million Americans went to the movies every week, Louis B. Mayer was the highest-paid man in the country, and Hollywood produced 530 feature films a year. One decade and five thousand movies later, the studios were faltering....

Throughout history, precious stones have inspired passions and poetry, quests and curses, sacred writings and unsacred actions. In this scintillating book, journalist Victoria Finlay embarks on her own globe-circling search for the real stories behind some of the gems we prize most. Blending...

The late Grammy-winning founder of the legendary pop/R&B/soul/funk/disco group tells his story and charts the rise of his legendary band in this sincere memoir that captures the heart and soul of an artist whose groundbreaking sound continues to influence music today. With a foreword by David...

The definitive biography of Edward Gorey, the eccentric master of macabre nonsense. From The Gashlycrumb Tinies to The Doubtful Guest, Edward Gorey's wickedly funny and deliciously sinister little books have influenced our culture in innumerable ways, from the works of Tim Burton and Neil Gaiman...

A NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER. From writer/director Cazzie David comes a series of acerbic, darkly funny essays about anxiety, social media, misanthropy, and growing up in a wildly eccentric family. For Cazzie David, the world is one big trap door leading to death and despair and social phobia...

The definitive account of Whitney Houston’s astonishing life, ground-breaking career, and tragic death — complete with never-before-seen photographs — from the only one who truly knows the story behind the headlines: her mother, Cissy Houston. Cissy has said little publicly about...

Art history encompasses the study of the history and development of painting, sculpture, and the other visual arts. In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Dana Arnold presents an introduction to the issues, debates, and artifacts that make up art history. Beginning with a consideration of what art history is, she explains what makes the subject distinctive from other fields of study and also explores the emergence of social histories of art (such as feminist art history and queer art history).

Part cultural history, part literary criticism, and part memoir, A Body Made of Glass is a definitive biography of hypochondria. Caroline Crampton’s life was upended at the age of seventeen, when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a relatively rare blood cancer. After years of...

Is The Wire better than Breaking Bad? Is Cheers better than Seinfeld? What's the best high school show ever made? Why did Moonlighting really fall apart? Was the Arrested Development Netflix season brilliant or terrible? For twenty years-since they shared a TV column at Tony Soprano's hometown...

A witty, wide-ranging, and surprisingly profound cultural history of the world’s most obsessed-over muscle group: the abs. From the gleaming marble torsos of ancient Greece to the sweat-soaked montages of Hollywood action heroes and the endless scroll of Instagram #fitspo, the human midsection has always commanded attention. But why do abs matter so much? What do they really say about us? And how did a patch of muscle become the world’s favorite shorthand for sex, strength, discipline, and desire? In Washboard Dreams: The Strange, Sexy, and Serious Story of Abs in Art, Faith, Fitness, ...

A bold new synthesis of paleontology, archaeology, genetics, and anthropology that overturns misconceptions about race, war and peace, and human nature itself, answering an age-old question: What made humans so exceptional among all the species on Earth? Creativity. It is the secret of what...

They crossed oceans, deserts, and the limits of belief. From shipwreck to sanctuary, from marble dust to mountain snow, these women pursued truth until it transformed them. Their journeys became the world’s imagination. Discover the Women Who Turned Exploration into Revelation From the stage to the Himalayas, from the convent to the desert, Women of the World traces a century of travelers, scholars, mystics, and visionaries who transformed experience into conscience. In this final volume of The Women of the Nineteenth Century trilogy, Richard Fleischman follows fifteen extraordinary ...