American vernacular

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John Gary Brown

"Celebrating master stone sculptors as well as grassroots and ethnic folk artists, Brown's images document the rich traditions of cemetery art as found throughout Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Colorado, and New Mexico. Combining strong visual images with stories and analysis, Brown illuminates the cultural, historic, and aesthetic roles of gravestones in both metropolitan and rural cemeteries." "The art itself manifests a great many forms and subjects, including life-size limestone statuary, hovering marble angels, and ornate wrought-iron crosses, in addition to the more modest traditional motifs in etched granite and concrete. Brown also records the idiosyncratic and the bizarre - an Egyptian sphinx, a gigantic baseball, an elaborate locomotive, a converted car engine - and provides insight into the meaning of epitaphs and iconography."--BOOK JACKET.

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Lucy Davies, Mo Fini

In this informative and spectacularly photographed volume, Mo Fini and Lucy Davies have drawn upon their extensive research into the traditional handicrafts of South America and the artisans who create them. Combining historical perspectives and cultural insights with descriptions of present-day techniques, the authors examine the full range of this vast area's indigenous arts and crafts: contemporary pottery inspired by ancient cultures, such as the Moche; jewelry and metal work in a multitude of forms; enduring textile traditions of the Wayuu, Aymara, and Kuna Indians; painting on clay, leather, and glass; wood carving and decoration of dried gourds; and other extraordinary crafts from around the continent. Full-color photography illustrates each of the crafts described, and a comprehensive reference section offers detailed advice on collecting and conserving these native treasures.

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essay by Nicholas Capasso

"Bones of the Earth, Spirit of the Land, spans the twenty-five year career of the internationally recognized sculptor John Van Alstine. Beginning with early stone carvings reminiscent of Modernists such as Hans Arp and Constantin Brancusi, this book traces the rapid development of a style and themes centered on combining roughly hewn stone and metal. Van Alstine has an abiding concern for the land resulting in sculptures that "elicit meaning through their juxtapositions with existing landscapes, and also transform places from the mundane to the magical," according to Nicholas Capasso in his introductory essay. Also featured in this book are many of Van Alstine's drawings and early "easel paintings.""--BOOK JACKET.

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Nora Bensahel, Olga Oliker, Heather Peterson

U.S. experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan have demonstrated that improving U.S. capacity for stabilization and reconstruction operations is critical to national security. The authors recommend building civilian rather than military capacity, realigning and reforming existing agencies, and funding promising programs. They also suggest improvements to deployable police capacity, crisis-management processes, and guidance and funding.