British industrialists were never considered "parliamentary material" prior to Joseph Chamberlain's election to Parliament from Birmingham. His years as Mayor, town councillor, and school board trustee were marked by tremendous reforms of all aspects of Birmingham: the schools, the workplace, sanitation, the local economy & government, and the town infrastructure all benefited from his business know-how and political skill. He built what was in fact the first political machine, the National Liberal Federation, in British history, and which delivered first Gladstone than Salisbury the Prime Ministry. A master of coalition politics, Chamberlain was also a destructive force. He shattered the Conservative & Liberal Parties, and never achieved his dream of becoming Prime Minister. However, serious legislation addressing land reform, the introduction of social insurance, the extension of the franchise, the rights of labor, and industrial welfare, all bore his mark, and might have taken longer to bring about had it not been for him. Initially a Liberal, he split with Gladstone over Irish Home Rule, formed the Liberal Unionist party, and from then until his death supported the Conservatives. This biography is unsurpassed in it's detail and impartiality. All aspects of Chamberlain's life are addressed: his family history; his marriages; his religious views; his gradual conversion from Liberal to Conservative, all are given considerable detail without sacrificing the joy of reading. This is biography at its best!

Jozef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski
lived as a child amongst revolutionaries in Poland,
but read about the sea and dreamt of wild adventures.
He watched his mother die in exile in Siberia
and his father follow her to the grave soon thereafter.

Seasons of the mind can be taught to rule the heart.

Joseph Conrad survived a life of tedium and hair breadth escapes at sea,
but dreamt of understanding what drives and saddles men's souls.
He is rumored to have killed a man in a barroom brawl

and then escaped to England to take on a new identity.

There is very little time for true understanding.

Father and author Conrad lived quietly in a London suburb
and wrote in epic stretches that left him sleeping on the floor.
One day he emerged from his writing studio
and did not recognize his own son in the hallway.

Life stumbles on through fields of crowded emotion.
There is no loss of honor in fearing life's many deaths.

Joseph Cornell has become a favorite of many art-lovers. His assemblage boxes of materials on topics ranging from rabbits to Lauren Bacall to the ornaments and symbols of childhood make for fascinating viewing. Cornell is a curious personality. On the one hand, he self-documented to a far greater extent than many artists, so that a relatively rich record of "what the artist was thinking" exists. On the other hand, he lived his life in a reclusive, introspective, elusive way, so that the viewer never quite feels that s/he has "gotten one's arms" around his perspective.

Lindsay Blair's "Joseph's Cornell's Vision of Spiritual Order" uses as its critical basis the foundations of Cornell's beliefs and influences, in an effort to help make the more elusive aspects of his work a bit clearer. She writes excellent passages about the way in which Cornell was influenced by, but certainly not at all co-opted by, the surrealist artists. She adroitly uses passages from Cornell's own writings, as well as analogies from his personal history, to provide cogent criticism which is less "art critic projection" and more a sincere, highly readable attempt to "get into" the mind of a man whose mind assiduously resisted such invasions.

Ms. Blair recognizes that Christian Science, Mr. Cornell's faith, has an impact on his work. In this respect, her writing is less revelatory, as her summation of the new thought ideas of Christian Science are a bit reductive. Mr. Cornell's work obviously has strong religious roots. Although Ms. Blair seems to have read up on some basic ideals of the faith, the passages in which she discusses Mr. Cornell's faith's influence on his work seem much less insightful than her discussion of the effects of other aspects of his personal life upon his work. One wonders if Mr. Cornell had been from a more "mainstream" faith if the explicitly religious motivation for some of his work (as revealed in his own writings) might have gotten a more comprehensive and detailed treatment than Ms. Blair accords here.
This is a very fine book, certainly one worth owing, but ironically, the reader is left wanting a bit more discussion of the actual "vision of a spiritual order" and perhaps a bit less traditional art criticism.

This book has wonderful photographs of Cornell's work, and functions well as criticism, as biography, and as a thought-provoking piece on Cornell's curious place in the art world. If one is familiar with Cornell's work, this is a fascinating inroad further into its meaning. If one is, as I am, less a hard-core Cornell devotee than one who has encountered his work relatively recently, this is a well-done introduction to his art and thinking. The book is relatively free of that self-serving "look how smart the critic is" art talk that besieges so much of this genre. Despite my quibbles about its "flaws", I highly recommend this book.

Finally, a beautiful, comprehensive book about Joseph Cornell and his work. Diane Waldman knew Cornell intimately ever since she was an art student (and through doing gallery shows for him), and this affinity shows; this is ultimately a book of love and tribute to a friend.

The biographical material is excellent. Most fascinating segments deal with Cornell's stranger sides, such as when at his brother Robert's funeral, Joseph put a sheet over his head and laughed, creeping everyone out, and explained it was only a side joke that Robert would have understood. Cornell was terribly timid in front of women (particularly the ones he fancied) and had a complete dependence on his mother (he died months after she did). Waldman probes these and other significant personal issues (such as his association with Surrealism, and how the younger artists that have passed through him have influenced his work) and examines how they factored in Cornell's art. The book is generous with illustrations - Waldman supports her points with not only Cornell's work, but with other artists that were influential to him.

However, it is the lonely and telling poetry of Cornell's work that is the heart of this book. The boxes that Waldman chooses to include are presented intelligently, and beautifully. The innocence and nostalgia of each box is lovingly portrayed. The Medici series - Cornell's especially heartbreakingly beautiful and mysteriously passionate work - is presented perfectly by Waldman with thoughtful commentary and context, capturing in full its yearning and ardor. Waldman has given us a book that speaks eloquently about why Cornell is an artists people will remember for generations hereafter.

This postcard type book of Joseph Cornell's work is
wonderful. It is a treat to look at the magnificent
box assemblages. If this is a favorite art medium,
then this will be a favorite little book!

After purchasing a bronze relief by Joseph Csaky, an artist of whom I knew nothing, I went on a search to find out about my aquisition. That is how I chanced upon this wonderful book by Professor Edith Balas, of the art history department of Carnegie Mellon University. Not only is this volume exquisite in its printing, binding and illustration, the text by Dr. Balas is concise, literate and illuminating about the life and works of this obscure master of cubist sculpture. Anyone with an intrest in modernist and/or cubist sculpture will be fascinated by this magnificent book.

This biography of the French Counter-revolutionary thinker, Joseph de Maistre, provides an excellent introduction to the thought of this Catholic militant. Joseph de Maistre was an arch-reactionary opponent of the French revolution and proponent of a properly restored monarchy and Catholicism and a united Christianity under papal rule. The main bases for his thought lie in his Catholicism, his adherence to Tradition and the monarchy, his anti-Modernism and reaction to the ideals of the French revolution, and in the occultist illuminism of Saint-Martin and the Freemasonic tradition. In his "Considerations sur la France", de Maistre argues against the thought of the "philosophes" and eighteenth century Enlightenment thinkers and for a restored monarchy and Catholicism rooted in tradition. Contrary to the Revolutionary idealism, Maistre argues that man is imperfect and rooted in sin and thus a rational reconstruction of society is doomed to failure. In "Du Pape", de Maistre outlines his belief in papal authority and the supremacy of the Catholic Church. As a Catholic de Maistre believes the Pope to be infallible and in the necessity of his wielding power over earthly sovereigns. Both a Freemason and a Catholic, de Maistre argues for a Catholic subsumption of the Orthodox Churches, the Protestant Churches, and other schismatics and heretics under papal rule. This particular book brought much strong reaction because of the radical nature of its main argument. De Maistre's Catholicism is extreme in its opposition to both the Reformation and Modernity. De Maistre spent much of his time in Russia as an ambassador for Sardinia, and in the "Soirees de Saint-Petersbourg", he presents arguments about various aspects concerning the laws and the need for a return to tradition. De Maistre has unique thoughts about the origins of languages and the American Indians and other aboriginal peoples. Contrary to the popular Rousseauian "noble savage" ideal, de Maistre presents a much more realistic picture of the American Indian and the development of the world's religions from a primordial tradition and encounter with God. His other works include discussions of illuminism, theosophy (especially that of Saint-Martin, to whom he was a follower of), supernaturalism and occultism, and the nature of tradition and government. The author shows de Maistre to be a precursor to Romanticism in his aesthetic writings. Furthermore, the author examines de Maistre's influence on subsequent thinkers including Catholics such as Jacques Maritaine, and others such as Charles Maurras and Baudelaire. This book is an excellent biography of a reactionary opponent to the French Revolution and modernity, a Catholic Traditionalist, and a thinker who calls for a restoration of monarchism and privelege. In particular, this book focuses on the role of de Maistre in literature. While the thought of de Maistre would certainly not be considered popular today, his thought is a uniquely Catholic and traditional one which offers hope against the viscitudes of modernity.

Janet Sharp Hermann has done a magnificent job of portraying this giant of a man. It is a spellbound account of a time and a place now almost forgotten. Her scholarship and research talents are made plain by the way she brings out the nature of Joseph E. Davis and his relationship with his family and especially his servants. His forbearance and high-spirited way of coping with the adversity he faced over the destruction of his property during the Civil War and the after-years were inspiring.

This book is a pearl whose great price has not yet been appraised. It's a quick look at the ministry of Joseph Fielding Smith, the tenth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. President Smith is one of this age's greatest theologian and expositors of Christ, and his two and a half year ministry as the Chief Apostle glistened with his light and testimony. It has many of his teachings that are not in "Doctrines of Salvation," of "Answers to Gospel Questions," which are the two standard collections of his teachings. Moreover, these two books were compiled before his ascension to the presidency, so this book has his latest teachings.

If you saw any of the Sydney during the Olympics, you are sure to find this account of its early years a fascinating revelation. Based on the life of Lieutenant Governor Joseph Foveaux, demonised in Robert Hughes' The Fatal Shore, this book reveals the links and patronage networks which held the British empire together. I liked the way the author in each chapter flung the reader into a physical description of the place where the action happens. And I even found myself caring about Foveaux's successes and setbacks. This is a warm, elegantly written and compelling new departure in Australian historical writing.