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The Birth of a Nation
by Dick LehrIn a scene at the end of the Civil War, James Trotter, a sergeant in an all-black union regiment, marched into Charleston, South Carolina just as the Kentucky cavalry that included Colonel "Roaring Jake” Griffith fled for their lives. The two men were bit players in the vicious struggle for their country’s future. Fifty years later their sons, Monroe Trotter and D. W. Griffith engaged in a public confrontation that roiled the entire country, pitching black against white, Hollywood against Boston, free speech against censorship - and the focus of the attack was a film that depicted the events of the American Civil War: The Birth of a Nation. The film - which included actors in black face, racist portraits of blacks and heroic portraits of the Ku Klux Klan, and the depiction of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln - was although a silent movie loudly controversial. It was seen eventually by 25 million Americans, and was the first feature film ever to be shown at the White House, for President Wilson. But it sparked riots and lengthy unrest in Boston and, to a lesser extent, in Philadelphia; Chicago, Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Denver, among other cities, banned the movie entirely. The drama was over what America was in 1915, the year of the film’s release. Which of the nation’s cherished ideals - freedom of speech or civil rights for black Americans - would prevail? Through the story of two men, one a technically brilliant film maker, the other an activist journalist, America debated its identity in full public view, up and down the nation. The Birth of A Nation is a classic social history of a country in transition, and a richly characterful account of the principles set in opposition to each other.
The Birth of a Nation: Nat Turner and the Making of a Movement
by Nate ParkerThis official tie-in to the highly acclaimed film, The Birth of a Nation, surveys the history and legacy of Nat Turner, the leader of one of the most renowned slave rebellions on American soil, while also exploring Turner's relevance to contemporary dialogues on race relations.Based on astounding events in American history, The Birth of a Nation is the epic story of one man championing the spirit of resistance as he leads a rough-and-tumble group into a revolt against injustice and slavery. Breathing new life into a story that has been rife with controversy and prejudice for over two centuries, the film follows the rise of the visionary Virginian slave, Nat Turner. Hired out by his owner to preach to and placate slaves on drought-plagued plantations, Turner eventually transforms into an inspired, impassioned, and fierce anti-slavery leader. Beautifully illustrated with stills from the movie and original illustrations, the book also features an essay by writer/director, Nate Parker, contributions by members of the cast and crew, and commentary by educator Brian Favors and historians Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Daina Ramey Berry who place Nat Turner and the rebellion he led into historical context. The Birth of a Nation reframes the way we think about slavery and resistance as it explores the passion, determination, and faith that inspired Nat Turner to sacrifice everything for freedom.
The Birth-mark: Essays
by Susan HoweSusan Howe's classic groundbreaking exploration of early American literature. Susan Howe reads our intellectual inheritance as a series of civil wars, where eachtext is a wilderness in which a strange lawless author confronts interpreters, professors, and editors eager for settlement. Howe approaches Anne Hutchinson, Mary Rowlandson, Cotton Mather, Hawthorne, Emerson, Melville and Emily Dickinson as a fellow writer--as a poet and feminist as much as a critic: her insights, fierce and original, are rooted in her seminal textural scholarship in examination of their editorial histories of landmark works. In the process, Howe uproots settled institutionalized roles of men and women as well as of poetry and prose.
Birth Figures: Early Modern Prints and the Pregnant Body
by Rebecca WhiteleyThe first full study of “birth figures” and their place in early modern knowledge-making. Birth figures are printed images of the pregnant womb, always shown in series, that depict the variety of ways in which a fetus can present for birth. Historian Rebecca Whiteley coined the term and here offers the first systematic analysis of the images’ creation, use, and impact. Whiteley reveals their origins in ancient medicine and explores their inclusion in many medieval gynecological manuscripts, focusing on their explosion in printed midwifery and surgical books in Western Europe from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century. During this period, birth figures formed a key part of the visual culture of medicine and midwifery and were widely produced. They reflected and shaped how the pregnant body was known and treated. And by providing crucial bodily knowledge to midwives and surgeons, birth figures were also deeply entangled with wider cultural preoccupations with generation and creativity, female power and agency, knowledge and its dissemination, and even the condition of the human in the universe. Birth Figures studies how different kinds of people understood childbirth and engaged with midwifery manuals, from learned physicians to midwives to illiterate listeners. Rich and detailed, this vital history reveals the importance of birth figures in how midwifery was practiced and in how people, both medical professionals and lay readers, envisioned and understood the mysterious state of pregnancy.
Birth Figures: Early Modern Prints and the Pregnant Body
by Rebecca WhiteleyThe first full study of “birth figures” and their place in early modern knowledge-making. Birth figures are printed images of the pregnant womb, always shown in series, that depict the variety of ways in which a fetus can present for birth. Historian Rebecca Whiteley coined the term and here offers the first systematic analysis of the images’ creation, use, and impact. Whiteley reveals their origins in ancient medicine and explores their inclusion in many medieval gynecological manuscripts, focusing on their explosion in printed midwifery and surgical books in Western Europe from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-eighteenth century. During this period, birth figures formed a key part of the visual culture of medicine and midwifery and were widely produced. They reflected and shaped how the pregnant body was known and treated. And by providing crucial bodily knowledge to midwives and surgeons, birth figures were also deeply entangled with wider cultural preoccupations with generation and creativity, female power and agency, knowledge and its dissemination, and even the condition of the human in the universe. Birth Figures studies how different kinds of people understood childbirth and engaged with midwifery manuals, from learned physicians to midwives to illiterate listeners. Rich and detailed, this vital history reveals the importance of birth figures in how midwifery was practiced and in how people, both medical professionals and lay readers, envisioned and understood the mysterious state of pregnancy.
Birmingham's Theater and Retail District (Images of America)
by Tim HollisFrom the 1890s to the 1970s, the thriving area of Birmingham between Eighteenth and Twenty-first Streets along First, Second, and Third Avenues was the bustling heart of this quickly growing city. Before the age of the shopping mall, the downtown was the center of retail and entertainment in Birmingham. Along these streets, entrepreneurial immigrants built department stores--including Pizitz and Loveman, Joseph, and Loeb--while the marquees of the Alabama, Ritz, and Lyric theaters, among others, shined over the busy downtown sidewalks.
Birmingham's Highland Park
by Richard DabneyBirmingham's Highland Park originated in the 1880s when a grand boulevard was dug and three lush parks were planned at the northern foothills of Red Mountain. This boulevard was Highland Avenue, at the time the widest street in the South. The development, built within three miles of the center of Birmingham, included the construction of a resort hotel and lake. A dummy line rail system conveyed the populace of The Magic City" out to the beautiful Highland Park neighborhood, where in summer the air was both cooler and cleaner. Although Highland Avenue was lined with mansions of every architectural style, only 12 remain today. Indeed, some Highland Park dwellers have resided for generations in this neighborhood of true character and charm."
Birmingham in Vintage Postcards (Postcard History Series)
by J. D. WeeksAt the start of the 20th century, Birmingham was one of the fastest growing cities in the South, sometimes referred to as the "Magic City." It began as a town located at the intersection of two railroads and then quickly expanded and took in neighboring communities. Around this time, photographers traveled around the United States taking photographs of towns and cities and turning the photographs into postcards. The postcards collected here show historic Birmingham's downtown, hospitals, parks, communities, schools, hotels, and industries. These images serve as a record of everyday life in this bustling Southern city.
Birmingham Food: A Magic City Menu (American Palate)
by Emily BrownBirmingham began as a boomtown filled with immigrants who held on to the best recipes from their homelands. More recently, locals like Frank Stitt and Carole Griffin helped transform the modern southern city into a foodie destination with the best of national trends. Andrew Zimmern visited with his show Bizarre Foods America to tout one of the city's most popular food trucks, Shindigs. Fast casual dining is done with care, and gems like Trattoria Centrale and Bettola are dedicated to local ingredients. Join food writer and restaurant enthusiast Emily Brown as she details the delectable history of food in the Magic City.
Birmingham Broadcasting
by Tim HollisBirmingham, Alabama, has enjoyed a long and distinguished broadcasting history. The city's first radio station aired in 1922, and television arrived in 1949. Both media produced personalities who became household names in the city. Audiences came to know Joe Rumore, Tommy Charles, Country Boy Eddy, Cousin Cliff Holman, Rosemary, Pat Gray, Tom York, and many others as if they were members of their own families. Even the commercials became as memorable as the news, entertainment, talk, and children's shows they interrupted.
Birmingham
by J. D. WeeksBirmingham's surrounding hills comprise the only place in the world with a plentiful supply of all the ingredients for iron making. This spurred the city of Birmingham's charter in 1871 around the crossing of two railroads. The city's development into a leading industrial center is shown here in photographs and postcard views, some a century old.
Birds of New York City
by Cal VornbergerSee the concrete jungle revealed as a secret habitat for an array of avian life Many marvelous species of bird call New York’s boroughs home, though it takes a keen eye to spot them. Birds of New York City is the culmination of years of work from photographer Cal Vornberger. The product of a master photographer’s patience and ardor, Vornberger’s spectacular images, taken across all five boroughs in all four seasons, reveal an urban environment teeming with wildlife only steps away from speeding cabs and rushing pedestrians. Accompanying these expertly captured images are Vornberger’s engaging anecdotes about his experiences birding in the city, along with helpful photography tips for professionals, hobbyists, or even interested novices, including a detailed list of his trusted equipment. More than two hundred species pass through New York each year, about one-third of the species found in the entire country. With hundreds of dazzling pictures taken year-round and city-wide, Birds of New York City brings these elusive creatures to light for readers everywhere to experience.
Birds of New York: Over 100 Plates
by Louis Agassiz FuertesIn 1910 and 1914, a two-volume study of New York's native birds was issued as part of the State Museum's annual report. A vast catalog of hundreds of species, the survey was illustrated by Louis Agassiz Fuertes (1874–1927), a rising star in scientific bird studies. Fuertes was highly influenced by John James Audubon's The Birds of America, and today he ranks second only to Audubon in terms of output and recognition for ornithological illustration. A frequent lecturer at Cornell University, he honed his expertise during numerous scientific expeditions throughout the United States and abroad, collaborating with Frank Chapman of the American Museum of Natural History on field research, museum dioramas, and book illustrations. This reproduction of all 106 of Fuertes's stunning full-color images spotlights more than 300 birds. It marks the first time that the artwork from Birds of New York has been available in decades, and the volume has never been so affordable. The captions have been reset for easy identification, and a complete Index offers a quick reference. Noted Fuertes expert Robert McCracken Peck provides an informative Foreword. Bird watchers at all levels of experience as well as illustrators, artists, and naturalists will find this book an excellent resource.
Birds of Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia
by Bruce M. BeehlerMore than 600 lush, stunning photos grace this comprehensive handbook to the birdlife of the Mid-Atlantic region.A Great Blue Heron wades in the shallows of the Potomac River, scanning for unsuspecting prey. Sunlight turns the water translucent as a small school of fish rises to the water's surface. The heron strikes and moments later is swallowing its quarry—predation in action! This handsome Great Blue Heron is but one of the more than 400 bird species found in Delaware, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. It shares the mid-Atlantic with kingfishers, eagles, mergansers, wood warblers, and many more.Exploring backyard birds, birds of prey, and birds of the open ocean, Smithsonian ornithologist Bruce Beehler and premier nature photographer Middleton Evans have crafted a comprehensive volume unparalleled in its beauty and captivating storytelling. Birds of Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia invites readers to experience the birds' lives as they live them: where they nest, how they forage, their various behaviors, and the natural environments they need to survive. Beehler offers practical advice on bird-watching, including how to find, attract, and even garden for birds, as well as the best places to see them in season. He also discusses the best birding apps, websites, and gear; provides advice on planning a birding field trip; and recommends ornithological institutions that will help you cultivate a lifelong birding hobby. Finally, Beehler challenges the reader to think about conservation efforts to preserve local bird populations. With striking color photographs of more than 400 species, this book is a bonanza for nature lovers. A wealth of images immerse the reader in the world of these wonderful creatures. Marvel at the majesty of Ospreys, navigate the ocean with storm-petrels, and nest with Mourning Doves, all while learning about the richness of the birds' lives, the complexities of their habits, and how we can help keep their populations vibrant and aloft for generations to come.
Birds in the Trees Hanging
by Clare KingslakeThis wall hanging has a lovely naïve folk-art quality. The scene, in fresh spring colours, is filled with birds flitting about and perched in the trees, with flowers and grasses embroidered beneath them. The techniques used include freezer paper appliqué, making appliquéd stems for branches, easy machine stitching and quilting and some fun hand embroidery using thread and silk ribbon.
Birds, Bees & Blossoms: A step-by-step guide to botanical and animal watercolour painting
by Harriet De WintonIn her second book, botanical artist Harriet de Winton shows you how to paint modern watercolour artworks to treasure and share. Picking up where New Botanical Painting left off, this books aims to expand readers' repertoires into fauna as well as flora, with easy-to-follow instructions for a variety of difficulty levels.Through more than 30 step-by-step projects, you'll discover how to paint beautiful butterflies, bumblebees, birds and botanicals from around the world. In the final chapter, you'll find a guide to composing stunning patterns and scenes with your own botanical watercolour creations. Use your new skills to make art for your wall, unique cards, invitations, or simply paint for pleasure.Projects include: Bengal TigerChilean FlamingoPrickly PearZebraBumblebeeGarden Tiger MothPeacockWhite-tailed DeerPolar BearArctic PoppyAnd many more!
Birds Art Life: A Year of Observation
by Kyo MaclearA writer’s search for inspiration, beauty, and solace leads her to birds in this intimate and exuberant meditation on creativity and life—a field guide to things small and significant.When it comes to birds, Kyo Maclear isn’t seeking the exotic. Rather she discovers joy in the seasonal birds that find their way into view in city parks and harbors, along eaves and on wires. In a world that values big and fast, Maclear looks to the small, the steady, the slow accumulations of knowledge, and the lulls that leave room for contemplation. A distilled, crystal-like companion to H is for Hawk, Birds Art Life celebrates the particular madness of chasing after birds in the urban environment and explores what happens when the core lessons of birding are applied to other aspects of art and life. Moving with ease between the granular and the grand, peering into the inner landscape as much as the outer one, this is a deeply personal year-long inquiry into big themes: love, waiting, regrets, endings. If Birds Art Life was sprung from Maclear’s sense of disconnection, her passions faltering under the strain of daily existence, this book is ultimately about the value of reconnection—and how the act of seeking engagement and beauty in small ways can lead us to discover our most satisfying and meaningful lives.
Birds Art Life
by Kyo MaclearA writer's search for inspiration, beauty and solace leads her to birds in this intimate and exuberant meditation on creativity and life--a field guide to things small and significant.For Vladimir Nabokov, it was butterflies. For John Cage, it was mushrooms. For Sylvia Plath, it was bees. Each of these artists took time away from their work to become observers of natural phenomena. In 2012, Kyo Maclear met a local Toronto musician with an equally captivating side passion--he had recently lost his heart to birds. Curious about what prompted this young urban artist to suddenly embrace nature, Kyo decides to follow him for a year and find out. A distilled, crystal-like companion to H is for Hawk, this memoir celebrates the particular madness of loving and chasing after birds in a big city. Intimate and philosophical, moving with ease between the granular and the grand view, it celebrates the creative and liberating effects of keeping your eyes and ears wide open, and explores what happens when you apply the core lessons of birding to other aspects of life. In one sense, this is a book about disconnection--how our passions can buckle under the demands and emotions of daily life--and about reconnection: how the act of seeking passion and beauty in small ways can lead us to discover our most satisfying life. On a deeper level, it takes up the questions of how we are shaped and nurtured by our parallel passions, and how we might come to cherish not only the world's pristine natural places but also the blemished urban spaces where most of us live. Birds Art Life follows two artists on a yearlong adventure that is at once a meditation on the nature of creativity and a quest for a good and meaningful life.
Birdhouses You Can Build in a Day
by Popular WoodworkingBuild a Fine Home for your Feathered Friends Birds of all feathers will be flocking to your backyard to live in the beautiful houses and dine in the unique feeders you can build in just a few short hours. This book is chock-full of more than 50 simple projects for bird, butterfly and bat houses designed by the expert editors of Popular Woodworking Books. All you need are basic woodworking skills, tools, project materials and your imagination! Each design is guaranteed to attract specific birds in nearly every region, including Australia, Europe and the United States. Build a cottage for chickadees, nesting shelves and boxes for robins and mourning doves, basic bluebird houses-even a finch castle! Step-by-step color photos and easy-to-follow instructions will guide you along the way. Why spend your money on a ready-made birdhouse or feeder that looks like all the rest? In one afternoon, you can build a unique bird retreat that will soon turn your backyard into a birdwatcher's paradise!
Birdhouses of the World
by Anne SchmaussBirdhouses of the World offers readers a curated collection of beautiful, whimsical, stop-you-in-your-tracks amazing birdhouses created by designers and bird lovers around the world. Bird expert and author Anne Schmauss provides a brief history of birdhouses and lists the kinds of birds that inhabit them, as well as the types of structures that attract various species. Most important in her selection for this book is the “wow” factor: These birdhouses are spectacular in their creativity, ingenuity, and sheer originality. With styles ranging from sleek modern to elaborate Victorian, they are as varied as human houses. Illustrating the wide-ranging designs found throughout the world, and even including the birdhouse of filmmaker George Lucas, this book is a captivating look at the creativity than can result when a functional structure is infused with a love of birds.
Birdhouses and Feeders
by S. Craven G. Barquest R. EllarsonYou don't have to be an outdoorsy type to enjoy birdwatching, and you don't necessarily have to go outdoors to watch birds! Set up any of these thirty cozy homes and feeders in a spot that's conveniently viewed from indoors, and let the show begin!This easy-to-use manual features clear illustrations and step-by-step construction guidelines for building permanent residences, winter homes, and snack bars for birds of many different feathers—wrens, bluebirds, owls, robins, titmice, and other species, including squirrels and bats. A list of easily obtainable materials appears with each design, along with helpful suggestions for attracting specific creatures. Most designs involve woodworking techniques; others offer simple methods for recycling milk jugs, cardboard cartons, and tires into wildlife refuges.
Birder, She Wrote: A Meg Langslow Mystery (Meg Langslow Mysteries #33)
by Donna AndrewsMeg is relaxing in the hammock, taste-testing Michael’s latest batch of Arnold Palmers and watching the hummingbirds at their feeders when her hopes for a relaxing early summer morning are dashed.First her father recruits her to help him install a new batch of bees in the hive in her backyard. Then Mayor Shiffley recruits her to placate the NIMBYs (Not in my backyard), as she calls them – a group of newcomers to Caerphilly who have built McMansions next door to working farms and then do their best to make life miserable for the farmers. And finally Meg’s grandmother, shows up, trailed by a nosy reporter who is writing a feature on her for a genteel Southern ladies’ magazine.Cordelia drafts Meg to accompany her and Deacon Washington of the New Life Baptist Church – and the reporter, alas – in their search for a long-lost African-American cemetery. Unfortunately what they discover is not an ancient cemetery but a fresh corpse. Can Meg protect her grandmother – and Caerphilly – from the reporter who seems to see the worst in everything . . . and help crack the case before the killer finds another victim?
Bird Show
by Susan StockdaleWelcome to the Bird Show! Award-winning author-illustrator Susan Stockdale offers a front-row seat to a vibrant fashion show starring the world's most diverse and spectacular birds.Just like people, birds contribute to our beautiful world, made more vibrant by their diversity. Readers will marvel at the unique "clothes" worn by eighteen familiar and exotic birds in Susan Stockdale's colorful book. With feathers both plain and fancy, spotted and striped, birds' magnificent differences are celebrated in her stunning portraits and lyrical, rhyming text. Future ornithologists and fashionistas will marvel at the book's color and style, and an afterword provides more information about each species as well as an entertaining pattern matching game.
The Bird Photography Field Guide: The Essential Handbook For Capturing Birds With Your Digital Slr (Field Guide Ser.)
by David TiplingThis is a comprehensive and practical guide to photographing birds living in a wide variety of landscapes and climates. Helpful maps and site information, along with travel advice and technical tips, ensure this book is a 'must have' for all bird photographers - and bird enthusiasts as well.
The Bird Photography Field Guide: The Essential Handbook For Capturing Birds With Your Digital Slr (Field Guide Ser.)
by David TiplingA specialist title aimed at bird watchers, this handy book contains all the expertise you need to make your bird-watching trip into a rewarding photo session: there is copious advice on equipment, technique and field craft, and a wealth of wonderful photos to inspire you. Finally, a section on the digital darkroom will help you turn your shots into perfect prints.