Bücher veröffentlicht von New Amsterdam Books

In his second book, Noah Jonathan Jacobs briefly and profoundly looks at the basis of our nature as revealed in language, the role of illusion in human life, the armed truce between the sexes, and the hate-filled origins of whole tribes of words now quite tame.

Our picture of a chimney sweep is often Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins. This meticulously researched examination shows a different side to this hazardous trade. The art and science of chimney sweeping are examined in detail for the first time in this lively and fascinating book. From the development of chimneys in the twelfth century, replacing the open cooking fire in a smoke-filled room with a plain hole in the roof, to the patenting of mechanical devices in the late nineteenth century that came to the rescue of many a poor climbing boy, all is revealed. The personalities who dominated the profession, which surprisingly included several women sweeps, are portrayed, along with many illustrations of the tools of the trade. Sweeping techniques, the impact of social reform and the place of the sweep in literature are explored in this absorbing work. With 75 black-and-white illustrations.

Between 1946 and 1958, the U.S. conducted some 66 nuclear bomb tests in the Marshall Islands. In 1959, this scattering of coral atolls was again chosen as the testing site for a new generation of weapons-long-range missiles fired in the U.S. Then in 1984 a missile fired from California was intercepted by one from Kwajalein atoll: SDI, or Star Wars, was declared a realizable dream. As military researcher Owen Wilkes has noted: "e;If we could shut down the Pacific Missile Range, we could cut off half the momentum of the nuclear race."e; This is the story of the preparations for war which every day impinge on tire lives of Pacific Islanders caught on the cutting edge of the nuclear arms race. It is the story of a displaced people contaminated by nuclear fallout, forcibly resettled as their own islands become uninhabitable, and reduced to lives of poverty, ill-health, and dependence. It is also a stirring account of the Marshall Islanders themselves, of their resilience and protest, and of their attempts to seek redress in the courts. It is a shocking and timely study.

Books are fragile objects. In the wring environment, excessive bent and cold, humidity, animals and insects-even people- can cause rapid damage to a book's fabric.In this practical guide to maintaining a collection at its best, the author explains the reasons for decay in books and documents and gives straightforward advice on creating the right conditions for a library, large or small.*Fully revised and expanded edition of this authoritative work*Illustrated with photographs and line drawings. *An invaluable addition to any library

Italian as a national spoken language is a new experience for Italians; until very recently it was normal for the majority of the people to speak in a dialect, and Italian was a literary language used only by a minority. The first section of this book provides an outline of the language, and a sketch of the dialects. The authors also describe the formation of the modern standard language in its varieties (regional, social, and occupational).Part two is a reference grammar of contemporary educated Italian, presented in the way it is actually used, rather than according to traditional prescription.The book concentrates on contemporary usage and will enable the reader to understand and use appropriately a wide range of expressions, characterized where necessary according to their level of formality or their regional nature.The illuminating combination of historical perspective and contemporary grammer make this a unique contribution to Italian linguistics, and an invaluable reference book for all students and scholars in the field of Italian.The second edition has been revised throughout to bring it completely up to date.

Drinking with Dickens is a light-hearted sketch by Cedric Dickens, the great-grandson of Charles Dickens. There are vivid and memorable drinking scenes in Dickens' books, and Drinking with Dickens abounds in recipes, many based on the drinks of Dickensian England and America: Bishop, Dog's Nose, Hot Bowl Punch, Milk Punch, Mint Julep, Sherry Cobbler, Shrub and Negus, to mention only a few. Unbelievably it seems to be the first book on this vast and important subject, and Cedric has added some recipes and experiences of his own.The Victorian sources include a penny notebook dated 1859 and kept by "e;Auntie Georgie,"e; Georgina Hogarth, when she was looking after the younger children of Charles Dickens at Gads Hill. It starts with a recipe for Ginger Beer, a teetotal drink which calls for a quart of brandy!Then there is the catalogue for the sale of Gads Hill after Charles Dickens died which shows what was in the cellar at that time. This book transcends the generations. Cedric, with an eye for people and detail, describes a whole series of joyous episodes where drink, wisely taken, has been the catalyst.

In 1937, the Scottish writer, Neil Gunn, gave up his job in the civil service, sold his house in Inverness, and bought a boat. With his wife and his brother John, he set off on a three-month voyage around Inner Hebrides.The boat had outlived its first youth, and its engine was somewhat cranky; she went tolerably under sail. These are not high recommendations, but for Gunn, and at times his fellow voyagers, the vessel was an argosy of freedom, of adventure and misadventure-for they were fairly inexperienced sailors, and the waters of the region are by no means placid.Gunn was a Scots nationalist in a sense that goes far beyond the political, even though he thought that an independent Scotland was the only proper basis for a reasonable civilization. He was by nature poetic, uplifted or cast down by changing skies, seascapes, and shores. His descriptions of those things, including their moods, are remarkably evocative. And he is also a passionate historian of his country, exalting its possibilities, anathematizing its shortcomings. The book is illustrated with Daisy Gunn's photographs taken on the voyage, which are palpably amateur but wonderfully telling.

Here is an updated edition of Joan Nunn's detailed survey of costume in the Western world over the past eight centuries. She not only gives the reader a vivid visual impression of the clothes themselves, but also outlines the historical and social background and the changes in manufacturing techniques and fashionable life that have influenced the way costume has developed and the manner in which it has been worn. The book is illustrated throughout with hundreds of line drawings.

This is a coming-of-age novel, something that in other languages is expressed more pointedly as the novel of education.

This updated edition of Costumes for the Stage aims at simplicity in all aspects of designing and making costumes. It is designed primarily for those who need to dress plays on a small budget, whether for amateur, semi-professional, or professional groups. Starting with five pages illustrating the basic shapes of each period, Sheila Jackson provides practical advice for every kind of play, together with drawings, diagrams, and patterns from which to work. Included are sections on Greek plays, medieval miracles and mysteries, Shakespeare, seventeenth century, eighteenth century, Victorian and Edwardian costume, the twenties and thirties, and the present day. Each section covers the details of men's and women's clothes (hats, collars, shoes, jewelry, etc.) as well as methods for adapting and simplifying the style of the period. There are also sections on pantomimes and musicals, pageants and school plays, and invaluable advice on underwear, fabrics, measurements and fitting, the use of color, and simple ways to make masks, crowns, and decorations. The revised edition features expanded text and new illustrations. Hundreds of line drawings and no-nonsense, authoritative text combine to make this an essential book of costume design.

The author writes in his introduction that evening is the magical moment to wander about Rome: "e;That is the moment to see the city of conflicting moods as it always has been and still is, hateful and holy, wicked and wise, pagan and papal, sometimes so beautiful that it is scarcely to be endured, and always quite inscrutable. That is the supreme moment to rhapsodize and pay homage, to make the final assault upon the hidden secret of Rome's eternal decay, and to be deliciously deceived... The early morning on the other hand is more to our purpose, for it is not at all romantic."e; The early morning serves to light for Lees-Milne the eight Roman buildings-from the somber Pantheon first built by Marcus Agrippa in 27 B.C. to the Trevi fountain, whose waters were brought to Rome via aqueduct by the same Agrippa, but whose completion had to await the eighteenth century-that are in the author's opinion the chef architectural monuments of the city. All of them, he says, are powerful archetypes, and two among them, the Pantheon and the Tempietto, have individual features that are reflected in practically every town in Europe, the British Commonwealth, and America.

"e;I, Hasan the son of Muhammad the weigh-master, I, Jean-Leon de Medici, circumcised at the hand of a barber and baptized at the hand of a pope, I am now called the African, but I am not from Africa, nor from Europe, nor from Arabia. I am also called the Granadan, the Fassi, the Zayyati, but I come from no country, from no city, no tribe. I am the son of the road, my country is the caravan, my life the most unexpected of voyages."e;Thus wrote Leo Africanus, in his fortieth year, in this imaginary autobiography of the famous geographer, adventurer, and scholar Hasan al-Wazzan, who was born in Granada in 1488. His family fled the Inquisition and took him to the city of Fez, in North Africa. Hasan became an itinerant merchant, and made many journeys to the East, journeys rich in adventure and observation. He was captured by a Sicilian pirate and taken back to Rome as a gift to Pope Leo X, who baptized him Johannes Leo. While in Rome, he wrote the first trilingual dictionary (Latin, Arabic and Hebrew), as well as his celebrated Description of Africa, for which he is still remembered as Leo Africanus.