Mary Hollingsworth’s "Princes of the Renaissance" is a revealing account of the city-state dynasties that created unimaginable wealth, cut-throat competitions, and lavish displays of patronage, resulting in some of the Western... Read More

Design is ubiquitous: urging us to buy, suggesting how we should behave, and saying how we should think and feel. However, aside from designers, marketers, and psychologists, few are aware of this constructed messaging in human-built... Read More

Not just one of the most renowned women artists, Georgia O’Keeffe is one of the most iconic American artists. Her challenges and sustained dedication in achieving this status were great. This new collection of photographs and essays... Read More

"Talking to a Portrait" is a rare glimpse into the world of fine art galleries and museums that contains the delights, blunders, research, conversations, and inspiration of curating an exhibition. This memoir from one of Canada’s... Read More

The erudite, illustrated essays of "Dissimilar Similitudes" concern art, history, religion, and culture in late medieval Europe—in particular, how devotional objects and images were viewed by worshippers. Some challenge traditional... Read More

Naturalist Ken Keffer’s "Earth Almanac" is a delightful, fact-rich immersion into the seasonal wonders of the natural world. Beginning with the winter solstice, the book gives budding naturalists a good overview of what goes on... Read More

Marc Petitjean grew up with Frida Kahlo’s disturbing painting “The Heart” hanging in his living room. As a child, he was terrified of the image of a huge bleeding heart lying in the sand, with its handless woman pierced by a metal... Read More

The beeping, flashing, vibrating distractions of technology; densely populated city centers; brash displays of wealth and power among the elites; and societal inequality: such is life in the twenty-first century. Whether modern... Read More