The classic international bestseller - a marvellously exciting and stimulating look at the emergence and development of Western civilisation Kenneth Clark's sweeping narrative looks at how Western Europe evolved in the wake of the collapse of the Roman Empire, to produce the ideas, books, buildings, works of art and great individuals that make up our civilisation. The author takes us from Iona in the ninth century to France in the twelfth, from Florence to Urbino, from Germany to Rome, England, Holland and America. Against these historical backgrounds he sketches an extraordinary cast of characters - the men and women who gave new energy to civilisation and expanded our understanding of the world and of ourselves. He also highlights the works of genius they produced - in architecture, sculpture and painting, in philosophy, poetry and music, and in science and engineering, from Raphael's School of Athens to the bridges of Brunel.

Originally published in 1939, this book contains a series of unfinished lectures written by Roger Fry, the Slade Professor of Fine Arts at the University of Cambridge. Fry's lectures cover a wide range of artistic styles, from the art of Ancient Greece and Egypt to American and Chinese art, as well as a review of art history as an academic study. The text is accompanied by over three hundred photographic plates of many important artworks. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in art history.

From the art of the Greeks to that of Renoir and Moore, this work surveys the ever-changing fashions in what has constituted the ideal nude as a basis of humanist form.

In February 1972 Henry Moore's sculpture studios in the English countryside at Much Hadham were filled with the preparations for his retrospective exhibition at Florence. In search of peace and quiet, he went into a smaller room overlooking the fields where a local farmer grazed his sheep. The sheep came very close to the window, attracting his attention, and he began to draw them. Initially he saw them as nothing more than four-legged balls of wool, but his vision changed as he explored what they were really like - the way they moved, the shape of their bodies under the fleece. They also developed strong human and biblical associations, and the sight of a ewe with her lamb evoked the mother-and-child theme - a large form sheltering a small one - which has been important to Henry Moore in all his work. He drew the sheep again that summer after they were shorn, when he could see the shapes of the bodies which had been covered by wool. Solid in form, sudden and vigorous in movement, Henry Moore's sheep are created through a network of swirling and zigzagging lines in the rapid and (in Moore's hands) sensitive medium of ballpoint pen. The effect is both familiar and monumental; as Lor

In 1966 BBC Television embarked on its most ambitious documentary series to date. The eminent art historian Lord Clark was commissioned to write and present an epic examination of Western European culture, defining what he considered to be the crucial phases of its development. Civilisation: A Personal View by Lord Clark would be more than two years in the making, with filming in over 100 locations across 13 countries. The lavish series was hailed as a masterpiece when it was first transmitted in 1969.

From the fall of the Roman Empire to the Industrial Revolution and beyond, Clark's compelling narrative is accompanied by breathtaking colour photgraphy of Europe's greatest landmarks. This 'history of ideas as illustrated by art and music' remains the benchmark for the numerous programmes it inspired.

Includes a specially written 36 page illustrated booklet of viewing notes to accompany this DVD.

On December 4, 1906, on Cornell University's campus, seven black men founded one of the greatest and most enduring organizations in American history. Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc. has brought together and shaped such esteemed men as Martin Luther King Jr., Cornel West, Thurgood Marshall, Wes Moore, W. E. B. DuBois, Roland Martin, and Paul Robeson. "Born in the shadow of slavery and on the lap of disenfranchisement," Alpha Phi Alpha -- like other black Greek-letter organizations -- was founded to instill a spirit of high academic achievement and intellectualism, foster meaningful and lifelong ties, and racially uplift those brothers who would be initiated into its ranks. In Alpha Phi Alpha, Gregory S. Parks, Stefan M. Bradley, and other contributing authors analyze the fraternity and its members' fidelity to the founding precepts set forth in 1906. They discuss the identity established by the fraternity at its inception, the challenges of protecting the image and brand, and how the organization can identify and train future Alpha men to uphold the standards of an outstanding African American fraternity. Drawing on organizational identity theory and a diverse array of methodologies, the authors raise and answer questions that are relevant not only to Alpha Phi Alpha but to all black Greek-letter organizations.

According to the scant historical records available, Uncle Bud Long, his daughter Janey, and her son Frankie lived near Clark's Landing, Kentucky, for about twenty years early in this century. Mr. Clarke has collected the tales of the Longs' strange ways from old-time residents of the community, both those who knew the Longs and those who inherited the stories by word of mouth. Here he skillfully weaves them into a loose narrative and, in addition, analyzes the ways in which the anecdotes have been transmuted in the process of retelling. This analysis of the stories of Uncle Bud reveals much about the delicate process by which the oral folk tradition grows and thrives. Though at first glance these fragmentary anecdotes hardly seem to constitute a legend, Mr. Clarke convincingly argues that from such humble roots ultimately grows much of what we think of as "literature."

The White Pine Series Of Architectural Monographs, V13, No. 6. Edited By Russell F. Whitehead.

A photo journey of earth's closest neighbor. Newly released pictures that show we are not alone in the universe.

In 1966 a young Army lieutenant from small-town Oklahoma set foot in the Central Highlands of Vietnam as a raw, inexperienced Huey pilot. Ray Clark would serve two harrowing tours in Vietnam, developing his piloting skills in combat. Clark has written an engrossing, poignant, and often humorous account of America's combat helicopter pilots and crew members: their adventures, triumphs and tragedies as they fought in a war like no other in America's history. A natural and masterful storyteller, Clark shares a personal memoir of war that Americans should heed carefully. Just Let Me Walk Away is a chronicle of a defining point in U.S. history, a tale of an unpopular war and the soldiers charged to fight it. This riveting, personal story is written with passion, dignity, and a commitment to truth. A day in the life of these American veterans is a story largely untold, an uncelebrated truth that Clark is compelled to reveal.