What do people think when they imagine themselves as part of a nation? Nation and Commemoration answers this question in an exploration of the creation and recreation of national identities through commemorative activities. Extending recent work in cultural sociology and history, Lyn Spillman compares centennial and bicentennial celebrations in the United States and Australia to show how national identities can emerge from processes of 'cultural production'. She systematically analyses the symbols and meanings of national identity in these two 'new nations', identifying changes and continuities, similarities and differences in how visions of history, place in the world, politics, land, and diversity have been used to express nationhood. The result is a deeper understanding, not only of American and Australian national identities, but also of the global process of nation-formation.

When Franz Schubert put Goethe's poem "Gretchen am Spinnrade" to music in 1814, he created a musical form that has captivated audiences ever since. In Poetry into Song, Deborah Stein and Robert Spillman challenge readers to seek a richer, more imaginative understanding of Lied - the nineteenth-century German art song. Written for students of voice, piano, and theory and for all singers and accompanists, Poetry into Song establishes a framework for the analysis of song based on a process of performing, listening, analyzing, and performing again. This unique approach emphasizes the reciprocal interaction between performance and analysis. Focusing on the masterworks, Poetry into Song features numerous poetic texts, as well as a core repertory of songs. Examples throughout the text demonstrate points, and end of chapter questions reinforce concepts and encourage directed analysis. While numerous books have been written on Lieder and German Romantic poetry, Poetry into Song is the first to combine performance, musical analysis, textual analysis, and the interrelation between poetry and music in a truly systematic, thorough way.

In September 2002, twenty-one prominent Catholic and Protestant scholars released the groundbreaking document 'A Sacred Obligation,' which includes ten statements about Jewish-Christian dialogue focused around a guiding claim: 'Revising Christian teaching about Judaism and the Jewish people is a central and indispensable obligation of theology in our time.' Following the worldwide reception of their document, the authors have expanded their themes into Seeing Judaism Anew. The essays in this volume offer a conceptual framework by which Christians can rethink their understanding of the church's relationship to Judaism and show how essential it is that Christians represent Judaism accurately, not only as a matter of justice for the Jewish people, but also for the integrity of Christian faith. By linking New Testament scholarship to the Shoah, Christian liturgical life, and developments in the church, this volume addresses the important questions at the heart of Christian identity, such as: Are only Christians saved? Why did Jesus die? Why is Israel so important to Jews, and what should we think about the conflict in the Middle East? How is Christianity complicit in the Holocaust? What is important about Jesus being a Jew?

This collection of articles and essays from magazines, newspapers, books, and academic journals is designed to expand the reader's awareness and understanding of the role dress plays in cultures and subcultures across the globe. The text, which represents the very best thinking and writing on the subject today, explores essential topics such as dress and sociology, cultural studies, gender, religion, modesty, and technological changes. The Meanings of Dress, 3rd Edition is newly revised to reflect the current cultural landscape and includes more theory than previous editions, as well as an increased emphasis on the male perspective. The book provides design and merchandising students with insight into how - and why - consumers buy clothing and other products related to dress, and helps them to hone their trend forecasting skills. Instructors, contact your Sales Representative for access to Instructor's Materials.

The Knopf collectors' guides to American antiques.

Clay is a material rich in history and possibilities for art making, and handbuilding pottery is the oldest use of the medium. This comprehensive beginner’s guide offers a unique place to learn the different handbuilding pottery techniques of pinching, coiling, and slab rolling. Once you have experience with a few basic techniques, you can make your own functional tableware, vessels, sculpture, installations, and mixed media—the possibilities in ceramics are endless. What is handbuilding? Handbuilding is a ceramics technique that allows you to create forms with clay and your hands, without using a throwing wheel. Before ceramicists invented the wheel, handbuilding was the only way they could create functional and artistic ceramic forms. The oldest known ceramic artifact was handbuilt and is dated as early as 28,000 BCE. All you need to get started are your clay, your hands, and a few simple tools. Handbuilding is an ancient pottery-making technique that involves creating forms without a pottery wheel, using the hands, fingers, and simple tools. The most common handbuilding techniques are pinch pottery, coil building, and slab building. In this book , I will be teaching you in details everything you need to be an expert in ceramics pottery. The tools, skills, techniques, tips and tricks to create very beautiful ceramic art works ranging from pinching pots, slab pots, coiled pots and mugs. ORDER YOUR COPY NOW

Remember the ill-fitting tuxes, regrettable dresses, wilting corsages, cheap beer, and rented limos that marked the biggest, most-anticipated celebration of the school year? Remember when the whole world hung in the balance of just one night? Well, lots of your favorite writers do too, and they share the good, the bad, and the embarrassingly ugly in this wonderful compendium of personal reminiscences about prom night. Rob Spillman has collected the prom memories of Cintra Wilson, Walter Kirn, Steve Almond, Samantha Dunn, Susie Bright, Mike Albo, and many others, capturing the magic, the misery, and the atrocious attire in a hilarious look at the simultaneously sublime and ridiculous event that has become the American right of passage. Whether prom night is something you fondly remember or long to forget, The Time of My Life will bring it all back, capturing with wit and poignancy precisely what it was like to be young, hormonal, and dressed like a butler or bridesmaid.