Book picks similar to
Mud, Mirror and Thread: Folk Traditions of Rural India by Nora Fisher


grad-school
india-and-south-asia
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women-writers

Agnes Martin: Her Life and Art


Nancy Princenthal - 2018
    Martin identified with the Abstract Expressionists but her commitment to linear geometry caused her to be associated in turn with Minimalist, feminist, and even outsider artists. She moved through some of the liveliest art communities of her time while maintaining a legendary reserve. I paint with my back to the world, she says both at the beginning and at the conclusion of a documentary filmed when she was in her late eighties. When she died at ninety-two, in Taos, New Mexico, it is said she had not read a newspaper in half a century. No substantial critical monograph exists on this acclaimed artist the recipient of two career retrospectives as well as the National Medal of the Arts who was championed by critics as diverse in their approaches as Lucy Lippard, Lawrence Alloway, and Rosalind Krauss. Furthermore, no attempt has been made to describe her extraordinary life. The whole engrossing story, told here for the first time, Agnes Martin is essential reading for anyone interested in abstract art or the history of women artists in America."

The Murder of William of Norwich: The Origins of the Blood Libel in Medieval Europe


Emily M. Rose - 2015
    The boy bore disturbing signs of torture, and a story soon spread that it was a ritual murder, performed by Jews in imitation of the Crucifixion as a mockery of Christianity. The outline of William's tale swiftly gained currency far beyond Norwich, and the idea that Jews engaged in ritual murder became firmly rooted in the European imagination. Emily Rose's engaging book delves into the story of William's murder and the notorious trial that followed to uncover the origin of the ritual murder accusation--known as the "blood libel"--in western Europe in the Middle Ages. Focusing on the specific historical context-the 12th--century reform of the Church, the position of Jews in England, and the Second Crusade--and suspensefully unraveling the facts of the case, Rose makes a powerful argument for why the Norwich Jews (and particularly one Jewish banker) were accused of killing the youth, and how the malevolent blood libel accusation managed to take hold. She also considers four "copycat" cases, in which Jews were similarly blamed for the death of young Christians, and traces the adaptations of the story over time. In the centuries after its appearance, the ritual murder accusation provoked instances of torture, death and expulsion of thousands of Jews and the extermination of hundreds of communities. Although no charge of ritual murder has withstood historical scrutiny, the concept of the blood libel is so emotionally charged and deeply rooted in cultural memory that it endures even today. Rose's groundbreaking work, driven by fascinating characters, a gripping narrative, and impressive scholarship, provides clear answers as to why the blood libel emerged when it did and how it was able to gain such widespread acceptance, laying the foundations for enduring anti-Semitic myths that continue to the present.

My First White Friend: Confessions on Race, Love and Forgiveness


Patricia Raybon - 1996
    Her journal/analysis provides discourse on hatred and forgiveness, the rise of her hatred, and her efforts to conquer her fears and forgive the past. An unusual account of conscious change.--Kirkus Reviews.

A Theory of Adaptation


Linda Hutcheon - 2006
    Adaptation, Hutcheon argues, has always been a central mode of the story-telling imagination and deserves to be studied in all its breadth and range as both a process (of creation and reception) and a product unto its own.Persuasive and illuminating, A Theory of Adaptation is a bold rethinking of how adaptation works across all media and genres that may put an end to the age-old question of whether the book was better than the movie, or the opera, or the theme park.

Plum Bun: A Novel without a Moral


Jessie Redmon Fauset - 1929
    After the death of her parents, Angela moves to New York to escape the racism she believes is her only obstacle to opportunity. What she soon discovers is that being a woman has its own burdens that don't fade with the color of one's skin, and that love and marriage might not offer her salvation.

Glorious Patchwork


Kaffe Fassett - 1997
    For more than two decades, Kaffe Fassett's sumptuously textured, vibrantly colored designs have thrilled readers and inspired them to pile on color and break the rules. In "Glorious Patchwork"--one of his most spectacular and original books--Kaffe presents more than 25 designs that draw on the essence of his colorwork. Divided into five color themes--ranging from soft pastels and leafy gardens to bold circus hues--these stunning designs bear Kaffe's unmistakable stamp. Every chapter includes projects with varying difficulty, so beginners and experienced quilters alike can replicate the masterpiece quilts inside. "From the Trade Paperback edition."

On the Grand Trunk Road


Steve Coll - 1993
    This is a land where the 10th and 20th centuries uneasily intermix--and often explode.

Landscape for a Good Woman: A Story of Two Lives


Carolyn Steedman - 1986
    Partly autobiographical, taking a mother and her daughter; two working-class childhoods (Burnley in the 1920s, South London in the 1950s) and trying to find a place for their stories in history and politics, in psychoanalysis and feminism. What happens to cultural criticism when you confront it with working-class women and little girls? What happens when psychoanalysis is asked to look at women who don't possess the wish for a child? And what happens to theories of patriarchy when autobiography deals with a working-class father who isn't important in the world outside the household? This book is about the centrality of some stories and the marginality of others, and about the stories we tell ourselves to explain our lives.

Women and Fiction: Short Stories By and About Women


Susan Cahill - 1975
    Kate Chopin (1851-1904): The Story of an HourEdith Wharton (1862-1937): The Other TwoWilla Cather (1873-1947): A Wagner MatinéeColette (1873-1947): The Secret WomanGertrude Stein (1874-1946): Miss Furr and Miss SkeeneVirginia Woolf (1882-1941): The New DressContentsKatherine Mansfield (1888-1923): The Garden PartyKatherine Anne Porter (1890-1980): RopeKay Boyle (1902-1992): Winter NightEudora Welty (1909-2001): A Worn PathHortense Calisher (1911- ): The Scream on Fifty-Seventh StreetAnn Petry (1911-1997): Like a Winding SheetMary Lavin (1912-1996): In a CaféTillie Olsen (1913- ): I Stand Here IroningMaeve Brennan (1917-1993): The Eldest ChildCarson McCullers (1917-1967): WunderkindDoris Lessing (1919- ): To Room NineteenGrace Paley (1922- ): An Interest in LifeFlannery O'Connor (1925-1964): RevelationJean Stubbs (1926- ): Cousin LewisEdna O'Brien (1930- ): A JourneyAlice Munro (1931- ): The OfficeJoyce Carol Oates (1938- ): In the Region of IceMargaret Drabble (1939- ): The Gifts of WarJulie Hayden (1939-1981): Day-Old Baby RatsAlice Walker (1944- ): Everyday Use

Our Nig


Harriet E. Wilson - 1859
    Frado becomes the servant of the Bellmonts, a lower-middle-class white family in the free North, while slavery is still legal in the South, and suffers numerous abuses in their household. Frado's story is a tragic one; having left the Bellmonts, she eventually marries a black fugitive slave, who later abandons her.

The Portable Hannah Arendt


Hannah Arendt - 2000
    This volume includes selections from her major works, including The Origins of Totalitarianism, Between Past and Future, Men in Dark Times, The Jew as Pariah, and The Human Condition, as well as many shorter writings and letters. Sections include extracts from her work on fascism, Marxism, and totalitarianism; her treatment of work and labour; her writings on politics and ethics; and a section on truth and the role of the intellectual.