Excerpt from Letters of Richard Watson Gilder In the following pages will be found, expressed in his letters or set forth in the connecting narrative of his daughter, the full current of the life of one of the most vital and variously influential Americans of his time. But since the record is largely a story of the inner life, of ideals, ambitions, and impulses to literary or civic achievement, of fruitions and friendships, it may not be out of place to say a word here concerning the outer and objective man, Richard Watson Gilder. So the reader may meet him as one met him in life, receiving first the startling visual impression of him, and then gradually learning through repeated meetings and continuing correspondence how uncommonly his vivid person expressed the range of his temperament and the variety of his mind. The impression made by Mr. Gilder at a first meeting can perhaps be no better conveyed than in the following passage taken from a letter written by Miss Cecilia Beaux, in which the sensitive perceptions of the portrait painter find expression in words: "I shall never forget the first time I saw Mr. Gilder. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from The English-Speaking Brotherhood and the League of Nations I should again1 like to publish here two letters from per sonal friends whom. I consider to have been at that time the most representative of the two broadly differing, if not Opposed, conceptions of America's position in the foreign affairs of the world, John Hay and Charles Eliot Norton. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

"All modern American literature comes from one book called Huckleberry Finn," declared Ernest Hemingway. "There was nothing before. There has been nothing as good since." Yet even from the time of its first publication in 1885, Mark Twain's masterpiece has been one of the most celebrated and controversial books ever published in America. No other story so central to our American identity has been so loved and so reviled as Huck Finn's autobiography.

Images of women were ubiquitous in America at the turn of the last century. In painting and sculpture, they took on a bewildering variety of identities, from Venus, Ariadne, and Diana to Law, Justice, the Arts, and Commerce. Bailey Van Hook argues here that the artists' concepts of art coincided with the construction of gender in American culture. She finds that certain characteristics such as &"ideal,&" &"beautiful,&" &"decorative,&" and &"pure&" both describe this art and define the perceived role of women in American society at the time. Most late nineteenth-century American artists had trained in Paris, where they learned to use female imagery as a pictorial language of provocative sensuality. Van Hook first places the American artists in an international context by discussing the works of their French teachers, including Jean-L&éon G&ér&ôme and Alexandre Cabanel. She goes on to explore why they soon had to distance themselves from that context, primarily because their art was perceived as either openly sensual or too obliquely foreign by American audiences. Van Hook delineates the modes of representation the American painters chose, which ranged from the more traditional allegorical or mythological subjects to a decorative figure painting indebted to Whistler. Changing American culture ultimately rejected these idealized female images as too genteel and, eventually, too academic and European. Angels of Art is the first study to discuss the predominance of images of women across stylistic boundaries and within the wider context of European art. It relies heavily on contemporary sources both to document critical responses and to find intersecting patterns in attitudes toward women and art.

In The Late Nineteenth Century, Americas new railroads flooded Marion with extravagant cargo: the rich and famous. For the likes of Mark Twain, Henry James and President Grover Cleveland, whose home here was known as the summer White House, Marion became a treasured sanctuary from city life. Teeming with prosperity and the blossoming arts, this hamlet offered a setting so breathtaking that it inspired some of the worlds foremost creative minds. Encouraged by The Century Magazine editor Richard Watson Gilder, prominent artists, architects, writers and celebrities flocked to Marion. Also frequented by Academy Awardwinning actress Ethel Barrymore, it was here that Charles Dana Gibson sketched his iconic Gibson Girl. Whether following First Lady Frances Clevelands trendsetting fashion or the well-publicized wedding of Cecil Clark and Richard Harding Davis, the eyes of America were firmly planted on Marions sparkling shores and glittering guests.