An autobiographical meditation on art from the world-renowned dancer and choreographer In this ceaselessly questioning book, acclaimed African American dancer, choreographer, and director Bill T. Jones reflects on his art and life as he describes the genesis of Story/Time, a recent dance work produced by his company and inspired by the modernist composer and performer John Cage. Presenting personally revealing stories, richly illustrated with striking color photographs of the work's original stage production, and featuring a beautiful, large-format design, the book is a work of art in itself. Like the dance work, Story/Time the book is filled with telling vignettes—about Jones’s childhood as part of a large, poor, Southern family that migrated to upstate New York; about his struggles to find a place for himself in a white-dominated dance world; and about his encounters with notable artists and musicians. In particular, Jones examines his ambivalent attraction to avant-garde modernism, which he finds liberating but also limiting in its disregard for audience response. As he strives to make his work more personal and broadly engaging, especially to an elusive African American audience, Jones—who is still drawn to the avant-garde—wrestles with questions of how an artist can remain true to himself while still caring about the popular reception of his work. A provocative meditation on the demands and rewards of artistic creation, Story/Time is an inspiring and enlightening portrait of the life and work of one of the great artists of our time.

Explores the potential of movement to create and revise historical narratives of race and nation

The revised and updated eighth edition of the bestselling textbook Politics UK is an indispensible introduction to British politics. It provides a thorough and accessible overview of the institutions and processes of British government, a good grounding in British political history and an incisive introduction to the issues facing Britain today. With contributed chapters from respected scholars in the field and contemporary articles on real-world politics from well-known political commentators, this textbook is an essential guide for students of British politics. The eighth edition welcomes brand new material from eight new contributors to complement the rigorously updated and highly valued chapters retained from the previous edition. The eighth edition includes: · Britain in context boxes offering contrasting international perspectives of themes in British politics. · A comprehensive 'who's who' of politics in the form of Profile boxes featuring key political figures. · And another thing ... pieces: short articles written by distinguished commentators including Jonathan Powell, Michael Moran and Mark Garnett. · Fully updated chapters plus new material providing excellent coverage of contemporary political events including: The Leveson Inquiry, the aftermath of the 2011 riots and the House of Lords reform. · A vibrant and accessible new design to excite and engage students as the work through a variety of political topics. · A new epilogue to the book offering a critical perspective of the trials and tribulations of the Coalition Government, including an overview of the major differences that divide the coalition partners.

An anthology featuring the first 20 articles from the series which appears in each issue of Woodturning magazine. The book gives an insight into the life and craftsmanship of one of the last working turners with a knowledge of traditional hardwood and ivory skills.

The previously-untold story of the life and tragic early death of John Curry, one of the most famous ice skaters in history. The book that inspired new film The Ice King, the story of John Curry's life. One winter's night in 1976, over 20 million people in Britain watched John Curry skate to Olympic gold on an ice rink in Austria. Many millions more watched around the world. Overnight he became one of the most famous men on the planet. He was awarded an OBE. He was chosen as BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Curry changed ice skating from marginal sport to high art. And yet the man was a mystery to a world that had been dazzled by his gift. Surely, men's skating was supposed to be Cossack-muscular, not sensual and ambiguous like this? Curry himself was a complex, tortured man. For the first time, Alone untangles the extraordinary web of his toxic, troubled, brilliant and short life. It is a story of childhood nightmares, furious ambition, sporting genius, lifelong rivalries, homophobia, Cold War politics, financial ruin and deep personal tragedy. So much more than a sports biography, Alone reveals the restless, impatient, often dark soul of a man whose words could lacerate, whose skating invariably moved audiences to tears, and who after succumbing to AIDS, as so many of his fellow artists and friends did, died of a heart attack aged just 44.

"Robert Irwin, perhaps the most influential of the California artists, moved from his beginnings in abstract expressionism through successive shifts in style and sensibility, into a new aesthetic territory altogether, one where philosophical concepts of perception and the world interact. Weschler has charted the journey with exceptional clarity and cogency. He has also, in the process, provided what seems to me the best running history of postwar West Coast art that I have yet seen."—Calvin Tomkins