Claudia Moscovici asserts in Romanticism and Postromanticism that the Romantic heritage, far from being important only in a historical sense, has philosophical relevance and value for contemporary art and culture. With an emphasis on artistic tradition as a continuing source of inspiration and innovation, she touches upon each main branch of philosophy: aesthetics, epistemology, and ethics. The book begins by describing some of the most interesting features of the Romantic movement that still fuel our culture. It then addresses the question: How did an artistic movement whose focus was emotive expression change into a quest for formal experimentation? And finally, Moscovici considers the aesthetic philosophy of postromanticism by thinking through how the Romantic emphasis upon beauty and passion can be combined with the modern and postmodern emphasis on originality and experimentation.

"Though enjoying the pose of a canny peasant, he was, in fact, a sophisticated artist who distilled a multitude of sources into his highly complex work."--BOOK COVER.

The pure, abstract sculptures made by Constantin Brancusi have had a large and enthusiastic audience in New York ever since they were first shown on American soil at the 1913 Armory Show. The numerous American collectors, muses, friends, and exhibitions that enabled his success had a profound influence on the eccentric Romanian artist who lived in Paris. And the feeling was definitely reciprocated. From the trial concerning his Bird in Space--which helped define modern art--to his first museum retrospective, and his dream of a skyscraper sculpture, New York was the place where Brancusi's career unfolded. Over the last one hundred years his effect on the city's art scene has never waned. Through stunning archival images and text by Brancusi authority Jérôme Neutres, Brancusi New York tells the story of the mutually beneficial relationship between the sculptor and the Big Apple. The book also features gorgeous new photographs of the five bronze sculptures on display at the Paul Kasmin Gallery in New York for the exhibition Brancusi in New York: 1913-2013.

Fernandez and Ferranti uncover a tantalizing blend of German efficiency and Latin nonchalance, French literature and Gypsy music, Western rationalism and Oriental mysteries. Attentive and precise, they dig beneath the somber heritage of communism to reach the deep roots of a European country about which so little is known.

Continental Drift: Colliding Continents, Converging Cultures is as much an account of the impressions Western culture made on Constantin Roman as a young researcher from behind the Iron Curtain as a personal history of the developing new science of plate tectonics. The book elucidates the author's struggles against a web of bureaucracy to secure his rights in the free world while exploring historical events. A refined observer of the contrast of cultures between East and West, Roman's personal story relates his encounters with eminent scientists, artists, and embassy officials. Constantin Roman defied communist restrictions by coming to England in 1968 on a NATO travel grant. After being encouraged by Keith Runcorn at the University of Newcastle to stay in Britain for a higher degree, he received a Ph.D. scholarship at the University of Cambridge. This is where he studied under Sir Edward Bullard when plate tectonics was in its infancy, when the concepts of continental drift and sea floor spreading were galvanizing geology. As a continental student adrift on English shores, Roman soon staked his claim on the plate tectonics map with his work on the deep earthquakes of the Carpathians. But the stakes became higher with a race against the clock to be the first to publish a plate tectonics solution to the Himalayan earthquakes. Continental Drift delves into all of this and more. It will delight earth scientists, physicists, and general readers as well as historians of science, who will find a wealth of personal recollections of key figures in the continental drift story.

Each volume of the Dictionary of World Biography contains 250 entries on the lives of the individuals who shaped their times and left their mark on world history. This is not a who's who. Instead, each entry provides an in-depth essay on the life and career of the individual concerned. Essays commence with a quick reference section that provides basic facts on the individual's life and achievements. The extended biography places the life and works of the individual within an historical context, and the summary at the end of each essay provides a synopsis of the individual's place in history. All entries conclude with a fully annotated bibliography.