Books
Plunder Dissects Napoleon’s Obsession with Stealing Art
Using a mix of art, military, and intellectual history, Cynthia Saltzman argues that controlling art is a powerful way to control hearts and minds.
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A Weird and Wonderful History of Design Patents
Patented by Thomas Rinaldi is an illustrated journey through more than a century of American trends and technologies.
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A Beautiful Guide to Colors in the Natural World, Revisited 200 Years Later
"Nature’s Palette" reproduces the groundbreaking color systems and illustrates them with lush engravings.
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Seeing Through the Eye of Others
Aminder Dhaliwal’s new graphic novel, “Cyclopedia Exotica,” challenges stereotypes by delivering broader messages on the complexity of race, gender, and identity.
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Poetry That Targets Compliance as Complicity
Andrew Levy's poems explore contemporary life with globe-spanning sweep and intensive probing.
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The Tender, Loving Side of the Romans
Hérica Valladares explores the softer side of an ancient people famed for brutality.
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When Cell Phone Towers Cosplay as Trees
There is a jarring disconnect as our eye sorts the organic from the imposter.
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A Female Vision of Sci-Fi
Izumi Suzuki introduced a different vision of femininity, one that departed from the stereotypes so abundant in the work of male writers.
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A Data Artist’s Guide to Putting People (and Privacy) First
With Living In Data, Jer Thorp demonstrates the importance of enabling people to participate in the process of creating and telling the stories behind data.
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LA’s Mexican-American Lowrider Car Culture, Photographed in All Its Glory
Lowriding is often considered to be a male-dominated movement, but Kristin Bedford shines a spotlight on the women of all ages behind the wheel.
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Rachel Cusk Intertwines Art with Healthy Skepticism
A fiercely odd, even unfashionably allegorical book, Second Place would be disappointing if it weren’t so bafflingly good.
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Resonant Adventures in Art and Intimacy From Larissa Pham
A memoir-in-essays, Pop Song is at its most satisfying when the author assembles an arsenal of visual artists to express the ineffable.