by Robert Sklar
This big, glorious book of moviemaking around the globe is a must-have for film buffs. Sklar, professor of Cinema Studies at New York University, presents the history of film from the beginning of moving-image technology a century ago to its place in the world today as craft, art and social commentary. (Abrams, $49.50)
photographs by Rodney Smith designed by Leslie Smolan
Hats off to bonnets, boaters, beanies and berets. Expertly—if somewhat preciously—produced, this stocking stuffer is sprinkled with hat chat from such varied sources as Dr. Seuss and Oscar Wilde, and bound with a bright red grosgrain band. For photographers, designers and fez fanciers alike, this fetching little volume is the hat's meow. (Doubleday, $25)
An Illustrated History of the Evolution of Life on Earth
Stephen Jay Gould, general editor
Life on Earth is bewilderingly complex, with tens of millions of organisms filling every conceivable ecological niche—and that doesn't count species now extinct. The Book of Life cuts through this confusion to lay out 3.5 billion years of evolution, explaining with gorgeous illustrations how Nature, purely by trial and error, started with bacteria and wound up with Madonna. (Norton, $40)
by Neat McCabe and Constance McCabe (Abrams, $29.95)
text by Steve Wulf
(Viking Studio, $40)
Together, these remarkable books capture the restless spirit of the national pastime before TV and big money corrupted it forever. Charles M. Conlon was the Walker Evans of baseball. A proofreader for a news paper, he spent his spare time from 1904 to 1942 taking black-and-white photos for baseball guidebooks. Some of his action photos are masterpieces, but his intimate portraits are riveting.
In contrast, Ozzie Sweet's glorious color photos of sports stars from the late '40s through the '60s seem a little stagy. But like Annie Leibovitz, Sweet has an uncanny gift for bringing his subjects to life. Looking at Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese turning a double play, one is transported to a time when ballplayers were still heroes.
by Pauline Cockrill
Richly detailed and illustrated this book comes chockablock with bear facts: history, pedigree, brands—even bear care. Steiff, Pooh and Paddington are mentioned in this beariary that will bring a smile lo any "arctophile." (Dorling Kindersley, $34.95)
by John Mortimer
This selection of seven stories that made Mortimer laugh when he wrote them includes "Rumpole à la Carte," with the bibulous and bardic old curmudgeon at his fractious best demanding steak-and-kidney pudding in a temple of nouvelle cuisine. Scrumptious. (Viking, $21)
by John Fordham
Bebop, Blakey, blues and roots; improv, tunes and axes. Jazz will never be easy to define, but with Fordham's flashy treasury of techniques, history, styles and players, even squares can hang. Of course, listening remains the way to learn. (Dorling Kindersley, $29.95)
poem by Maya Angelou; paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat
"Shadows on the wall. Noises down the hall. Life doesn't frighten me at all." Nor will the other dangers in this inspired blend of Angelou's hypnotic verse and the late Haitian-Puerto Rican painter's kinetic images that celebrate courage and self-reliance. This book will charm the most resolute Scrooge. (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $14.95)
edited by Paul Gruber
Was Maria Callas's 1955 Aida on EMI/Angel superior to Leontyne Price's on Decca in 1961? In prose blessedly without baroque flourishes, top music writers analyze recordings of 150 operas and come up with lucid answers. (Norton, $35)
by Candace Bahouth
A gifted American textile artist transplanted to Somerset, England, Bahouth has drawn upon the art of the Middle Ages, with its rustic tapestries, decorated tiles and illuminated manuscripts, to create more than 20 elegant needlepoint designs for cushions, clothing, bags and rugs. Bahouth's color keys and charts help map your way, and her illustrated instructions for stitching, blocking, backing and cording make this a complete kit for the start-from-scratch needle nut. (Abrams, $29.95)
KNOPF GUIDES: LONDON
The grand cities of the world on $5 a day it's not, but for the sophisticated traveler who is curious about the history, the culture and the back-streets of London, this is the suitable guide. Like an overstuffed duffle, it fairly bursts with architectural illustrations, silvery photos, busy drawings, literary quotes, gallery tours, street maps and more. Even stubborn stay-at-homes may-get the impulse to pack their bags. Other destinations in the '93 series include Istanbul, Florence, Venice and Amsterdam. (Knopf, $25)
by Martin Gottfried
Stephen Sondheim has dominated Broadway with classics of American musical theater: West Side Story, Gypsy, Sweeney Todd. In this mesmerizing book, Gottfried, a critic and author, presents the lyricist-composer's life and career through personal interviews, photos and analysis of his music and lyrics. (Abrams, $49.50)
by Brian McCallen
(Abrams, $45)
by Harvey Penick and Bud Shrake
(Simon & Schuster, $20)
Golfers' fancies are absurdly easy to tickle, which explains the 1992 success of Penick and Shrake's Little Red Book of links aphorisms. In Friend, they're back with another round of how-true-how-truisms that are equally harmless. Resorts is an entertaining Baedeker to vacation courses trapped in a volume of disappointing travel-brochure photos. Give your golfer a driving-range gift certificate instead—and hope that McCallen's text is soon reprinted as a nonillustrated, affordable paperback.
- Contributors:
- Louisa Ermelino,
- Kristin McMurran,
- Michael Lemonick,
- Hugh Delahanty,
- Ben Harte,
- V.R. Peterson,
- Tony Chiu.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
