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History & Biography

Robert Coles

Based on a series of lectures delivered at The New York Public Library, Doing Documentary Work utilizes the documentaries of writers, photographers, and others to show how their prose and pictures are influenced by the observer's frame of reference. Among the examples Coles draws upon are literary documentaries -- James Agee's Let Us Now Praise Famous Men and George Orwell's The Road to Wigan Pier; photographs by Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange; and personal portraits of poet William Carlos Williams; Robert Moses, one of the leaders of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee during the 1960s; Erik H. Erikson, biographer of Gandhi and Martin Luther; and others.

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288 pages, illustrated. Published by Oxford University Press, 1997.

A History, a Biography, and a Guide Image

Stephen Wagner and Doucet Devin Fischer

The New York Public Library's Collection of Shelley and His Circle is one of the world's leading repositories for the study of English Romanticism. This illustrated volume includes a brief narrative on the life and works of Shelley, and biographical sketches of the people in his circle, as well as an account of the collection's origins and an informal inventory of its holdings.

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128 pages, illustrated. Published by The New York Public Library, 1996.

Michael Krondl

With over 150 recipes, customs, and enduring food traditions, this cookbook brings the American experience to life. Updated for today's cook and illustrated with treasures from the Library's collections, this volume celebrates the regional and ethnic diversity of our nation's rich culinary heritage.

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352 pages, Two-color illustrations throughout. Published by Adams Publishing, 1995.

Robert Heilbroner

An eminent economist who has written extensively about economic trends, Heilbroner offers a concise perspective on the past and present that clarifies the task of looking to the future. The book is based on a series of lectures given at The New York Public Library.

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133 pages. Published by Oxford University Press, 1995.

A commemorative catalogue for the Library's Centennial exhibition What Price Freedom, this book features objects from the Library's collections, such as a student handbill from Tiananmen Square, that are emblematic of the price people have paid through the centuries for their beliefs.

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56 pages, 57 color illustrations. Published by The New York Public Library, 1995.

Hardcover. $20.00.

Shakespeare\'s Macbeth Image

Garry Wills

This colorful and surprising look at one of the world's best-known dramas draws on the author's knowledge of the intrigue and drama of Jacobean England. By returning Macbeth to the context of its own time, Wills recreates the burning theological and political crises of Shakespeare's era, transforming the play into the struggle for the soul of a nation.

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223 pages, includes appendixes, notes and indexes. Published by Oxford University Press, 1995.

Melinda Corey and George Ochoa

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240 pages. Published by Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 1994.

Robert Hughes

Based on a series of lectures given by the author, under the auspices of The New York Public Library and Oxford University Press. Hughes delivers a withering polemic aimed at the heart of recent American politics and culture.

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210 pages. Published by Oxford University Press, 1993.

Eleanor and Ralph Graves

An elegant look at twenty of the fund-raising dinners given in 1991 to benefit the Library. Lavishly illustrated with full-color food photography and party snapshots. Essays by Brendan Gill, Barbara Goldsmith, and Calvin Trillin.

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182 pages, Color and b/w photographs throughout. Published by Crown, 1993.

Hennig Cohen and Donald Yannella

A scholarly analysis of Melville's letter to his brother on the birth of his son, Malcolm.

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260 pages, b/w illustrations. Published by Fordham University Press, 1992.

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