Amanda Palmer is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and performance artist. Born in 1976 in New York City, Palmer developed a love for music and art at an early age. She began playing piano at age five and went on to study classical piano, theater, and modern dance in her youth.
In her teenage years, Palmer began writing her own songs. She went on to attend Wesleyan University in Connecticut, where she further honed her songwriting skills and earned a degree in theater. After college, she joined the Boston-based street performance duo The Dresden Dolls.
The Dresden Dolls soon gained a cult following and released two albums, The Dresden Dolls (2003) and Yes, Virginia (2006). The duo toured extensively, performing at music festivals, theaters, and clubs around the world. After the duo separated, Palmer embarked on a solo career.
Her debut solo album, Who Killed Amanda Palmer, was released in 2008 to critical acclaim. The album featured a variety of musical styles, from piano-driven rock to cabaret-style ballads. Palmer's songs often explore personal and political topics, such as death, love, loss, and gender.
In 2012, Palmer released her second solo album, Theatre Is Evil, which was produced by John Congleton. The album was a commercial success and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package. She followed it up with two more albums: There Will Be No Intermission (2019) and A Collection of Poems You Can’t Unread (2020).
In addition to her musical career, Palmer is also an accomplished writer. She has written two books, The Art of Asking (2014) and The Bedroom Tour (2020), which explore the power of human connection and the importance of asking for help. She has also written a number of essays and articles.
Outside of her music and writing, Palmer is an outspoken advocate for the rights of artists. She has been a vocal opponent of record labels and streaming services, which have been accused of taking advantage of musicians. She is a strong supporter of independent artists and has encouraged performers to take control of their own careers.
Amanda Palmer is an incredibly talented and inspiring artist. She is a gifted musician, songwriter, and writer, and her commitment to social justice and the rights of independent musicians is admirable. Her music, books, and advocacy have made a real impact on the world, and she is an inspiration to many.

Amanda

Andrew Sarris (October 31, 1928 – June 20, 2012) was an American film critic. He was a leading proponent of the auteur theory of film criticism. Sarris was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Greek immigrant parents, Themis (née Katavolos) and George Andrew Sarris, and grew up in Ozone Park, Queens.&nbsp;
After attending John Adams High School in South Ozone Park (where he overlapped with Jimmy Breslin), he graduated from Columbia University in 1951. Then he served for three years in the Army Signal Corps before moving to Paris for a year, where he became a friend of Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut. Upon returning to New York's Lower East Side, Sarris briefly pursued graduate studies at his alma mater and Teachers College, Columbia University, before turning to film criticism as a vocation.
After initially writing for Film Culture, he moved to The Village Voice, where his first piece—a laudatory review of Psycho—was published in 1960. Later he remembered, "The Voice had all these readers—little old ladies who lived on the West Side, guys who had fought in the Spanish Civil War—and this seemed so regressive to them, to say that Hitchcock was a great artist." Around this time, he returned to Paris, where he was present at the premiere of French New Wave films such as Truffaut's Shoot the Piano Player (1960) and Godard's A Woman Is a Woman (1961).&nbsp;
The experience expanded his view of film criticism: "To show you the dividing line in my thinking, when I made a Top Ten list for the Voice in 1958, I had a Stanley Kramer film on the list, and I left off both Vertigo and Touch of Evil". He wrote film criticism regularly until 2009 for The New York Observer. He was a film professor at Columbia University (where he earned an M.A. in English in 1998), teaching courses in international film history, American cinema, and Alfred Hitchcock until his retirement in 2011.&nbsp;
Sarris was a co-founder of the National Society of Film Critics. Sarris is generally credited with popularizing the auteur theory in the United States and coining the term in his 1962 essay, "Notes on the Auteur Theory," which critics writing in Cahiers du Cinéma had inspired. Sarris wrote the highly influential book The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 (1968), an opinionated assessment of films of the sound era organized by the director.&nbsp;
The book would influence many other critics and help raise awareness of the role of the film director and, in particular, of the auteur theory. In The American Cinema, Sarris lists what he termed the "pantheon" of the 14 greatest film directors who had worked in the United States: the Americans Robert Flaherty, John Ford, D. W. Griffith, Howard Hawks, Buster Keaton, and Orson Welles; the Germans/Austrians Fritz Lang, Ernst Lubitsch, F. W. Murnau, Max Ophüls, and Josef von Sternberg; the British Charles Chaplin and Alfred Hitchcock; and the French Jean Renoir.&nbsp;
He also identified second—and third—tier directors, downplaying the work of Billy Wilder, David Lean, and Stanley Kubrick, among others. In his 1998 book You Ain't Heard Nothing Yet: The American Talking Film, History and Memory 1927–1949, Sarris upgraded the status of Billy Wilder to the pantheon level and apologized for his earlier harsh assessment in The American Cinema.
He wrote for both NY Film Bulletin and The Village Voice for many years. During this part of his career, he was often seen as a rival to The New Yorker's Pauline Kael, who had originally attacked the auteur theory in her essay "Circles and Squares." Speaking of his long-time critical feuds with Kael, Sarris says, oddly, "We made each other. We established a dialectic."

Andrew

Maria Popova is a writer, entrepreneur, and cultural critic known for her work as the founder and editor of the popular website Brain Pickings. Brain Pickings is an eclectic website that features interesting and thought-provoking articles, essays, and books on a wide range of topics, including literature, philosophy, science, and art. Popova began Brain Pickings as a personal project in 2006, and it quickly gained a large following. Today, the site receives millions of visitors each month and has been praised for its unique perspective and curatorial approach.
Popova has also written for a number of publications, including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Wired. In addition, she has been a speaker at various conferences and events, discussing topics such as creativity, productivity, and the intersection of technology and culture. Popova has also been honored with several awards for her work, including the Webby Award for Best Cultural Blog and the National Endowment for the Arts NEA Arts Journalism Institute in Creative Writing.
In addition to her work on Brain Pickings, Popova is also the author of "Figuring" which is a book that explores the lives and works of some of the most fascinating and accomplished figures of the last four centuries, from Jane Austen and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe to Marie Curie and Martin Luther King Jr.
Popova continues to write, curate, and publish her works on her website and in various publications, making her an influencer in literature and culture.

Maria

David Byrne is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American new wave band Talking Heads.
Byrne has released solo recordings and worked with various media, including film, photography, opera, fiction, and non-fiction. He has received an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, a Tony Award, and a Golden Globe Award, and he is an inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as part of Talking Heads.
Byrne graduated from Lansdowne High School in southwest Baltimore County. He started his musical career in a high school band called Revelation, then between 1971 and 1972, he was one half of a duo named Bizadi with Marc Kehoe. Their repertoire mainly consisted of songs such as "April Showers," "96 Tears", "Dancing on the Ceiling," and Frank Sinatra songs. Before dropping out, Byrne attended the Rhode Island School of Design and the Maryland Institute College of Art.
He returned to Providence in 1973 and formed a band called the Artistics with fellow RISD student Chris Frantz. The band dissolved in 1974. Byrne moved to New York City in May of that year, and in September that year, Frantz and his girlfriend Tina Weymouth followed suit. After Byrne and Frantz could not find a bass player in New York for nearly two years, Weymouth learned to play the bass guitar. While working day jobs in late 1974, they were contemplating a band.
By January 1975, they practiced and played together while still working regular day jobs. They founded the band Talking Heads and had their first gig in June. Byrne quit his day job in May 1976, and the three-piece band signed to Sire Records in November. Byrne was the youngest member of the band. Multi-instrumentalist Jerry Harrison, previously of The Modern Lovers, joined the band in 1977. The band released eight studio albums to great critical acclaim and commercial success. Four albums achieved gold status (500K sales), and two others were certified double-platinum (2 million in sales). The Talking Heads were pioneers of the new wave music scene in the late '70s / early '80s, with famous and creative music videos on the fledgling MTV network.
In 1981, Byrne partnered with choreographer Twyla Tharp, scoring music he wrote on his album The Catherine Wheel for a ballet with the same name, prominently featuring unusual rhythms and lyrics. Productions of The Catherine Wheel appeared on Broadway that same year.
He was chiefly responsible for the stage design and choreography of the concert film Stop Making Sense. Byrne wrote the Dirty Dozen Brass Band-inspired score Music for "The Knee Plays," released in 1985, for Robert Wilson's vast five-act opera The Civil Wars: A Tree Is Best Measured When It Is Down. He wrote, directed, and starred in True Stories, a musical collage of discordant Americana, and produced most of the film's music. He was impressed by the experimental theatre he saw in New York City in the 1970s and collaborated with several of its best-known representatives.
He worked with Robert Wilson on "The Knee Plays" and "The Forest" and invited Spalding Gray (of The Wooster Group) to act in True Stories, while Meredith Monk provided a small part of that film's soundtrack. In addition, the musician provided a soundtrack for JoAnne Akalaitis' film Dead End Kids, made after a Mabou Mines theatre production. Byrne's artistic outlook has a great deal in common with the work of these artists. The same year, he added "Loco de Amor" with Celia Cruz to Jonathan Demme's film Something Wild.
His work has been extensively used in film soundtracks, most notably in collaboration with Ryuichi Sakamoto and Cong Su on Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which won an Academy Award for Best Original Score.

David

Scott Beekman is visiting assistant professor of history at Ohio University. He lives in Athens, Ohio, with his wife, historian Kimberly K. Little, and son, Miller.

Scott

Stephen King is an American author known for his horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy novels. He was born in Portland, Maine, in 1947 and began writing at a young age. He published his first novel, "Carrie," in 1974, which was a success and later adapted into a film. He has since published over 60 novels and 200 short stories, many of which have been adapted into movies, television shows, and comic books. Some of his most famous works include "The Shining," "It," "Salem's Lot," "The Stand," and "Misery."&nbsp;
Stephen King began his career as a writer in the early 1970s while working as a teacher. His first short story, "The Glass Floor," was published in 1967. However, his first novel, "Carrie," was not published until 1974. Nevertheless, it was a success and was adapted into a film in 1976. This success encouraged him to continue writing and publishing novels. In the 1970s and 1980s, he published a string of successful horror and supernatural stories, including "Salem's Lot," "The Shining," "The Stand," "Firestarter," "Pet Sematary," "It," and "Misery."
His novels have been adapted into films, television shows, and comic books. Some of the most famous adaptations of his work include the movie "Carrie," "The Shining," "Stand by Me," "Misery," "The Shawshank Redemption," and "It." He also wrote several non-fiction books and short story collections.
In recent years, he has continued to publish novels, including "Doctor Sleep," "Under the Dome," "Joyland" and "Revival." He is considered one of his generation's most successful and famous authors and has sold over 350 million copies of his books worldwide.

Stephen

Noam Chomsky is an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, and political activist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential intellectuals of the second half of the 20th century and one of the leading figures in linguistics. He is the author of more than 100 books on linguistics, war and politics, and mass media.
Chomsky is best known for his theory of generative grammar, which argues that the ability to learn and use language is innate and hardwired into the human brain. This theory has significantly impacted linguistics and influenced research in other fields, such as cognitive science and neuroscience.
In addition to his linguistics work, Chomsky is known for his political activism and critiques of U.S. foreign policy and capitalism. He has strongly criticized U.S. imperialism, U.S. interventions in Latin America, and U.S. support for authoritarian regimes. He has also written and spoken extensively about the role of the mass media in shaping public opinion and serving the interests of the powerful. In addition, Chomsky has advocated freedom of speech and democracy.
He is also known for criticizing the mainstream media and its role in shaping public opinion. He argues that the mainstream media serves the interests of the powerful rather than providing citizens with the information they need to make informed decisions about general issues. He has advocated for alternative media and independent journalism beholden to corporate or government interests.
Chomsky has significantly influenced the political left and peace and social justice movements. He has been described as "arguably the most important intellectual alive" by the New York Times and continues to be a prominent public intellectual and influential voice in political discourse.
In his political activism, Chomsky has been a vocal advocate for freedom of speech and democracy. He has advocated for alternative media and independent journalism not beholden to corporate or government interests. Chomsky has been critical of the mainstream media's role in shaping public opinion and often criticized the role of media in manufacturing consent.
Chomsky has been influential on the political left and has impacted various social movements and progressive causes. He advocates for workers' rights and has spoken out against poverty, inequality, and the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few. He has also been a vocal critic of the influence of corporate governance on politics and the democratic process.
He is also an advocate for peace and is a strong critic of U.S. military interventions and wars, arguing that these actions often result in the loss of lives and civil liberties, as well as hindering the progress of democracy around the world. Chomsky has also been a vocal critic of the War on Terror, arguing that the "war" has been used to justify a wide range of human rights abuses and has hindered the progress of democracy worldwide.
In summary, Chomsky is an influential voice in political discourse, and his activism and writing often focus on democracy, human rights, and media manipulation. He is a strong advocate for social and political change, and his work continues to inspire and inform many progressive political movements.

Noam

Kliph Nesteroff is a best-selling author regarded for his vast knowledge of show business. Vice Magazine called him "The Human Encyclopedia of Comedy," and Los Angeles Magazine profiled him as "The King of Comedy Lore." The New York Times has deemed some of his theories "provocative," while Vanity Fair calls his work "essential." Nesteroff was included on LA Weekly's Best of Los Angeles list in 2016 and was dubbed the "premier popular historian of comedy" by the New York Times in 2021.
After eight years as a stand-up comedian, Nesteroff became a frequent contributor to WFMU and a national, on-air contributor for CBC Radio One. For several years he moderated Classic Television Showbiz, a website devoted to classic show business and comedians. The A.V. Club referred to Nesteroff as their "favorite pop culture historian." He is perhaps best known for his several appearances on Gilbert Gottfried's Amazing Colossal Podcast and his five appearances on WTF with Marc Maron. Maron was the executive producer of Nesteroff's limited-series Earwolf podcast Classic Showbiz.
In the year 2022, Nesteroff appeared in the Judd Apatow documentary George Carlin's American Dream on HBO, W. Kamau Bell's We Need to Talk About Cosby on Showtime, Kevin Hart's Right to Offend on A&amp;E, and The Dark Side of Comedy on Vice TV. He currently serves as a consultant on Rob Reiner's forthcoming documentary about Albert Brooks.
Nesteroff is from South Slocan, British Columbia. He was expelled from high school for giving a speech exposing "salacious dirty laundry" about the teachers, and within a year, he moved to Toronto to take a sitcom writing class. Grove Press released Nesteroff's first book, The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrels and the History of American Comedy, on November 3, 2015, to uniformly positive reviews. It was selected as a book of the year by several papers, including LA Weekly, The Los Angeles Times, and the National Post.
Merrill Markoe wrote in the Wall Street Journal, "I thought I knew a lot about the history of American comedy. But this book located gaps in my knowledge I never knew were there and filled them with jaw-dropping anecdotes that made my eyes spin in different directions. For comedy completists and comedians alike, this book is a real treat." The Washington Post said of Nesteroff, "He writes with insider perception but never seems to be either whitewashing or trashing any of this outrageous cast.&nbsp;
Like a biblical epic, The Comedians seems to have a cast of thousands. One act barely somersaults offstage before Nesteroff leads on the next. The anecdotes are memorable and often hilarious ... With his encyclopedic knowledge, talent for vivid anecdotes, and tireless gusto, he drives this busload of rowdy clowns into the 21st century." The Onion's AV Club stated, "Nesteroff is intent on giving the beautiful losers of comedy their due. The Comedians [is] an astonishingly assured and compulsively readable exploration of an impossibly vast topic." The New York Times book review said, "The way he traces ... the evolution of comedy is fascinating ... Through his elegiac attention, these forgotten comedians become almost romantic figures, the stars of a secret history of laughter."

Kliph

Toby Lester is a writer and editor. He is the author of two best-selling books of popular history, Da Vinci's Ghost (2012) and The Fourth Part of the World (2009). He has written extensively for national publications, among them The Atlantic, Smithsonian, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, The American Scholar, The Wilson Quarterly, BBC Magazine, and the London Times. His writing has also been included in several anthologies, including the New Literary History of America (2009).&nbsp;
Lester today works primarily as an editor. He serves part-time as a senior editor for Harvard Business Review but also regularly edits books and articles as a freelancer. Recent books he has worked on include T, by Carole Hooven (2021); Fevers, Feuds, and Diamonds, by Paul Farmer (2020); The Shadow Drawing, by Francesca Fiorani (2020); The Age of Living Machines, by Susan Hockfield (2019); In Hoffa's Shadow, by Jack Goldsmith (2019); The Happiness Curve, by Jonathan Rauch (2018); The Founder's Mentality, by Chris Zuk and James Allen (2016); and Our Kids, by Robert Putnam (2016). Lester also periodically teaches editing at Boston College and has served as a thesis advisor for MIT's graduate science journalism program.
Between 1995 and 2006, Lester worked for The Atlantic in a variety of editorial capacities: as a staff editor, as the executive editor of the website, as a senior editor, and as the managing editor. He has also served as the editorial director of Boston (2012-2013), the editor of Country Journal (2000-2001), and the executive editor of DoubleTake (1999-2000).&nbsp;
Prior to 1995, Lester worked in international relief and development. From 1992 to 1994, he monitored intifada-related activity in the West Bank as a UN refugee-affairs officer; from 1990 to 1992, he helped establish Peace Corps programs in eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union; and from 1988 to 1990, he taught English in Yemen as a Peace Corps volunteer. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1987 with degrees in English and French and now lives in the Boston area with his wife and three daughters.
Lester comes from a family of writers. His father, James Lester, was a member of the first successful American Everest expedition and is the author of Too Marvelous for Words (1994), the only biography of the jazz pianist Art Tatum. His mother, Valerie Lester, is the author of, among other works, Giambattista Bodoni: His Life and His World (2015); Phiz: The Man Who Drew Dickens (2004), a biography of her great-great-grandfather, Hablot Knight Browne, who was Charles Dickens’s principal illustrator; and Fasten Your Seat Belts: History and Heroism in the Pan Am Cabin (1995). His one sibling, Alison Jean Lester, is the author of the novels Yuki Means Happiness (2017) and Lillian on Life (2015) and the short-story collection Locked Out: Stories Far from Home (2006).&nbsp;

Toby

Winston Churchill was a British statesman and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 and again from 1951 to 1955. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest wartime leaders of the 20th century, leading Britain through its darkest hour during World War II.
Churchill was born in 1874 and was educated at Harrow and Sandhurst. He began his career in the British Army and later transitioned into politics, serving as a Member of Parliament for over 60 years. He held several government positions throughout his career, including as the First Lord of the Admiralty, Minister of Munitions, and Secretary of State for War.
During World War II, Churchill served as Prime Minister and played a key role in leading Britain through the war. He made powerful speeches that rallied the nation and inspired the British people to keep fighting, even in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. His speeches are widely considered to be some of the greatest in history, with phrases such as "Never give in, never give in, never, never, never" and "We shall fight on the beaches" becoming famous.
One of Churchill's greatest achievements as Prime Minister was his strong alliance with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Together, they led the Allied powers to victory over Nazi Germany.
After World War II, Churchill served as Prime Minister again from 1951 to 1955 but was defeated in the general election. He remained an active Member of Parliament until 1964 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1953 for his six-volume memoir of the war. He died in 1965 at the age of 90.
Churchill's legacy continues to this day, with many seeing him as a symbol of leadership, courage, and determination in the face of adversity. He is often ranked as one of the greatest British Prime Ministers, and his speeches are still studied and admired by people all over the world.
Winston Churchill was a prolific writer throughout his life, publishing books on a wide range of subjects. One of his most notable literary achievements is his six-volume memoir, The Second World War, which he wrote during and after the war. The work, which was published between 1948 and 1954, provides a detailed and personal account of the war from Churchill's perspective, including his thoughts and decisions as Prime Minister. The memoirs were international bestsellers and were praised for their historical accuracy and Churchill's literary skill.
In addition to his memoirs, Churchill also wrote several other books throughout his life. Some of his most notable works include:
<ul>
<li>"The World Crisis" (1923-1931): A five-volume work that covers the period of Churchill's life from 1911 to 1928 and includes his thoughts on World War I and its aftermath.</li>
<li>"My Early Life" (1930): An autobiographical work that covers Churchill's childhood and early career.</li>
<li>"A History of the English-Speaking Peoples" (1956-1958): A four-volume work that covers the history of the English-speaking peoples from the Anglo-Saxon period to the end of the 19th century.</li>
<li>"Painting as a Pastime" (1948): A book in which Churchill reflects on his hobby of painting and its therapeutic effects.</li>
</ul>
Churchill's books have been widely read and praised for their historical accuracy and literary merit. They provide valuable insights into the mind of one of the most important figures of the 20th century and continue to be studied and admired today.

Winston

Mahatma Gandhi, also known as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, was a political and spiritual leader of India who was the primary leader of India's non-violent, non-cooperative independence movement against British colonial rule. He was born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, a coastal town in present-day Gujarat, India.
Gandhi was educated in Britain, where he studied law and became a barrister. After returning to India, he struggled to establish a successful law practice but eventually found work with an Indian firm in South Africa. It was during his time in South Africa that Gandhi first began to develop his philosophy of non-violent resistance, which would later become the cornerstone of his political and spiritual beliefs.
In 1915, Gandhi returned to India and quickly became involved in the Indian independence movement. He led nationwide campaigns for various social causes and for achieving Swaraj or self-rule. He became a major leader of the Indian National Congress and was at the forefront of the Non-Cooperation Movement and the Salt Satyagraha. He was arrested many times by the British government for his activities and spent a total of over 7 years in prison.
Gandhi's philosophy of non-violence and civil disobedience was deeply influenced by his Hindu and Jain spiritual beliefs, as well as the teachings of Jesus, Buddha, and other religious figures. He believed that non-violence was the only way to achieve political and social change, and he encouraged his followers to use non-violent means to resist British rule. He also advocated for the abolition of caste discrimination, the upliftment of the untouchables, the promotion of Hindu-Muslim unity, and the end of poverty.
Gandhi's philosophy and tactics of non-violence and civil disobedience had a profound impact on the Indian independence movement and on the world at large. His ideas influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela, and his legacy continues to inspire people around the world to this day. He was assassinated on January 30, 1948, by a Hindu nationalist who opposed his policies of non-violence and religious tolerance.
In India, Gandhi is widely considered to be the Father of the Nation, and his birthday, October 2nd, is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti, a national holiday. He is also remembered and celebrated globally as an icon of non-violent resistance and civil rights. His teachings and life philosophy still continue to inspire many people around the world to fight for their rights and freedom peacefully.
In addition to his political activities, Gandhi was also a writer and journalist. He wrote extensively on a wide range of topics, including politics, religion, social issues, and his own personal thoughts and experiences. He wrote several books, including "An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth" and "Hind Swaraj," which is considered a classic of Indian political thought. He also edited several newspapers, including "Young India" and "Harijan." Through his writing, Gandhi was able to reach a wide audience and spread his message of non-violence, civil disobedience, and social reform.
Gandhi's life and work were not without controversy. While many people admired him and followed his philosophy, others criticized him for being too moderate and for not doing enough to end British rule. He also faced criticism from some members of India's Muslim community for not doing more to protect their rights and interests. In addition, his stance on caste and his criticism of traditional Hindu practices such as Untouchability also faced criticism from some sections of society.
Despite this, Gandhi's legacy continues to inspire people around the world. He is remembered for his commitment to non-violence, his belief in the power of ordinary people to bring about change, and his willingness to stand up for what he believed in, even in the face of adversity. His ideas and tactics have been used in civil rights and freedom movements around the world, and his life and work continue to be studied and admired by people of all ages and backgrounds.

Mahatma

Michael David Keighley Baxandall, FBA (18 August 1933 – 12 August 2008) was a British art historian and a professor emeritus of Art History at the University of California, Berkeley. He taught at the Warburg Institute, University of London, and worked as a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum. His book Painting and Experience in Fifteenth-Century Italy was profoundly influential in the social history of art and is (2018) widely used as a textbook in college courses.
Baxandall was born in Cardiff, the only son of David Baxandall, a curator who was the one-time director of the National Gallery of Scotland. He went to Manchester Grammar School and studied English at Downing College, Cambridge, where he was taught by F. R. Leavis. In 1955 he departed for the Continent. He spent a year at Pavia University (1955–56), then taught at an international school in St. Gallen in Switzerland (1956–57), and finally went to Munich to hear the art historian Hans Sedlmayr and where he worked with Ludwig Heinrich Heydenreich on the court of Urbino at the Zentralinstitut für Kunstgeschichte.&nbsp;
On his return to London in 1958, he began a long association with the Warburg Institute, initially working in the photographic collection, where he met Kay Simon, whom he married in 1963. From 1959 to 1961, he was a junior fellow, working on his never-completed Ph.D., Restraint in Renaissance behavior, under Ernst Gombrich. From 1961, he was Assistant Keeper in the Department of Architecture and Sculpture at the Victoria and Albert Museum, returning to the Warburg Institute in 1965 as a lecturer in Renaissance Studies.&nbsp;
He was appointed to a chair by the University of London in 1981 but increasingly spent his time in the United States. He was A. D. White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University and became a half-time Professor of the History of Art at the University of California, Berkeley, in 1987. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1991. He was Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford from 1974–75.
His book Giotto and the Orators was published in 1971. This was followed in 1972 by Painting and Experience in Fifteenth Century Italy, now considered a classic of art history, in which he developed the influential concept of the period eye. These were followed by The Limewood Sculptors of Renaissance Germany (1980), Patterns of Intention (1985), Tiepolo and the Pictorial Intelligence (1994, with Svetlana Alpers), Shadows and Enlightenment (1994), and Words for Pictures (2003).&nbsp;
In all his work, Baxandall was concerned with illuminating artworks by a thorough exploration of the conditions of their production – intellectual, social, and physical. In Limewood Sculptors, this took the form of using "carvings as lenses bearing on their own circumstances." Despite his impact on "social" art history, Baxandall often retreated from Marxist or overly "contextual" approaches. At one point, he declared that he was just "trying to do Roger Fry...in a different way," and he often cited the impact of Heinrich Wölfflin's book Classic Art.
Baxandall died in London from pneumonia associated with Parkinson's Disease. His concept of the period eye has continued to gain importance since his death.

Michael

Henry W. Simon (1901–70) was an author, editor, educator, and music critic and served as chairman of the Music Critics Circle of New York. His other books include the Pocket Treasury of Great Operas and The Victor Book of the Opera.

Henry

Daniel Pink is an award-winning author and speaker whose books on business and professional success have sold millions of copies in dozens of countries and been translated into over 35 languages. His latest book, When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing, a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, is a deep dive into the science of timing.
Pink has written six books, including four New York Times bestsellers. His first book, Free Agent Nation, set off a national debate on the changing nature of work and was praised by former U.S. President Bill Clinton and Harvard Business School professor Michael Porter. His second book, A Whole New Mind, predicted the rise of right-brain thinking in the workplace and spent six months on the New York Times bestseller list.&nbsp;
His third book, Drive, a No. 1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller, explored the science of motivation and revealed the surprising truth about what really drives us to succeed. His fourth book, To Sell is Human, looked at the changing nature of sales, and was named one of the best books of the year by Amazon, Apple, and the Financial Times. His fifth book, When, is a deep dive into the science of timing.&nbsp;
As well as writing books, Pink is a leading business speaker and consultant. He has been described by the American Management Association as “one of the most influential business thinkers in the world,” and millions of people around the world have watched his talks. He has advised a range of leading organizations, including the United States and British governments, Microsoft, Pixar, and the NFL.&nbsp;
Pink has also been a contributing editor at Wired, a columnist for the Sunday Telegraph, and a frequent commentator on National Public Radio. He was a top-ranking student at Northwestern University, where he won a Goldman Sachs Global Leadership Award, and he holds a degree in philosophy from Yale University.&nbsp;
Pink’s books have been praised by a wide range of business, academic, and political leaders. Former U.S. President Barack Obama said of Pink’s book Drive, “It’s a book that every leader in America should read.”&nbsp;
Daniel Pink’s books, talks, and consulting services have inspired millions of people around the world. He is widely recognized as one of the leading authorities on business, motivation, and success.

Daniel

Jerome B. Agel is the author of The U.S. Constitution for Everyone; The U.S. Declaration of Independence for Everyone; We, the People; The Making of Kubrick’s 2001; Fasting; and many more. Agel was a graduate of the University of Vermont and Columbia School of Journalism. Agel died in 2007.

Jerome

Jessica Hische is a graphic designer, illustrator, and author based in San Francisco. She is best known for her hand lettering, typography, and illustration work in the design and advertising industry.
Hische began her career as a freelance designer in 2005, working with various clients on various design projects. She quickly gained recognition for her unique and elegant hand lettering style, and her work began to be featured in publications such as Communication Arts, Print, and HOW magazine.
In addition to her design work, Hische is also an accomplished author. She has written several books on design and typography, including "In Progress: See Inside a Lettering Artist's Sketchbook and Process, from Pencil to Vector" and "Tomorrow I'll Be Brave." Both books offer a glimpse into Hische's creative process and provide valuable insights and tips for designers and illustrators.
Hische has also been a guest speaker at several design conferences and events, sharing her knowledge and experience with other designers and creative professionals. She is also known for her "Daily Drop Cap" project, a series of illustrated letters she created and shared daily on her website.
Overall, Jessica Hische is a highly respected and accomplished designer, illustrator, and author, known for her beautiful hand lettering and typography work. Her unique style, attention to detail, and dedication to her craft have earned her a reputation as one of the industry's most talented and influential designers.

Jessica

Charlotte

The Past From Above features aerial photographs of 250 of the world's most notable archaeological sites. The photographer, Georg Gerster, has been documenting historic sites from the air for more than fifty years. In this collection, he covers a wide range of subjects, including the Karnak temple complex in Egypt, the Great Wall of China, the Acropolis in Athens, and the Aztec palaces in Mexico.&nbsp;
Gerster's photographs are technological wonders in and of themselves, often shot in difficult settings, but they also serve as a visual history of humanity stretching back to the dawn of civilization. Charlotte Trumpler introduces the photographs with an introduction to the relevance of aerial photography in archaeological research. ‍&nbsp;

Stewart Brand is an American writer best known as the editor of the Whole Earth Catalog. He founded several organizations, including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation. He is the author of several books, most recently Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto.
Brand was born in Rockford, Illinois, and attended Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire. He studied biology at Stanford University, graduating in 1960. As a soldier in the U.S. Army, he was a parachutist and taught infantry skills; he later expressed that his military experience had fostered his competence in organizing. A civilian again in 1962, he studied design at San Francisco Art Institute, photography at San Francisco State College, and participated in a legitimate scientific study of then-legal LSD in Menlo Park, California. In 1966, he married mathematician Lois Jennings, an Ottawa Native American.
Brand has lived in California since the 1960s. He and his second wife live on Mirene, a 64-foot (20 m)-long working tugboat. Built-in 1912, the boat is moored in a former shipyard in Sausalito, California. In addition, he works in Mary Heartline, a grounded fishing boat about 100 yards (90 meters) away. One of his favorite items is a table on which Otis Redding is said to have written "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay." (Brand acquired it from an antique dealer in Sausalito.)
By the mid-1960s, Brand became associated with New York multimedia group USCO and Bay Area author Ken Kesey and his "Merry Pranksters." Brand co-produced the Trips Festival, an early effort involving rock music and light shows, in San Francisco with Kesey and Ramón Sender Barayón. This was one of the first venues at which the Grateful Dead performed in San Francisco. About 10,000 hippies attended, and Haight-Ashbury soon emerged as a community. Tom Wolfe describes Brand in his 1968 book, The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test.
The Whole Earth Catalog implied an ideal of human progress that depended on decentralized, personal, and liberating technological development—so‑called "soft technology." However, in 2005 he criticized aspects of the international environmental ideology he had helped to develop. He wrote an article called "Environmental Heresies" in the May 2005 issue of the MIT Technology Review, in which he describes what he considers necessary changes to environmentalism. He suggested, among other things, that environmentalists embrace nuclear power and genetically modified organisms as technologies with more promise than risk.
Brand later developed these ideas into a book and published the Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto in 2009. The book examines how urbanization, nuclear power, genetic engineering, geoengineering, and wildlife restoration can be powerful tools in humanity's ongoing fight against global warming. In a 2019 interview, Brand described his perspective as "post-libertarian," indicating that when the Whole Earth Catalog was being written, he did not fully understand the significance of the government's role in developing technology and engineering. In his environmental position, he self-describes as an "Eco-pragmatist."

Stewart

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In 'The Past From Above', Charlotte Trumpler introduces us to the fascinating world of aerial archaeology. She shows us how aerial views can reveal hidden archaeological sites and provide unique perspectives on known ones. It's like a treasure hunt from the sky!

Aerial Archaeology

The book offers a wealth of historical insights. Trumpler takes us on a journey through time, exploring ancient civilizations from the air. From the Roman Empire to the Mayan ruins, you'll see history from a whole new angle.

Historical Insights

Trumpler highlights the role of technology in archaeology. She shows how advancements in aerial photography and satellite imaging have revolutionized the field, allowing us to uncover secrets of the past that were previously inaccessible.

Technological Advancements

The author emphasizes the impact of aerial archaeology on the modern field. She explains how it has not only expanded our understanding of history but also changed the way archaeological research is conducted. It's a game-changer!

Impact on Modern Archaeology

One of the most engaging aspects of 'The Past From Above' is its visual appeal. Trumpler presents stunning aerial photographs that bring the past to life. It's not just a book, it's a visual journey through time.

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