Buy Books: Browse by Season: Spring 2019

Dancing in Blackness is a professional dancer’s personal journey over four decades, across three continents and twenty-three countries, and through defining moments in the story of black dance in America. In this memoir, Halifu Osumare reflects on what blackness and dance have meant to her life and international career.  

Researchers who study ancient human diets tend to focus on meat eating, since the practice of butchery is very apparent in the archaeological record. In this volume, Julie Lesnik brings a different food source into view, tracing evidence that humans and their hominin ancestors also consumed insects throughout the entire course of human evolution.

Unlike countless other catalogues of Islamic art that have organized works of art by region, time period, medium (ink, silk, gold, etc.), or visual subject matter (pattern, figures, etc.), this publication introduces material through the window of the Five Pillars of Islam. Foundational to the life of devout Muslims are the five pillars, called arkan in Arabic. They are the profession of faith (shahada), daily prayers (salat), charity (zakat), ritual fasting for Ramadan (sawm) and pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj). These pillars are illustrated with objects related to their activity. 

From the vast complexities of a world in which synesthesia is our natural translator, Allan Peterson’s poems convey the consistent message that the ordinary isn’t. Selected from books and chapbooks covering almost thirty years of writing, Peterson’s work draws heavily from landscapes like the Gulf Coast, the sciences, history, and the author’s background in visual arts.

Even without the right to vote, members of the United Daughters of the Confederacy proved to have enormous social and political influence throughout the South--all in the name of preserving Confederate culture. Karen L. Cox's history of the UDC, an organization founded in 1894 to vindicate the Confederate generation and honor the Lost Cause, shows why myths surrounding the Confederacy continue to endure. 

America’s wettest state is running out of water. Yes, Florida—with its swamps, lakes, extensive coastlines, and legends of life-giving springs—faces a drinking water crisis that most people don’t see coming. Drying Up is a wake-up call and a hard look at what the future holds for those who call Florida home.            

With many maps, helpful diagrams, and clear explanations, this book is an illuminating and accessible guide to Florida’s dramatic weather and climate.

Marianne Preger-Simon’s story opens amid the explosion of artistic creativity that followed World War II. While immersed in the vibrant arts scene of postwar Paris during a college year abroad, Preger-Simon was so struck by Merce Cunningham’s unconventional dance style that she joined his classes in New York. She soon became an important member of his brand new dance troupe—and a constant friend. 

In this memoir of a roller-coaster career on the New York stage, former actor and dancer Bettijane Sills offers a highly personal look at the art and practice of George Balanchine, one of ballet’s greatest choreographers, and the inner workings of his world-renowned company during its golden years.