Category Archives: History

Jul 29 2014
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Books, History, Photography

WWI in Photos

The many ways photography became a factor in first “great war”

The Great War

The Great War—The Persuasive Power of Photography

Edited By Ann Thomas / Text by Ann Thomas & Anthony Petiteau

Hardcover, 142 pages $45 (Abrams)

 

The first “great war” was a turning point for many things, and one of them was the use of photography, as both and Allied forces and their enemies employed the technology to spy, strategize, communicate, commemorate, manipulate, stir up public support for the cause, and record events for posterity. This collection of images, along with a well-researched historical narrative about the many ways photography factored into both sides of the conflict, both on the battlefields and at home, is a fascinating look at how “media” shaped the world’s perception of events long before 24-hour news came along.

 

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Jul 22 2014
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DVDs, History

War All Over

A round-up of HISTORY programs commemorates WWI centennial

100 Years of WWI100 Years of World War I

DVD $14.98 (Lionsgate Home Entertainment)

The first “war of mass destruction,” harnessing new powers of weaponry, technology and telecommunications in ways that had never been done—or seen—before, left 15 million dead, 20 million injured and changed the world’s perception of battle forever. Packaging together four HISTORY channel programs, including a new multi-part mini-series, this comprehensive roundup commemorates the centennial of America’s game-changing entry into global warfare with more than five hours of expert interviews, info gleaned from eyewitness accounts and high-tech re-creations.

 

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Jul 18 2014
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History, Movies

Rain Man

Russell Crowe stars in Biblical flood epic with splashes of sci-fi

NoahNoah

Blu-ray $39.99, DVD $29.99 (Paramount Home Media)

 

Russell Crowe stars as the Old Testament’s most famous survivalist in director Darren Aronofsky’s dazzling, big-screen adaptation of the Biblical flood epic, which deviates a bit from anything you might have studied in Sunday School—unless I somehow missed the Sundays we talked the giant talking rock angels. But it’s quite an eye-popping spectacle of drama, special effects and storytelling in its own right, and it offers plenty of food for thought. Extras include behind-the-scenes featurettes, including an on-location look at filming in Iceland, and creating the movie’s thematic centerpiece—the colossal arc—inside and out.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Jul 10 2014
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DVDs, History, Humor, Pop Culture, Television

Red, White & Snoopy

Charlie Brown & Co. reanimate American history highlights

This Is America, Charlie Brown

This is America, Charlie Brown

DVD, $26.99 (Warner Bros. Home Entertainment)

Originally airing in 1988 as an eight-part CBS miniseries, this delightful animated roundup of recently remastered 24-minute TV specials features a crash course in American history as Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus and the rest of the beloved Peanuts gang sail on the Mayflower, discuss the U.S. Constitution, watch the Wright brothers take wing at Kitty Hawk, dream of space travel, meet several presidents, explore the roots of American music and its composers, and bring other red, white and blue milestones to educational and entertaining cartoon life.

 

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Jul 03 2014
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Books, History, Pop Culture

Commercial Appeal

Long-ago ads reveal America during changing times

All American Ads of the 40s

All-American Ads of the 40s

By Jim Heimann & W.R. Wilkerson III

Hardcover, 704 pages

$39.99 (Taschen)

 

Packed with thousands of vintage reproductions of products and services of every sort from magazines and catalogs, this lavishly illustrated, oversized volume is a retro-packed museum of the dreams, fads and fears of a nation entering, then emerging from World War II and reveling in a patriotism, pride, prosperity and technological know-how. Sit back, crack it open anywhere, and bask in the long-ago glow of a nation coming to terms with changing times—and feeding, and feeding on, its own growing appetite for commercialism.

 

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Jun 30 2014
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Books, History

Psych Out

A search through the centuries to find out what makes us tick

The Psychology Book

The Psychology Book

By Wade E. Pickren

Hardcover, 528 pages, $29.95 (Sterling Publishing)

 

While this isn’t exactly a breezy summer beach read, it’s also far from the suffocating textbook you might expect when you hear that it’s a “history of psychology.” A bountiful, balanced mixture of text and illustrations, it’s an engrossing, time-lined encyclopedia of 250 milestones in study of human behavior, from ancient practices through contemporary concepts and principles, making them all easy to understand and showing why they’re significant, from prehistoric fortune-telling to modern neuroscience. For science buffs or even armchair browsers, it’s a fascinating core sample into the centuries of searching for answers about what makes us tick.

 

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Jun 13 2014
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Books, History

Cosmic Cowboy

An intimate portrait of America’s most famous astronaut

Neil Armstrong-A Life of Flight

Neil Armstrong: A Life of Flight

By Jay Barbree

Hardcover, 364 pages

$27.99 / Kindle edition $12.74 (July 8, Thomas Dunne Books)

 

Barbree, an Emmy-winning broadcaster and space reporter, was also a longtime friend of America’s most famous astronaut, the first person to walk on the moon. His richly detailed profile of Armstrong, who died in 2012, is timed to coincide with the 45th anniversary of his subject’s historic 1969 mission and covers Armstrong’s life and career with intimacy, humor and heart, from his days as a U.S. Navy pilot through his training for the NASA space program, and ultimately into the commander’s seat of Apollo 11. Space hounds and history buffs will dig it, for sure, but even casual readers will be riveted by its comprehensive portrait of a real-life cosmic cowboy who broke the bonds of Earth and put the first American footprint where it had never been before.

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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Jun 03 2014
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Books, History, Photography

Window on Early America

Vintage color photos reveal nation’s late-1800s beauty

 

An American Odyssey

By Marc Walter & Sabine Arqué

Hardcover, 600 pages (Taschen, $200)

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Yes, it’s pricey, and if it falls on your foot, you’ll know it—it’s one seriously big, heavy book. But it’s also a thing of beauty and wonder: a stunning collection of the first color photographs ever taken of America. Produced between 1988 and 1924 and marketed as picture-postcards by the Detroit Photographic Company, these images capture people, places and goings-on from nearly every state (at that time), in stunning clarity—wide open spaces, packed city streets, cowboys and Indians, miners and mill workers, railroads and rivers—a spectacular, century-old tapestry of the United States that unfurls, page by page, like a lost scroll of some of our nation’s earliest visual treasures.

 

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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May 30 2014
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Books, History, Photography

WWII Crash Course

Time-Life re-intros book line, promises to make ‘instant experts’

World War II in 500 Photographs

Softcover, 272 pages / $17.95 (Time-Life)

World War 2 in 50 Photographs

Marking a re-launch of the venerable Time-Life line that churned out many a bookshelf-filling volume in the 1960s and ’70s, this photo-packed chronicle of the world’s greatest conflict promises to make its audience “instant experts” through a sweeping, comprehensive mix of information and graphics. Timed for release around the 75th anniversary of the onset of WWII—and designed for a new readers accustomed to information packaged in easily digestible bits and bytes—it’s an engrossing encyclopedia of all the major personalities, conflicts and events of the war, including Pearl Harbor, D-Day and Iwo Jima, and also includes numerous stats, timelines and other data-rich features.

 

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

 

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May 22 2014
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DVDs, History, Movies

Clooney & Co.

WWII ‘mission’ movie has a modern-day message

Monuments Men

The Monuments Men

Blu-ray $40.99, DVD $30.99 (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)

 

Co-writer, director and star George Clooney’s tribute to the real-life men and women who put their lives on the line to recover and return the cultural treasures stolen by Nazis during World War II is a rollicking, Hollywood actor-packed mash-up of old-fashioned combat “mission” movie crossed with a modern-day message about the casualties of war that extend far beyond the battlefield. Based on a book of the same name by Robert Edsel and Bret Witter, it comes with behind-the-scenes featurettes on the making of the film, the real Monuments Men, and the cast, which also includes Bill Murray, Matt Damon, John Goodman and Cate Blanchett.

 

—Neil Pond, American Profile Magazine

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