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Showing 1 - 20 of 4764 items
Panorama des faits marquants de l'égyptologie depuis le début du XIXe siècle : la découverte des momies royales et de…
la tombe de Toutankhamon, le déchiffrement des hiéroglyphes ou encore le déplacement des obélisques en Europe.
British Museum director profiles one hundred pieces from the institution's collection that trace human history, from a stone chopping tool…
discovered in Tanzania in 1931--and estimated to be one of the first manmade objects--to a solar-powered lamp and charger manufactured in China in 2010. Bestseller. 2010
Relic hunter and naturalist exposes the dark side of archaeology. Discusses the reasons people loot, citing cases of antiquities traffickers,…
immoral museum curators, and wealthy collectors. Argues that taking artifacts separates them from their history. Explains his own low-impact method of exploration. 2010
Renowned activist and public intellectual David Graeber teams up with professor of comparative archaeology David Wengrow to deliver a trailblazing…
account of human history, challenging our most fundamental assumptions about social evolution--from the development of agriculture and cities to the emergence of "the state," political violence, and social inequality--and revealing new possibilities for human emancipation.For generations, our remote ancestors have been cast as primitive and childlike--either free and equal innocents, or thuggish and warlike. Civilization, we are told, could only be achieved by sacrificing those original freedoms, or alternatively, by taming our baser instincts. Graeber and Wengrow show how such theories first emerged in the eighteenth century as a conservative reaction to powerful critiques of European society posed by Indigenous observers and intellectuals. Revisiting this encounter has startling implications for how we make sense of human history today, including the origins of farming, property, cities, democracy, slavery, and civilization itself.Drawing on path-breaking research in archaeology and anthropology, the authors show how history becomes a far more interesting place once we learn to throw off our conceptual shackles and perceive what's really there. If humans did not spend 95% of their evolutionary past in tiny bands of hunter-gatherers, what were they doing all that time? If agriculture, and cities, did not mean a plunge into hierarchy and domination, then what kinds of social and economic organization did they lead to? What was really happening during the periods that we usually describe as the emergence of "the state"? The answers are often unexpected, and suggest that the course of human history may be less set in stone, and more full of playful, hopeful possibilities, than we tend to assume.The Dawn of Everything fundamentally transforms our understanding of the human past and offers a path toward imagining new forms of freedom, new ways of organizing society. This is a monumental book of formidable intellectual range, animated by curiosity, moral vision, and a faith in the power of direct action.
Anthropology professor and author of Cro-Magnon (DB 72886) surveys fifteen thousand years of Native American history and culture in North…
America. Discusses controversies over the first settlement and humans' role in animal extinction. Covers immigration routes and the diversity of hunter-gatherer societies. 2011
Second edition of guidebook suggests strategies to compensate for declining vision. Provides tips for organizing one's home; dealing with financial,…
personal, and legal affairs; and maximizing one's independence. Lists technological devices available and organizations and businesses that offer assistance. 2011
An exploration of the mythos of the Amazons, a tribe of female warriors. Discusses the stories told in many cultures…
about them and the past conclusions that they must have been merely myth. The author, however, uses research and archeological discoveries to demonstrate that they did, in fact, exist. 2018
One of the world's most dangerous volcanoes and capable of destroying entire cities, Vesuvius has fascinated many for over two…
millennia. Scarth draws on research, eyewitness accounts, and other sources to depict the story of this violent volcano from ancient times until the early twenty-first century. 2009
Examination of those who choose a career in the field of archaeology--the study of the material remains of culture. Discusses…
the ways in which people are drawn into the field--such as a love of Indiana Jones--challenges archaeologists face in the twenty-first century, and day-to-day lives of practitioners. 2014
Explores the mysteries of the Mawangdui (mah-wahng-dway) tombs, one of China's top archaeological finds, and sheds light on what life…
was like during the Han dynasty (202 B.C.-220 A.D.). Details the burial and condition of Lady Dai's body and cause of death. For grades 6-9 and older readers. 2014
Kear, diagnosed at age nineteen with retinitis pigmentosa, shares her struggles with acceptance of the condition and the risks and…
adventures she engaged in during her twenties. Describes falling in love and having children, and how she focused on them before admitting to having RP. Strong language. 2014
Ecologist examines the natural history of the papyrus plant, from ancient Egypt to the modern era. Describes its usage in…
paper, and as a building material, food, and fuel. Explains the role it plays in its ecosystem. Theorizes on its uses in the future. 2014
Retina specialists and authors of Macular Degeneration (DB 74495) describe diabetic retinopathy, a potential problem for people with diabetes. Discuss…
its development, treatment options and ways to slow its progress, and lifestyle changes that lead to better glucose control. Offer advice on coping with visual impairment. 2014
Cultural landscape historian uses primary documents and archaeological research to reconstruct the history of the Georgian-style Sylvester Manor on Shelter…
Island, New York. Traces the Quaker plantation owners through fifteen generations and discusses their relationships with the Manhansett Indians, roles in the Revolutionary War, and uses of slave labor. 2013
Middle-aged essayist describes the two years from 2009 to 2011 that she spent in the "land of the sick," searching…
for a diagnosis and treatment for her inflamed optic nerve. Also describes her spiritual disorientation in this companion to Things Seen and Unseen (DB 49806). 2013
Case studies detail the reconstruction of skulls uncovered by archaeologists. Provides information about each excavation, the history of the site,…
and theories about the person's final moments. Includes Nevada's Spirit Cave Man, who lived 10,500 years ago, and skeletons from Albany's Almshouse Cemetery. For grades 5-8 and older readers. 2012
The late coauthor of Three Cups of Tea (DB 64285) describes following ophthalmologists Geoffrey Tabin and Sanduk Ruit as they…
performed eye surgeries in rural Nepal. Discusses the 1995 founding of the Himalayan Cataract Project to prevent blindness in the Third World. 2013
Archaeologist who discovered the mummy of female pharaoh Hatshepsut in the Valley of the Kings in 1989 describes his work…
for National Geographic and the BBC, collaborations with explorer Thor Heyerdahl, and digs in Egypt and Hawaii. 2010
Memoir of Scottish novelist McWilliam, who became functionally blind in 2006 because of the involuntary closing of her eyelids from…
a condition known as blepharospasm. McWilliam reviews her life, describes undergoing a two-part operation to restore her vision, and explores a possible psychological basis for her sightlessness. Strong language. 2010
An author and a scientist explore the Mesoamerican civilization of the Maya. They analyze Mayan history, cosmology, and astronomy, with…
an emphasis on concepts of time and the predictions that the world will end in 2012. Translated from English. Spanish language. 2009