If you’ve ever seen any of Edward Curtis’s photos of Native Americans, you cannot forget them. Not only did Curtis capture members of various tribes with respect but their individuality and humanity stares at you from the page. He also recorded many spiritual ceremonies and active shots that give us some insight into what daily life was like for these people.
This excellent biography tells the story of the famous photographer’s life, how he came from utter poverty in Wisconsin, then provided for his entire family as a young teen-ager, to a hardscrabble existence fishing and crabbing near Seattle. But in his late teens, he buys something for himself—a rare occurrence. He purchases a lens for his dad’s old camera.
Soon he manages to round up $150—a large sum for a young man supporting an entire family in those days--and buys into a photography business in downtown Seattle. In a mere two years, he becomes the most famous photographer in the Northwest, in high demand to immortalize society and business leaders. But though the work makes him rich and feted by society, it’s the Native American culture that draws him. He realizes that the country has finished expanding, that the westward migration has ended, and that the native tribes will have less and less space to call their own. Curtis understood that their way of life-- the clothing, the hunting, and especially the spiritual ceremonies--will mostly cease to exist. Read more »
Scarcely a week goes by here at the library without an inquiry from someone who has self-published a book and wants us to buy it or accept it as a gift. Not surprising in this community, which includes many writers as well as Author Solutions, one of the world’s largest self-publishing businesses, and we know that last year, 300,000 titles were published through traditional publishers and 3,000,000 – 10 times as many – were self-published in this country. As we struggle to find ways to evaluate and select books in this new environment with ten times more choices and without reviews, we want to support local writers in finding the best outlets for their creative endeavors.
The Oxford English Dictionary is the premier dictionary of the English language. It is famous for its easy-to-understand definitions and word etymology, which strives to record the earliest known usage. The seemingly simple verbs set, make and put vie with each other for the longest entries – over 60,000 words each to describe all of the uses and senses!
Today is Shakespeare's birthday and to celebrate a Goodreads contributer created a great 