Joseph Rykwert is one of the major architectural historians of this century. THE DANCING COLUMN is his most controversial and challenging work to date. A decade in preparation, it is a deeply erudite, clearly written, and wide-ranging deconstruction of the system of column and beam known as the "orders of architecture". Rykwert traces the analogy between columns and/or buildings and the human body. 315 illustrations.

The Gentleman Dancing-Master: Mr Isaac and the English Royal Court from Charles II to Queen Anne considers the life and times of the dancer known as Mr Isaac, performer, teacher and creator of prestigious dances for performance at the royal court. Includes facsimiles and discussion of his surviving dances and their context.

Writing about music, far from being the specialized domain of the rock critic with encyclopedic knowledge of micro-genres or the fancy-pants star journalist flying on private planes with Led Zeppelin, has become something almost any music lover can do—and does. It’s been said, however, that writing about music is a difficult, even pointless enterprise—an absurd impossibility, like “dancing about architecture.” But aside from the fact that dancing about architecture would be awesome, what is that ineffable something that drives people to write about music at all? In this short, insightful book, Joel Heng Hartse unpacks the rock writer Richard Meltzer’s assertion that writing about music should be a “parallel artistic effort” with music itself—and argues that music and the impulse to write about it is part of the eminently mysterious desire for meaning-making that makes us human. Touching on the close resonances between music, language, love, and belief, Dancing about Architecture is a Reasonable Thing to Do is relevant to anyone who finds deep human and spiritual meaning in music, writing, and the mysterious connections between them.

A People Book of the Week & a Kirkus Best Nonfiction of the Year An exquisite and inspiring memoir about one mother’s unimaginable choice in the face of oppression and abuse in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. In the days before Homeira Qaderi gave birth to her son, Siawash, the road to the hospital in Kabul would often be barricaded because of the frequent suicide explosions. With the city and the military on edge, it was not uncommon for an armed soldier to point his gun at the pregnant woman’s bulging stomach, terrified that she was hiding a bomb. Frightened and in pain, she was once forced to make her way on foot. Propelled by the love she held for her soon-to-be-born child, Homeira walked through blood and wreckage to reach the hospital doors. But the joy of her beautiful son’s birth was soon overshadowed by other dangers that would threaten her life. No ordinary Afghan woman, Homeira refused to cower under the strictures of a misogynistic social order. Defying the law, she risked her freedom to teach children reading and writing and fought for women’s rights in her theocratic and patriarchal society. Devastating in its power, Dancing in the Mosque is a mother’s searing letter to a son she was forced to leave behind. In telling her story—and that of Afghan women—Homeira challenges you to reconsider the meaning of motherhood, sacrifice, and survival. Her story asks you to consider the lengths you would go to protect yourself, your family, and your dignity.

Paul Stephenson twists together multiple strands to relate the cultural biography of a unique monument, the Serpent Column, which stands today in Istanbul 2500 years after it was raised at Delphi

If you are a dance student and have been searching for a way to remember all those dance steps that you have spent so much time and effort learning, this is the book for you. Michael Yusim is an experienced engineer and computer programmer who has devised a unique and innovative method for recording dance steps. Mariann Cataletto is a current medical system manager, computer programming student, and a former dance teacher. Their combined talents have resulted in the creation of an effective tool for learning and retention so that you never need to experience the frustration of forgetting a dance pattern again. Their graphics library provides a wealth of information on Hustle step combinations. They also provide the opportunity to see these steps performed in video clips on their web site at www.dancestudent.com.