Reflections Of A Digger

For some 30 years the University of Pennsylvania Museum flourished under the directorship of Froelich Rainey, who revived it after WW II and made it a preeminent institution devoted to excavation and innovative technology applied to archaeology. In this personal memoir, Dr. Rainey recounts the highlights of his archaeological career spanning more than 50 years of active field research in all parts of the world--the West Indies, the Arctic, the Near and Middle East, Europe, the New World, and the Far East.

This fascinating book tells the story of how one museum changed ideas about dinosaurs, dynasties, and even the story of life on earth. The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, now celebrating its 150th anniversary, has remade the way we see the world. Delving into the museum’s storied and colorful past, award-winning author Richard Conniff introduces a cast of bold explorers, roughneck bone hunters, and visionary scientists. Some became famous for wresting Brontosaurus, Triceratops, and other dinosaurs from the earth, others pioneered the introduction of science education in North America, and still others rediscovered the long-buried glory of Machu Picchu. In this lively tale of events, achievements, and scandals from throughout the museum’s history. Readers will encounter renowned paleontologist O. C. Marsh who engaged in ferocious combat with his “Bone Wars” rival Edward Drinker Cope, as well as dozens of other intriguing characters. Nearly 100 color images portray important figures in the Peabody’s history and special objects from the museum’s 13-million-item collections. For anyone with an interest in exploring, understanding, and protecting the natural world, this book will deliver abundant delights.

As part of the Cities of the Imagination Series, this book presents an in-depth cultural, historical, and literary guide to San Francisco, a beautiful city renowned for its artists, eccentrics, visionaries, and activism.

Though it has often been passionately criticized--as fraudulent, exploitative, even pagan--the American funeral home has become nearly as inevitable as death itself, an institution firmly embedded in our culture. But how did the funeral home come to hold such a position? What is its history? And is it guilty of the charges sometimes leveled against it? In Rest in Peace, Gary Laderman traces the origins of American funeral rituals, from the evolution of embalming techniques during and after the Civil War and the shift from home funerals to funeral homes at the turn of the century, to the increasing subordination of priests, ministers, and other religious figures to the funeral director throughout the twentieth century. In doing so he shows that far from manipulating vulnerable mourners, as Jessica Mitford claimed in her best-selling The American Way of Death (1963), funeral directors are highly respected figures whose services reflect the community's deepest needs and wishes. Indeed, Laderman shows that funeral directors generally give the people what they want when it is time to bury our dead. He reveals, for example, that the open casket, often criticized as barbaric, provides a deeply meaningful moment for friends and family who must say goodbye to their loved one. But he also shows how the dead often come back to life in the popular imagination to disturb the peace of the living. Drawing upon interviews with funeral directors, major historical events like the funerals of John F. Kennedy and Rudolf Valentino, films, television, newspaper reports, proposals for funeral reform, and other primary sources, Rest in Peace cuts through the rhetoric to show us the reality--and the real cultural value--of the American funeral.

This is a biography of Paul Henry's life and artistic achievements, especially his idyllic landscape paintings of the west of Ireland. It interweaves the life of his talented wife, Grace, and explores his friendships and associations with Paris and Dublin.

This collection of essays explore the the Diggers, a group of 17th century men who shared a vision of a society based on collective ownership of the land. The themes discussed include the continuing power of leader Winstanley's writings, ideas on civil liberty and the economic background.

ESPN basketball commentator Digger Phelps is regarded as one of the most charismatic and opinionated analysts in the profession. And he was the same personality during his 20 years as the head coach at the University of Notre Dame. Digger Phelps's Tales from the Notre Dame Hardwood recalls the most successful period in Notre Dame basketball history. In his 20 seasons. 17 of Phelps's teams advanced to postseason play, including 14 NCAA Tournament teams. In the book, Phelps recalls his initial expression of interest in Notre Dame through a 1965 letter he wrote to football coach Ara Parseghian. It recounts the scenes of his seven wins over number one-ranked teams, including the landmark game in 1974 when the Irish ended UCLA's 88-game winning streak. Two chapters concentrate on the coach's former Notre Dame players, concluding with the selection of his All-Digger teams. He also recalls the 20 Hall of Fame coaches he competed against, including Bobby Knight, Al McGuire, Ray Meyer, and John Wooden. Digger Phelps's Tales from the Notre Dame Hardwood concludes with a chapter entitled Domers, which documents Phelps's relationship with Notre Dame coaches, administrators, and student-athletes, including Father Theodore Hesburgh, the man who made Notre Dame what it is today.