Thirty Clouds

It has been said that M*A*S*H was a show set in the 1950s which reflected the shifting values of the 1970s and early 1980s. Hawkeye Pierce, Radar O'Reilly, Trapper John McIntyre, Sherman Potter, Margaret (Hot Lips) Houlihan, B.J. Hunnicutt, Frank Burns, Charles Emerson Winchester, Max Klinger--these and the many other characters who populated the MASH 4077 used the Korean War as a backdrop to comment on many of the social issues of their day. Using a unique blend of comedy and drama, the show's first three seasons (1972-1975) focused on the anti-Vietnam War sentiment that consumed much of America. As Vietnam ended, M*A*S*H moved on to concentrate on other contemporary issues--the women's movement, the rise of the religious right in American politics, the new narcissism that marked the early 1980s, the heightened awareness of underage or excessive alcohol use, and the increased emphasis on family in American life. How the series presented these issues and its success in doing so are the subjects of this critical study. An episode listing--brief plot outline, casts and credits, air dates, and titles--is also provided.

This book is a collaboration between visual artist Clarissa Upchurch and poet George Szirtes. Upchurch's images came first and the text followed based on free interpretations in the form of cinquains combined with prose poems. The thirty visual works here are all based on monoprints, a process whereby ink is printed directly from freshly painted metal surface, so each printed image is unique. It offers painterly effects hard to achieve by other printing methods. The cinquain is a poetic form invented by the American poet Adelaide Crapsey (1878-1914). It consists of five lines that break down into a syllabic pattern of 2-4-6-8-2. The effect can be that of the breath expanding for the first four lines then being let out in the fifth.

Vol. 12 (from May 1876 to May 1877) includes: Researches in telephony / by A. Graham Bell.

Ruskin, a Victorian-era British writer whose work had a profound influence on artists, art historians, and writers both during his life and after, wrote Modern Painters in five separate volumes originally published in London between 1843 and 1860, substantially revising the volumes over the years. It is, among other things, an evaluation of individual painters, a religious statement, a discourse on nature, and a splendid example of Victorian prose style.