Lillian Hellman was a giant of twentieth-century letters and a groundbreaking figure as one of the most successful female playwrights on Broadway. Yet the author of The Little Foxes and Toys in the Attic is today remembered more as a toxic; bitter survivor and literary fabulist; the woman of whom Mary McCarthy said; "Every word she writes is a lie; including and and the." In A Difficult Woman; renowned historian Alice Kessler-Harris undertakes a feat few would dare to attempt: a reclamation of a combative; controversial woman who straddled so many political and cultural fault lines of her time.Kessler-Harris renders Hellmans feisty wit and personality in all of its contradictions: as a non-Jewish Jew; a displaced Southerner; a passionate political voice without a party; an artist immersed in commerce; a sexually free woman who scorned much of the womens movement; a loyal friend whose trust was often betrayed; and a writer of memoirs who repeatedly questioned the possibility of achieving truth and doubted her memory.Hellman was a writer whose plays spoke the language of morality yet whose achievements foundered on accusations of mendacity. Above all else; she was a woman who made her way in a mans world. Kessler-Harris has crafted a nuanced life of Hellman; empathetic yet unsparing; that situates her in the varied contexts in which she moved; from New Orleans to Broadway to the hearing room of HUAC. A Difficut Woman is a major work of literary and intellectual history. This will be one of the most reviewed; and most acclaimed; books of 2012.
#618772 in eBooks 2008-05-30 2008-05-30File Name: B00597VYAE
Review
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful. I loved it so muchBy Spyder3DfxI would give this 10 stars if allowed here on . This book is a marvel. I loved it so much. Ive turned to it for my gift to give this year. Excellent and beautiful. 10 stars!!!!2 of 2 people found the following review helpful. and now I can draw sci fi!By J.J. KilroyThis book is incredible! I followed Dougs methods. and now I am turning out work that is leagues better than before.Firstly. the book teaches you to draw sci-fi machinery. Maybe you thought you had to go to engineering school to work out the drive-train for a walking tank or a rocket-powered aircraft? Well. the book teaches you to invent and draw all the mechanisms and pseudo-engineering that make sci-fi machines look realistic. And Doug makes it fun. It takes practice. but he gives you simple guidlines to work it out. For example. you would use an actual photo of a tractor engine and drive-train construction to develop the design for the leg mechanisms of a walking robot. etc.Secondly. this book does not cover 3-D digital imagery/auto-CAD/computer-generated-imagery. It does cover digital painting. but only as a method to color render designs; usually first rendered on paper in black-and-white. The book focuses on developing designs on paper. first.The author often draws the designs on paper with full tone rendering. and then he scans them into the computer. and renders effects. color. texture. background. error correction. and much much more.There isnt a great depth of technique discussion on digital painting. but the book does much to specifically detail many fundamentals of digital painting. with screen-shots to teach many tools and tips and tricks of digital painting. Still. it is the focus on paper-drawing that is exactly what I was looking for.The methods are easy and versitile; yielding quite varied styles.The author varies the sequence and combinations of mediums and techniques depending on the subject to be rendered. The mediums covered are blueline pencil. varied strengths of cool-grey markers (20%. 40%. 60%). a simple airbrush technique for background haze effects (optional). and finally digital painting 101. I was able to follow the majority of the digitial painting methods without using a computer drawing tablet! But. I have now purchased one. so my quality should improve all the more.The paper-based methods covered in the book have been staples in concept-drawing for decades. apparently. After viewing the book. I now recognize the techniques in concept-design drawings going back to the 80s.The book covers many wheeled machines. space-ships. an ornithopter. 2 jet-fighters. and more. but the author is obsessed with walking machines/tanks/robots of all sorts. Personally. I think walking machines are a silly concept (1 leg down. and it ceases). but I have no complaints about this book!The author discusses the impracticality of walking-machines. and windows on a spaceship. and a steam-powered tank. but his focus is on aesthetic design. iconic design. and sellable designs. Hes got to sell his designs to get them on the big-screen. afterall. You will appreciate and learn and enhance your own design ability!Lastly. the book has a really strong plastic-coated dust-jacket that seems to hold up against abuse of all sorts. and the pages are printed in super high quality resolution of strong paper.1 of 1 people found the following review helpful. Show Your ProcessBy J. RuckerIn this book Doug Chiang leads you through a number of his drawings from marker sketch to final render. One of the great things about this method is it offers a rare look into the step-by-step changes that occur during the development of a conceptual render. This is a excellent guide for up and coming concept designers and an good source of inspiration for established artists. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a look into how great Sci-Fi illustration is developed.
