4.5
The Public Library
By Robert Dawson & Bill Moyers &Publisher Description
A “beautifully crafted” visual celebration with 150 photos and essays by Barbara Kingsolver, Bill Moyers, Ann Patchett, Anne Lamott, Amy Tan, and more (Publishers Weekly).
Many of us have vivid recollections of childhood visits to a public library: the unmistakable musty scent, the excitement of checking out a stack of newly discovered books. Today, the more than 17,000 libraries in America also function as de facto community centers offering free access to the internet, job-hunting assistance, or a warm place to take shelter. And yet, across the country, cities large and small are closing public libraries or curtailing their hours of operation. Over eighteen years, photographer Robert Dawson crisscrossed the country documenting hundreds of these endangered institutions. The Public Library presents a wide selection of his photographs—from the majestic reading room at the New York Public Library to Allensworth, California’s one-room Tulare County Free Library, built by former slaves. Accompanying them are essays, letters, and poetry by some of America’s most celebrated writers.
“For book lovers, library denizens, and fans of architecture or Americana, The Public Library is a delight.” —The Christian Science Monitor
“If you think all public libraries look pretty much the same, well, you need to take a look at this book. Oh, sure, there are plenty of grand ones, such as Philadelphia’s own Central Library on the Parkway. But we also have the Fishtown Community Branch, featured in this volume, which used to be a firehouse and, before that, a stable. There’s also the log cabin library in Cable, Wis. And many, many more, both grand and humble.” —Philadelphia Inquirer
“An irrefutable argument for the preservation of public libraries . . . profound and heartbreakingly beautiful.” —Toni Morrison
Many of us have vivid recollections of childhood visits to a public library: the unmistakable musty scent, the excitement of checking out a stack of newly discovered books. Today, the more than 17,000 libraries in America also function as de facto community centers offering free access to the internet, job-hunting assistance, or a warm place to take shelter. And yet, across the country, cities large and small are closing public libraries or curtailing their hours of operation. Over eighteen years, photographer Robert Dawson crisscrossed the country documenting hundreds of these endangered institutions. The Public Library presents a wide selection of his photographs—from the majestic reading room at the New York Public Library to Allensworth, California’s one-room Tulare County Free Library, built by former slaves. Accompanying them are essays, letters, and poetry by some of America’s most celebrated writers.
“For book lovers, library denizens, and fans of architecture or Americana, The Public Library is a delight.” —The Christian Science Monitor
“If you think all public libraries look pretty much the same, well, you need to take a look at this book. Oh, sure, there are plenty of grand ones, such as Philadelphia’s own Central Library on the Parkway. But we also have the Fishtown Community Branch, featured in this volume, which used to be a firehouse and, before that, a stable. There’s also the log cabin library in Cable, Wis. And many, many more, both grand and humble.” —Philadelphia Inquirer
“An irrefutable argument for the preservation of public libraries . . . profound and heartbreakingly beautiful.” —Toni Morrison
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities18 Reviews
4.5
Jenna Hornbaker
Created over 1 year agoShare
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Brittney Peters
Created over 2 years agoShare
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Abby
Created almost 3 years agoShare
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Bia
Created over 4 years agoShare
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“What a heartbreakingly beautiful book!
If you already love your local Library, this book will make your heart grow another three sizes!
The essays included in this pictorial journal are beautiful and fill you with hope about what what libraries have been, are and the potential they still hold for the future.
I slowly and methodically read through this book and loved every moment of it.
Highly recommend.”
Mr20170
Created almost 5 years agoShare
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About Robert Dawson
Robert Dawson's photographs have been recognized by a Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Dorothea Lange-Paul Taylor Prize. He is an instructor of photography at San Jose State University and Stanford University.
Other books by Robert Dawson
Isaac Asimov
To list Isaac Asimov's honors, as to list his books, would be excessive. Let it simply be noted that Isaac Asimov was the most famous, most honored, most widely read, and most beloved science fiction author of all time. In his five decades as an author, he wrote more than four hundred books, won every award his readers and colleagues could contrive to give him, and provided pleasure and insight to millions. He died in 1992, still at work.
Other books by Isaac Asimov
E. B. White
E. B. White was born in Mount Vernon, New York. He graduated from Cornell University in 1921. He joined the staff at The New Yorker, where White’s poems, essays, satirical pieces, and editorials started to appear, as well as in Harper’s. His books include One Man’s Meat, The Second Tree from the Corner, Letters of E. B. White, The Essays of E. B. White, and Poems and Sketches of E. B. White.
The author of more than twenty books of prose and poetry, White is perhaps best known for his award-winning children’s books, Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web. White received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award in 1970, and his The Trumpet of the Swan was honored by the International Board on Books for Young People as a distinguished example of literature with international influence.
For his lifelong contribution to American letters, President John F. Kennedy awarded White the Presidential Medal for Freedom. He also received the 1971 National Medal for Literature and the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Gold Medal for Essays and Criticism. In 1973, White was elected to be a member of the Academy. He also received honorary degrees from seven colleges and universities. White died on October 1, 1985.
The author of more than twenty books of prose and poetry, White is perhaps best known for his award-winning children’s books, Stuart Little and Charlotte’s Web. White received the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award in 1970, and his The Trumpet of the Swan was honored by the International Board on Books for Young People as a distinguished example of literature with international influence.
For his lifelong contribution to American letters, President John F. Kennedy awarded White the Presidential Medal for Freedom. He also received the 1971 National Medal for Literature and the American Academy of Arts and Letters’ Gold Medal for Essays and Criticism. In 1973, White was elected to be a member of the Academy. He also received honorary degrees from seven colleges and universities. White died on October 1, 1985.
Other books by E. B. White
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