Synopses & Reviews
For over a century, summer camps have provided many American children's first experience of community beyond their immediate family and neighborhoods. Each summer, children experience the pain of homesickness, learn to swim, and sit around campfires at night.
Children's Nature chronicles the history of the American summer camp, from its invention in the late nineteenth century through its rise in the first four decades of the twentieth century. Leslie Paris investigates how camps came to matter so greatly to so many Americans, while providing a window onto the experiences of the children who attended them and the aspirations of the adults who created them.
Summer camps helped cement the notion of childhood as a time apart, at once protected and playful. Camp leaders promised that campers would be physically and morally invigorated by fresh mountain air, simple food, daily swimming, and group living, and thus better fit for the year to come. But camps were important as well because children delighted in them, helped to shape them, and felt transformed by them. Focusing primarily on the northeast, where camps were first founded and the industry grew most extensively, and drawing on a range of sources including camp films, amateur performances, brochures, oral histories, letters home, industry journals, camp newspapers, and scrapbooks, Children's Nature brings this special and emotionally resonant world to life.
Review
“Fluently written, well researched, alert to the wider picture, this book is an important contribution.”
-American Historical Review,
Review
“Using an impressive array of camp records, memoirs, social scientific literature, and, most entertainingly, childrens letters and diaries, Paris brings alive the experiences and motivations of the camp directors, parents, and campers.”
-Anthropological Quarterly,
Review
“Pariss fine book on American summer camps nicely demonstrates how social and cultural historians can connect this autonomous world of children with the history of childhood.”
-American Journal of Play,
Review
“A well-argued and impressively researched contribution to the field of the history of childhood.”
-Environmental History,
Review
“Paris brings to life the wonder of summer camp. . . . This book will be of great value to those interested in recreation and leisure in Norht America, and it will delight those who have their own summer camp experiences. . . . Highly recommended.”
-Choice,
Synopsis
Drawing upon a lifetime's knowledge, Patterns of Stylistic Change in Islamic Architecture presents Michael Meinecke's unique view of the evolution and development of Islamic architecture.
Departing from conventional method which groups buildings and monuments according to dynasties and defines national characteristics based on the ethnic origins of Arabic, Persian, or Turkish patrons, Meinecke emphasizes the similarities which resulted from interrelations among neighboring or far-away areas. He argues that transformations in the development of Islamic architecture can be explained by the movements of skilled craftsmen who traveled extensively in their search for challenging work, allowing for their influence to be felt across a broad region.
Meinecke's unique approach to Islamic architecture will no doubt inspire others to emulate his approach in studying other regions or areas. Few, however, will be able to attain the consummate mastery of the subject which enlivens these essays.
About the Author
The late Michael Meinecke was Director of the Museum of Islamic Art in Berlin at the time of his death in 1995 (1994?).