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The Book Industry’s Impressive Gains

A new study prepared by a fellow at Columbia’s National Arts Journalism Program at Columbia University, takes a serious look at the evolution of the book industry in America. This is not a story of doom and gloom. “The number of new books published annually in the United States increased about 300 percent between 1975 and 2000, to 122,000 from 39,000. More people are buying better books than ever before – they’re also purchasing more books of questionable merit, but hey…

Frankfurt Book Fair To Munich?

It’s difficult to imagine the Franffurt Book Fair not being in Frankfurt anymore. But that’s just what might happen, say the fair’s organizers, who are thinking of moving it to Munich. “In October fair management made a very public effort to get the Frankfurt hotels to revamp their often outrageous pricing policies. During the fair, most hotels double and triple rates and require six-day minimum stays.”

Stolen Turner Pictures Recovered

Two paintings by JMW Turner belonging to the Tate that were stolen eight years ago, have been recovered in Germany. “The paintings, both 19th Century biblical works insured for £24 million and now worth about £50 million, were taken while on display in Frankfurt, Germany. Described as two of Turner’s most significant paintings, the works were found intact but without their original frames.”

Santa As A Work Of Art

Where did the popular image of Santa as a jolly old man come from? “What most people don’t realize is that Santa’s origins were very commercial from the beginning. He was created by mass media artists and invented by Americans in the beginning of the 19th Century. Haddon Sundblom painted a series of portraits of Santa between 1931 and 1964 for Coca-Cola advertisements that helped to shape the modern image of the jolly character known as Santa Claus.”

Seattle – Where Is The Outrage?

Does any art outrage Seattle? “While attendance at museums and galleries is among the highest in America for a city of its size, Seattle can’t boast of doing much to fan whatever outrages it encounters.” Shows that cause impassioned debate in other cities seem to pass through Seattle without a ripple of controversy. “In Seattle, people don’t tend to get mad at art, even if they find it personally offensive. They either like it because it’s offensive, because they like the way it’s done or they go, ‘whatever,’ and move on to the next thing.”

This Just In – History Continues

Francis Fukuyama wonders if history has restarted again, after famously having declared an end of history. “The ‘end of history’ hypothesis was about the process of modernisation. Progressive intellectuals around the world spent much of the last century and a half believing that historical progress would result in an evolution of modern societies toward socialism. The process of modernisation was, moreover, a universal one that would sooner or later drag all societies in its train. Understood in this fashion, September 11 represents a real challenge.”

Record-Buying Chic

Buying a CD isn’t just a simple matter of walking into a store. In Los Angeles, “where you buy your music also to some extent reflects one’s beliefs about the nature of pop culture, who owns it, and how to live it. It’s more than a battle for identity. It’s a struggle for the control of L.A.’s entertainment culture.”