Showing results by narrator "Bob Barton" in All Categories

Byzantine art has a slightly odd reputation. It is regarded, on the one hand, as something remote, hieratic, and difficult. On the other hand, the word Byzantium has a very romantic ring - it lives in our minds as the name of a citadel of civilization, a place that preserved for posterity both intellectual and material treasures that would otherwise have vanished forever. The remarkable exhibition now at the Royal Academy in London touches on both of these aspects.

Throughout art history, certain creative geniuses have helped to steer art in a completely new direction - and their influence has in many cases been extraordinary, enduring down the centuries to impact on future generations of artists, sculptors and architects. This lavish publication looks back over the centuries to explore the life and work of some of history's most influential artists.

Do you ever wonder where horses get their magnificent colors? Long ago, when the Earth was quite young, there lived a band of Hidden Horses. These eight were invisible to man and beast. Their greatest desire was to be seen, so that they might make friends. An oracle appears in the form of a bluebird named Joy who accompanies the herd on their epic quest to be seen.

Zack Taylor's new life is crumbling. His fledgling business is in jeopardy, he's been dumped by his lady love, and a murderous gang leader is bent on revenge. A shattered Zack is enticed onto a movie shoot to provide martial arts expertise and security, when a sudden murder raises the stakes. Zack must deal with his own demons, as well as a host of shadowy tricksters with secrets to hide. Death is at hand, and Zack must figure out who to trust in a world of illusion built on money and power.

In early June 1863, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia occupied Culpeper, Virginia, and after their victories at Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville against armies twice their size, the Confederate troops felt invincible and anxious to carry the war north into Pennsylvania. One of the proudest was iconic cavalry leader JEB Stuart, who had filled in admirably for the mortally wounded Stonewall Jackson the previous month at Chancellorsville.

The Apollo space program is the most famous and celebrated in American history, but the first successful landing of men on the moon, during Apollo 11, had complicated roots dating back over a decade; it also involved one of NASA's most infamous tragedies. Landing on the moon presented an ideal goal all on its own, but the government's urgency in designing the Apollo program was actually brought about by the Soviet Union, which spent much of the 1950s leaving the United States in its dust (and rocket fuel).

Not all poems elicit positive emotional responses. Sometimes poetry is where we trap the monster of hate, hurt, and betrayal.

In The Militia and the Right to Arms, or, How the Second Amendment Fell Silent, Uviller and Merkel show how postratification history has sapped the Second Amendment of its meaning. Starting with a detailed examination of the political principles of the founders, the authors build the case that the amendment's second clause (declaring the right to bear arms) depends entirely on the premise set out in the amendment's first clause (stating that a well-regulated militia is necessary to the security of a free state).