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From Dawn to Decadence: 500 Years of Western Cultural Life 1500 to the Present
Highly regarded here and abroad for some thirty works of cultural history and criticism, master historian Jacques Barzun has now set down in one continuous narrative the sum of his discoveries and conclusions about the whole of Western culture since 1500. In this account, Barzun describes what Western Man wrought from the Renaissance and Reformation down to the present in the double light of its own time and our pressing concerns. He introduces characters and incidents with his unusual literary style and grace, bringing to the fore those that have "Puritans as Democrats," "The Monarch's Revolution," "The Artist Prophet and Jester" – show the recurrent role of great themes throughout the eras. The triumphs and defeats of five hundred years form an inspiring saga that modifies the current impression of one long tale of oppression by white European males. Women and their deeds are prominent, and freedom (even in sexual matters) is not an invention of the last decades. And when Barzun rates the present not as a culmination but a decline, he is in no way a prophet of doom. Instead, he shows decadence as the creative novelty that will burst forth – tomorrow or the next day. Only after a lifetime of separate studies covering a broad territory could a writer create with such ease the synthesis displayed in this magnificent volume. .
Price: $6.98
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The Gospel of Filth: A Bible of Decadence & Darkness
The Gospel of Filth is the boldest, most comprehensive guide to the realms of darkness and devilry ever published Taking in every significant milestone and major landmark, this lavishly illustrated volume is the definitive study of the dark side. No tombstone remains unturned in this wide-ranging and witty dissection of the uncanny and unholy, of the esoteric and erotic. Music forms The Gospel’s entry point, but every medium, from movies and literature, to comics and computer games is considered, while the authorities consulted range from Oxford academics to metal musicians as well known for their criminal records as musical ones. The principal consultant is Dani Filth, who rides shotgun with author Gavin Baddeley, providing insight and impish irreverence at every turn. Dani’s band Cradle of Filth are one of England’s most successful and controversial musical exports of the past decade, loved and loathed in equal measure, the singer bringing that same provocative edge to this, his first literary effort. Emerging from the violent cauldron of chaos that propelled the black metal scene to the forefront of the extreme music scene in the early-90s, Cradle of Filth have since transcended such subcultural boundaries, embracing the likes of Decadent art and Gothic literature to create an inimitable, sensuously sinister style all of their own. Experts consulted range from ex-FBI Agent Robert Ressler (who first coined the term ‘serial killer’), to world expert on psychoactive drugs Richard Rudgley, via Satanic High Priest Peter Gilmore. Legendary horror film director Dario Argento gives insight into his art, as do War of the Worlds composer Jeff Wayne, controversial art director Nigel Wingrove, Lovecraftian artist John Coulthart, and ghost photographer Simon Marsden. A galaxy of dark stars from the modern musical world are also represented, with original words from the likes of Tom Araya (Slayer), Pete Steele (Type O Negative), Sharon del Adel (Within Temptation), Glen Benton (Deicide), Ville Valo (HIM), James Hetfield (Metallica), Adam ‘Nergal’ Darski (Behemoth), Bard ‘Faust’ Eithun (ex-Emperor), Cristina Scabbia (Lacuna Coil), Jason Mendonca (Akercocke), Andi Sex Gang (Sex Gang Children), King of Hell (Gorgoroth), Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost), Chad Gray (Mudvayne), Le’rue Delashay (Christian Death), Montalo (Witchfynde), Jinx Dawson (Coven), Metatron (The Meads of Asphodel), John Bush (Armored Saint), Andrea Haugen (Nebelhexe), and many more..
Price: $32.97
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Sway: A Novel
Three dramatic and emblematic stories intertwine in Zachary Lazar's extraordinary new novel, SWAY--the early days of the Rolling Stones, including the romantic triangle of Brian Jones, Anita Pallenberg, and Keith Richards; the life of avant-garde filmmaker Kenneth Anger; and the community of Charles Manson and his followers. Lazar illuminates an hour in American history when rapture found its roots in idolatrous figures and led to unprovoked and inexplicable violence. Connecting all the stories in this novel is Bobby Beausoleil, a beautiful California boy who appeared in an Anger film and eventually joined the Manson "family." With great artistry, Lazar weaves scenes from these real lives together into a true but heightened reality, making superstars human, giving demons reality, and restoring mythic events to the scale of daily life..
Price: $9.19
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Tropical Gangsters: One Man's Experience With Development And Decadence In Deepest Africa
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Maximalism: The Graphic Design of Decadence& Excess
New in Paperback!This sumptuously extravagant book examines design that appeals to the senses through luxury, profusion, and excess-maximalism. After a decade in which minimalism has held sway over the design industry, many designers are now rejecting the limitations of pared-down modernism in favor of a more rich and vibrant "maximal" aesthetic. This book celebrates the qualities of maximalism, or "enriched modernism"-its role in creating fantasy, a sense of luxury, the multi-sensory appeal-and teaches designers how to apply it by bringing together a selection of projects from around the world that typify maximalism in graphic design-whether through use of materials, print processes, layout and composition, or sheer extravagance of purpose. The book is not just about expensive projects for luxury brands (although of course these feature): it is about examples of print that appeal to any one of the senses in a powerful and unusual way. These include packaging, magazines, brochures, books, identity jobs, and other forms of print work. An essential resource for designers, delivering the newest trend and the means to create the style. .
Price: $18.81
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The Green Face (Decadence from Dedalus)
Meyrink's second, and most mystical, novel from 1916: this is the first time this Dedalus edition has been available in North America Published in Germany to critical and commercial acclaim, it is set in Amsterdam, used as a symbol of European decadence: the city is ultimately destroyed. The Green Face has classic Meyrink features: * a mystical wedding * a galaxy of grotesque characters * the haunting atmosphere of the ghetto In an Amsterdam that very much resembles the Prague of The Golem, a stranger, Hauberisser, enters by chance a magician's shop. The name on the shop, he believes, is Chidher Green; inside, among several strange customers, he hears an old man, who says his name is Green, explain that, like the Wandering Jew, he has been on earth ""ever since the moon has been circling the heaven."" When Hauberisser catches sight of the old man's face, it makes him sick with horror, haunting him. The rest of the novel chronicles Hauberisser's quest for the elusive and horrible old man..
Price: $8.27
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