Reflections on fishing; Library of Contemporary Thought.

Starting on a personal note, acclaimed cultural critic Robert Hughes takes readers to the Rome he first encountered as a hungry twenty-one-year-old fresh from provincial Australia in 1959. From that exhilarating portrait, he pulls back more than two thousand years to the city’s foundation, one mired in mythologies and superstitions that would inform Rome’s development for centuries. Hughes details the turbulent years that saw the formation of empire and the establishment of the socio-political system, along the way providing colorful portraits of all the major figures, both political and cultural. Form the formation of empire, Hughes moves on to the rise of early Christianity, his own antipathy toward religion providing rich and lively context for the brutality of the early church and eventually the Crusades. As one might expect, Hughes lavishes plenty of critical attention on the Renaissance, providing a full survey of the architecture, painting and sculpture that blossomed in Rome over the course of the 14th through the 16th centuries and shedding new light on old masters in the process. Having established itself as the artistic and spiritual center of the world, Rome, over the next three centuries, hosts an onslaught of artists converging on the bustling city, even while it is caught up in the nationalistic turmoil of the Italian independence struggle and war against France. Hughes keeps the momentum going right into the 20th centuries, exiting Fascism and Mussolini, damaged but intact, taking on the identity as the fashionable city of ”La Dolce Vita.” in the post-WWII years. This is the Rome Hughes contends, perhaps controversially, has been lost in the half century since, as the cult of mass tourism has slowly ruined the dazzling city he loved so much. Bibliography, Index, Illustration Credits. B&W illus. 498p.

A long-time former head art critic for Time presents an authoritative history of the Roman empire that provides coverage of an extensive range of topics from its government and architecture to its influence on culture and politics, sharing complementary personal insights from the author's 1958 visit. Reprint. 40,000 first printing.

An entrhalling account of the convict settlement of Australia, thoroughly researched and brimming over with rare and pungent characters and tales of pathos, bravery, and horror. The idiosyncratic voices of the individual convicts imbue the narrative with the spark and sabvor of real life in all its chaotic, intimate detail. Widely known as a consummate art critic, Robert Hughes reveals his formidable gifts as a social historian. Notes, Bibliography, Index.B&W illus. 688p.

Draws on diverse original materials to recount the European settlement of Australia, from the 1788 landing of the first prison fleet to 1868