Traveller by Richard Adams

Traveller by Richard Adams

Gleaming and perfect, gold has beguiled humankind for many millennia, attracting treasure hunters, adorning the living and the dead, and symbolizing wealth, power, divinity, and eternity. This book offers a lively, critical look at the cultural history of this most regal metal, examining its importance across many cultures and time periods and the many places where it has been central, from religious ceremonies to colonial expeditions to modern science.
Rebecca Zorach and Michael W. Phillips Jr. cast gold as a substance of paradoxes. Its softness at once makes it useless for most building projects yet highly suited for the exploration of form and the transmission importantly of images, such as the faces of rulers on currency. It has been the icon of value the surest bet in times of uncertain markets yet also of valuelessness, something King Midas learned the hard way. And, as Zorach and Phillips detail, it has been at the center of many clashes between cultures all throughout history, the unfortunate catalyst of countless blood lusts. Ultimately, they show that the questions posed by our relentless desire for gold are really questions about value itself. Lavishly illustrated, this book offers a shimmering exploration of the mythology, economy, aesthetics, and perils at the center of this simple yet irresistible substance.

Adams, Richard: - Richard Adams, the son of a country doctor, was born in Newbury in England in 1920. He was educated at Bradfield College and Worcester College, Oxford. He served in the Second World War and in 1948 joined the civil service. In the mid-1960s he completed his first novel, Watership Down, for which he struggled for several years to find a publisher. It was eventually awarded both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Award for children's fiction for 1972. In 1974 he retired from the civil service and published a series of further books, including Shardik, Tales from Watership Down, Maia, The Plague Dogs, and The Girl in a Swing. Adams died on Christmas Eve, 2016.

SKU	Nicht verfügbar
ISBN 13	9780440204930
ISBN 10	0440204933
Titel	Traveller
Autor	Richard Adams
Buchzustand	Nicht verfügbar
Bindungsart	Paperback
Verlag	Dell Publishing Company
Erscheinungsjahr	1989-11-05
Seitenanzahl	355
Hinweis auf dem Einband	Die Abbildung des Buches dient nur Illustrationszwecken, die tatsächliche Bindung, das Cover und die Auflage können sich davon unterscheiden.