Books

April 4, 2022 • View in browser

Julia Morgan, California’s First Licensed Female Architect

A new biography looks at the largely forgotten architect who executed more than 700 building projects in California, including the Hearst Castle. | Lauren Moya Ford

Fearless is a word that comes to mind often when reading Victoria Kastner’s new book, Julia Morgan: An Intimate Biography of the Trailblazing Architect.

Morgan navigated the challenges of designing and executing more than 700 building projects on the earthquake-prone American West Coast, and dealt with powerful clients including William Randolph Hearst.

Luigi Ghirri’s Affectionate Photos of Puglia’s Calm, Hushed Spaces

By the time of his death in 1992, at age 49, Luigi Ghirri had taken some 2,000 pictures in Puglia, most of which have never been seen publicly. | Lauren Moya Ford

Puglia: Tra albe e tramonti (“Puglia: From Sunrises to Sunsets”) is a thoughtful tribute to Ghirri’s years-long Apulian project. Compiled by the photographer’s daughter, Adele Ghirri, the book builds on a 1982 maquette for a catalogue that was never realized. 

Photographs as Passageways to the Profound

Rich in sensations and ideas, Running Falling Flying Floating Crawling uses unexpected juxtapositions of text and image to offer both antidotes to the mundane and passageways to the profound. | John Seed

The Sheer Vastness of Information Makes Keeping Accurate Historical Records Impossible

Judith Schalansky breathes life into buildings and places that have faded from the collective consciousness. | Kate Silzer

Can Poetry Make a Difference?

Contemporary politically committed poets have made a cottage industry of agonizing over the question of whether their Leftist bona fides actually make any difference. | Mark Scroggins

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