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Books in Arts and humanities

Elsevier's Arts and Humanities titles encompass a rich spectrum of scholarship that explores human culture, history, philosophy, and creative expression. These works offer deep insights into language, literature, visual arts, and critical theory, supporting the academic community in understanding diverse perspectives and cultural legacies. Designed for scholars, educators, and students, this collection bridges classic studies with contemporary issues, fostering a deeper appreciation and knowledge of the human experience.

    • A Sculptor's Manual

      The Commonwealth and International Library: Painting, Sculpture and Fine Arts
      • 1st Edition
      • Bainbridge Copnall
      • Fabio Barraclough
      • English
      A Sculptor's Manual focuses on the methods involved in sculpture. The manual first outlines drawing as a medium by which artistic creativity can evolve. The text notes that mastery of this talent can enable artists to become more analytical in their appreciation of their fellow beings, as well as bring out the inventive faculties in them in many ways. The book also discusses direct carving and the use of cartoons and automatic tools in carving. The work done by the author at the Henry Florence Memorial Hall is noted. The varieties of stones that can be used as medium in carving are explained. The text also looks at the methods in moving heavy weights, traditional carving of relief, and wood carving. Modeling as a way to create fine pieces of sculpture is underscored. The book also discusses the methods involved in building a large bronze memorial and an enormous aluminum stag. Alternative methods of casting a large memorial are also elaborated. The text also puts emphasis on fiberglass sculpture, including materials and methods to be employed. The manual is a good reference for beginner and master sculptors.
    • Mental Retardation

      Some Recent Developments in the Study of Causes and Social Effects of This Problem
      • 1st Edition
      • Brian H. Kirman
      • English
      Mental Retardation summarizes some developments in the study of the causes and social effects of mental retardation. The problem of definition and recognition is emphasized, along with its relationship to frequency and to the changes that have occurred in the natural history and prevalence of mental handicap in general and of some of its specific constituent disorders in particular. This book covers a wide range of topics related to mental retardation, from its prevalence and causes to prevention and treatment; chemical disorders and other enzyme defects; the effect of a hypothetical restriction of child-bearing age on trisomic chromosome disorders; and recessive heredity and Mendelian inheritance. Prominence is given to habilitation in the prevention of secondary handicap and to the importance of minimizing cultural retardation. Genetic disorders and their detection are also discussed, along with the link between cerebral palsy and mental retardation; the correlation between blood groups and mental retardation; and congenital malformations such as hydrocephalus, spina bifida, and anencephaly. This monograph will be a valuable resource for physicians and other health professionals in the field of mental retardation, as well as students of the social sciences, education and medicine and by others who wish to have a simple guide to a complex and common form of human impairment.
    • Society, Schools and Progress in Australia

      The Commonwealth and International Library: Education and Educational Research Division
      • 1st Edition
      • P. H. Partridge
      • Edmund King
      • English
      Society, Schools, and Progress in Australia focuses on the principles, methodologies, practices, and measures employed in education in Australia. The book first offers information on historical influences and organization of public education. Discussions focus on local communities and schools, teaching in state schools, administration within states, educational policy, secondary education, geographical and social background, centralization, question of state aid, and background of the education acts. The book then ponders on schools and society, pattern of higher education, and teachers. Topics include economic change, organization of technical education, future development of technical colleges, adult education, diversification of tertiary education, teaching in universities, and reorganization of secondary education. The text examines education and national growth, including changing balance of the federation, social teaching, quality of teachers, aspects of national development, and social change and educational change. The manuscript is a dependable reference for students, teachers, and educators wanting to study the form of education in Australia.
    • Late Seventeenth Century Scientists

      A Volume in The Commonwealth and International Library: Liberal Studies Division
      • 1st Edition
      • Donald Hutchings
      • English
      Late Seventeenth Century Scientists provides information on the lives and scientific works of scientists who were active in the latter half of the 17th century. This book discusses the outstanding achievements of physical science in the 17th century. Organized into six chapters, this book begins with an overview of the Robert Boyle's greatest contribution to scientific understanding when he pioneered physical methods and insisted that a substance should be regarded as an element until it can be further resolved into simpler substances. This text then examines the scientific works of Marcello Malpighi wherein he concludes in his treatise on the liver that bile is secreted in the gall-bladder itself and not in the liver. Other chapters consider the contributions of various scientists, including Christopher Wren, Christiaan Huygens, and Robert Hooke. The final chapter deals with Isaac Newton's ideas of mass and force. This book is a valuable resource for teachers, students, and researchers.
    • The Petrov Affair

      Politics and Espionage
      • 1st Edition
      • Robert Manne
      • English
      The Petrov Affair: Politics and Espionage is a memoir of the Petrov Affair, a historical event that involves the defection of Vladimir Petrov, a colonel in the Soviet intelligence service in Sydney, and the announcement of his defection ten days later by Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies. With information gathered from different reliable sources, the book details in chronological order the Petrov's defection - the events that occurred before and the factors that led to it; its announcement; and the implications of this event for politics and espionage. The text also explains how the affair affected the Australian people and the world; the conclusion of this event; and the events that happened after it. The book is recommended for historians and history enthusiasts who would want to know more about this particular event. The text is also recommended for experts who delve in the Cold War and the Soviet Union.
    • Sociological Self-Images

      A Collective Portrait
      • 1st Edition
      • Irving Louis Horowitz
      • English
      Sociological Self-Images: A Collective Portrait is a collection of papers on the self-images of different sociologists regarding their work, their profession, and their contributions to the social sciences. The book is comprised of 14 papers contributed by different experts in sociology, each of whom seeks to answer the following questions: 1. What do you consider the most unique characteristics of your way of defining sociology? 2. What is your view of the current relationship between sociological theory and social application? 3. Which sociologists influenced you or do you most respect? Are they the same now as in your formative years? 4. Which of your writings do you like best and why? 5. What impact would you say your sociological efforts have had on reshaping the field? The book is an excellent resource for those who study sociology and wish to know and be inspired by the views, opinions, and works of other sociologists.
    • How to Find Out About Local Government

      The Commonwealth and International Library: Libraries and Technical Information Division
      • 1st Edition
      • Wilfrid H. Snape
      • G. Chandler
      • English
      How to Find Out About Local Government is a guide to sources of information on local government in Britain, including libraries and record offices, public relations and information bureaux, and societies and institutions. Other sources covered in this monograph are education and training facilities, research, books and documents, periodicals, manuscripts and records, and audiovisual materials such as films, radio, and television. This book consists of 11 chapters and opens with an overview of local government in Britain, followed by a discussion on libraries and record offices as sources of local government information. The reader is then introduced to other information sources, including public relations and information bureaux, societies and institutions, books and documents, periodicals, manuscripts and records, and audiovisual sources. Sources of information on local government in Scotland are also considered, including yearbooks. Finally, published literature on comparative local government is evaluated. This guide will be a useful resource for political scientists, politicians, and local government officials as well as the general public interested in local government.
    • The Possibilities of Charting Modern Life

      A Symposium for Ethnological Research About Modern Time in Stockholm, March 1967
      • 1st Edition
      • Sigurd Erixon
      • English
      Wenner–Gren Center International Symposium Series, Volume 13: The Possibilities of Charting Modern Life presents the proceedings of the symposium on Anthropological Research on the Present, held in Stockholm, Sweden, on March 7–11, 1967. This book discusses the greater dependence of culture on central control and influences from outside. Organized into 13 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of the possibilities of applying the same methods for the study of the present as have been applied in the ethnology concentrated upon history. This text then clarifies the value of certain functional concepts in the light of the field material from the Tuareg culture. Other chapters consider the concept of applied ethnology, which is not historically oriented. This book discusses as well the gradual shifting of the concept of sex-role from its proper import of expression for the individual's biological statuses. This book is a valuable resource for social anthropologists.
    • Society, Schools and Progress in the West Indies

      Education and Educational Research
      • 1st Edition
      • John J. Figueroa
      • Edmund King
      • English
      Society, Schools and Progress in the West Indies is one of a mutually supporting series in this field of interest in a number of significant countries or region. This book focuses on West Indies, aiming to provide important information about education and society, to raise certain questions which need to be carefully considered if education is to lead to real human development, and to provide informed opinion on a variety of subjects affecting society, schools, and progress . Organized into seven chapters, this book begins with an historical survey of education in the West Indies. It then talks about the socio-economic complex, and the school and general education arrangements in the area. The prevalent aims and assumptions in this field are also shown. Subsequent chapters explore the important matter of priorities in education in the West Indies, and define the concept of ""education for development"". This book will be very helpful for students of sociology, government and politics, as well as education.
    • Some Nineteenth Century British Scientists

      The Commonwealth and International Library: Science and Society
      • 1st Edition
      • R. Harré
      • English
      Some Nineteenth Century British Scientists presents the biographies of eight British scientists who represent the state of science in the second half of the Victorian era: Charles Wyville Thomson, James Murray, Arthur Cayley, Francis Galton, William Thomson, Lord Kelvin, Norman Lockyer, Sidney Gilchrist Thomas, and William Ramsay. This book is comprised of seven chapters and begins by focusing on the contributions and achievements of Charles Wyville Thomson in the fields of natural history, marine biology, and deep-sea exploration, especially his expedition aboard H.M.S. Challenger, and of James Murray in oceanography. Subsequent chapters discuss the works of Arthur Cayley (mathematics), Francis Galton (exploration, anthropology, and eugenics), and William Thomson, Lord Kelvin (mathematical physics). The achievements of Norman Lockyer (astrophysics), Sidney Gilchrist Thomas (inventor of the Thomas-Gilchrist process for eliminating phosphorus in the Bessemer converter), and William Ramsay (chemistry) are also considered. This monograph will be a useful resource for students and scientists alike.