A gorgeous hardcover edition, with 32 pages of color reproductions of nineteenth-century drawings, and black-and-white illustrations throughout. 

From one of our most highly regarded historians, here is an original and engrossing chronicle of nineteenth-century America's infatuation with butterflies, and the story of the naturalists who unveiled the mysteries of their existence.

This engaging and elegantly illustrated history shows how Americans from all walks of life passionately pursued butterflies, and how through their discoveries and observations they transformed the character of natural history. He reveals how the beauty of butterflies led Americans into a deeper understanding of the natural world. He shows, too, that the country's enthusiasm for butterflies occurred at the very moment that another form of beauty - the technological and industrial objects being displayed at world's fairs and commercial shows - was emerging, and that Americans' attraction to this new beauty would eventually, and at great cost, take precedence over nature in general and butterflies in particular.

William Leach is a professor of history at Columbia University. His previous books include Land of Desire: Merchants, Power, and the Rise of a New American Culture, which was a National Book Award finalist, and Country of Exiles: The Destruction of Place in American Life.

This is a fantastic collection - treat yourself to this $18 paperback edition during National Poetry Month!

 

The Best American Poetry is the most prestigious poetry publication in the US. Hotly debated, keenly monitored, ardently advocated (or denounced), obsessively scrutinized, every volume in the series consists of seventy-five poems chosen by a major American poet.

Of the 1,875 poems that have appeared in series, here are the 100 that Robert Pinsky has chosen for this special edition. Each volume in the series is represented, and the result is a pleasure-giving book of twice-honored poems that readers will find indispensable. The Best of the Best American Poetry is proof positive that the art form is flourishing. 

With valuable introductory essays by guest editor Pinsky and series editor David Lehman, The Best of the Best American Poetry includes up-to-date biographies of the poets along with the comments they made when the poems were originally selected.  

We enjoyed our Sunday afternoon event with Elizabeth Graver - she read from three sections of her new novel, giving us a good overview of the history and import of the setting. She answered questions about her research and the "kaleidoscopic" nature of the many points of view in the novel.

 

"With subtlety and grace, Elizabeth Graver illuminates the powerful legacy of family and place, exploring what we are born into, what we pass down, preserve, cast off or willingly set free."

 

Signed books are on our shelves.

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The God Argument: The Case against Religion and for Humanism by A.C. Grayling

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

In Concord, , spring is coming earlier. Using plant flowering data collected by one of Concord's most famous residents, Henry Thoreau, from 1852-1860, BU biology professor Richard Primack has found that, on average, spring flowers in Concord bloomed a full twenty days earlier in 2012 than in Thoreau's time; these statistics clearly show a close relationship between flowering times and rising winter and spring temperatures. 

"Early Spring: Henry Thoreau and Climate Change", a ground-breaking exhibition at the Concord Museum from April 12 through September 15, 2013, explores three centuries of careful observation of seasonal natural phenomena in Concord, a pool of data on the relationship between climate and biology that is essentially without parallel in North America. The exhibition also provides an extraordinary opportunity to examine the Concord Museum's renowned Thoreau collection that includes the desk on which Thoreau wrote Walden, together with examples of his original field notes, journal recordings, seasonal charts, and botanical specimens.