Virginia Historical Pageant Association's Books

All the Rage

Stories from the Frontline of Beauty: A History of Pain, Pleasure, and Power: 1860-1960

By: Virginia Nicholson

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All the Rage

Stories from the Frontline of Beauty: A History of Pain, Pleasure, and Power: 1860-1960

By: Virginia Nicholson

A panoramic social history that chronicles the quest for beauty in all its contradictions—and how it affects the female body. Who decides what is fashionable? What clothes we wear, what hairstyles we create, what colour lipstick we adore, what body shape is 'all the rage’. Thestory of female adornment from 1860- 1960 is intriguingly unbuttoned in this glorious social history. Virginia Nicholson has long been fascinated by the way we women present ourselves – or are encouraged to present ourselves – to the world. ‘Women have been fat or slim, hyperthyroid or splenetic, sallow or pink-cheeked, slouched or erect, according to the prevalent notions of beauty…’ Cecil Beaton, The Glass of Fashion (1954), In this book we learn about rational dress, suffragettes' hats, the Marcel wave, the Gibson Girls, corsets and the banana skirt. At the centre of this story is the female body, in all its diversity – fat, thin, short, tall, brown, white, black, pink, smooth, hairy, wrinkly, youthful, crooked or symmetrical; and – relevant as ever in this context – the vexed issues of body image and bodily autonomy. We may even find ourselves wondering, whose body is it? In the hundred years this book charts, the western world saw the rapid introduction of new technologies like photography, film and eventually TV, which (for better and worse) thrust women – and female imagery – out of the private and into the public gaze.

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Page Count

356

Publisher

Simon and Schuster

Published Date

ISBN 10

1639367071

ISBN 13

9781639367078

Bananas

An American History

By: Virginia Jenkins

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Bananas

An American History

By: Virginia Jenkins

Before 1880 most Americans had never seen a banana. By 1910 bananas were so common that streets were littered with their peels. Today Americans eat on average nearly seventy-five per year. More than a staple of the American diet, bananas have gained a secure place in the nation's culture and folklore. They have been recommended as the secret to longevity, the perfect food for infants, and the cure for warts, headaches, and stage fright. Essential to the cereal bowl and the pratfall, they remain a mainstay of jokes, songs, and wordplay even after a century of rapid change. Covering every aspect of the banana in American culture, from its beginnings as luxury food to its reputation in the 1910s as the “poor man's” fruit to its role today as a healthy, easy-to-carry snack, Bananas provides an insightful look at a fruit with appeal.

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Page Count

234

Publisher

Smithsonian Institution

Published Date

ISBN 10

1588344126

ISBN 13

9781588344120

Between the Acts

By: Virginia Woolf

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Between the Acts

By: Virginia Woolf

The annotated edition of the renowned author’s last novel: a tale of an English village celebrating the nation’s history as WWII looms. Between the Acts takes place on a June day in 1939 at Pointz Hall, the Oliver family’s country house in the heart of England. In the garden, everyone from the village has gathered to present the annual pageant—scenes from the history of England starting with the Middle Ages. As the story of England unfolds, the lives of the villagers also take shape. The past blends with the present and art blends with life in a narrative full of invention and lyricism. Through her character’s passionate musings and private dramas, and through the enigmatic figure of the pageant author, Miss La Trobe, Virginia Woolf’s final novel both celebrates and satirizes Englishness. This edition of Between the Acts features annotation and an introduction by literary critic and Virginia Woolf specialist Melba Cuddy-Keane.

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Page Count

274

Publisher

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Published Date

ISBN 10

0547564120

ISBN 13

9780547564128

Book's by Virginia Historical Pageant Association

All the Rage

All the Rage

Bananas

Bananas

Between the Acts

Between the Acts

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