The Evolution of the Nasher Collection is the catalog that accompanies the inaugural exhibition, on view from October 2, 2005, through May 21, 2006, at the new Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. The exhibition draws from the collection of the museum's benefactor, Raymond D. Nasher, and his late wife, Patsy. The Nashers built one of the world's major collections of twentieth-century sculpture over the course of forty years. The exhibition includes seminal works by Auguste Rodin, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Alberto Giacometti, Jean Dubuffet, David Smith, Henry Moore, and others. Before sculpture, the Nashers collected ancient American art, Guatemalan textiles, contemporary prints, and paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol. Many of these works, held in the Nashers' private residence, will be on public view--and published in this full-color catalog--for the first time. The book offers a new approach to viewing and thinking about the Nasher Collection, concentrating not on the final, finished product, "the greatest collection of modern sculpture in private hands," but on the unfolding of the process of building that collection through time, its chronological development from the early 1950s to the present. In the history of any collection, there is a narrative of evolution--a beginning, which includes a motivation, followed by a process of change as the collector works out by experience and experimentation a personal approach to the gathering of objects of art. In the case of the Nasher collection, this personal approach is the result of a remarkable synergy between two individuals, Raymond D. Nasher and Patsy Nasher. The essay by curator Sarah Schroth contextualizes the Nashers as collectors within the history of collecting practices in the United States in the second half of the twentieth century. Publication of the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University

With over 200 illustrations of iconic works as well as preparatory studies and historic photographs, this book offers fresh insight into Koons’s polarizing and influential career.

In 1975, a young art student named Jeff Koons (b. 1955) moved to Chicago, where he studied at the School of the Art Institute; worked as a studio assistant to his hero, painter Ed Paschke, for $1 an hour; and socialized with many of the city's most talented artists. This handsome book takes a fresh look at the rise and career of Jeff Koons, who is now arguably one of the world's most famous artists. Koons collaborated extensively on this book, which accompanies the first solo museum exhibition in the U.S. in 16 years and offers a survey of nearly thirty years of his work, beginning with iconic sculptures from 1979 to new paintings completed in 2007. Francesco Bonami reconsiders his career, making intriguing connections to the work of Andy Warhol, A. A. Milne, Marcel Duchamp, and Gustave Courbet, among others. This is the first publication to explore a little-known but highly influential period in the artist's career--his time in Chicago in the 1970s. It also provides an accessible and comprehensive introduction to Koons's work for new audiences and short texts about each of his series and many major works. Published in association with the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago Exhibition Schedule: Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (May 31 - September 21, 2008)

In the 1993 time-frame, after the end of the cold war, a group of disenfranchised former leaders of the Soviet Union seek to undermine the current Russian Federation power structure and embarrass the United States. Using Libyan President Moammar Khadaffi as their foil, they arrange for the covert transfer of 24 specially configured Soviet SU-27K fighters to a secret base in Southern Libya. The fighters are the entire inventory of carrier versions of the Sukhoi fighter with folding wings, tailhooks and super engines that had been intended for the first real Russian aircraft carrier, Tiblisi. The key figures in the intrigue are a Russian test pilot, Vladimir Chilin, the test pilot who conducted the carrier tests on the Tiblisi as well as the instructor who trains the Libyan special squadron; Abou Wattaz, the leading Libyan fighter pilot; Abou Nidal, the world's most deadly hitman and a U.S. Navy fighter aircrew from the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. The climax of the story occurs in the air over the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya. The Navy aircrew, Commander Jay Blakeley and his radar intercept officer, Lieutenant Frank Brownley lead a flight of F-14s into a pitched aerial engagement with the entire special Libyan squadron. It is clash of high-technology fighters and aerial weapons in an action-packed engagement "furball", with devastating results for the Libyans. Vladimir Chilin, who is an airborne witness to the disaster, avoids an assassination attempt by his Libyan wingman and makes the difficult choice of defecting to the American aircraft carrier.

Revised and updated, this popular history by an award-winning author brings the story of Texas into the twenty-first century. Since its publication in 1989, Texas, A Modern History has established itself as one of the most readable and reliable general histories of Texas. David McComb paints the panorama of Lone Star history from the earliest Indians to the present day with a vigorous brush that uses fact, anecdote, and humor to present a concise narrative. The book is designed to offer an adult reader the savor of Texan culture, an exploration of the ethos of its people, and a sense of the rhythm of its development. Spanish settlement, the Battle of the Alamo, the Civil War, cattle trails, oil discovery, the growth of cities, changes in politics, the Great Depression, World War II, recreation, economic expansion, and recession are each a part of the picture. Photographs and fascinating sidebars punctuate the text. In this revised edition, McComb not only incorporates recent scholarship but also tracks the post–World War II rise of the Republican Party in Texas and the evolution of the state from rural to urban, with 88 percent of the people now living in cities. At the same time, he demonstrates that, despite many changes that have made Texas similar to the rest of the United States, much of its unique past remains. “Contrary to popular belief, there is more to Texas history than the Alamo and oil gushers. This book takes us from the early Indians of the area through to modern times when people began to realize the exploitation of natural resources and pollution were ruining the state’s natural beauty. The author offers many stories and an ample helping of anecdotes and folklore to paint an accurate portrait of the state and the people who have made it great.” —American West

This work that proposes a novel interpretation of a city that has proudly declared its freedom from the past looks at elements that have shaped Dallas and served to limit democratic participation and exacerbate inequality.