Billington, James H.
Summary: Interpretive history of Russian thought and culture designed to provide new information and interpretation and not merely to codify an already established consesus. The period under discussion is the last six hundred years, during which time Russia has emerged as a distinctive civilization.
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Alfred A. Knopf 1966
Copies Available at Woodmere
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 947 BILSummary: In Zanzibar they play it at the end of weddings, in Romania at the end of funerals, in Mexico as a protest song, and in Germany as a sailor's lament. Written a century and a half ago by Sebastian Iradier and first performed in Cuba, "La Paloma"-the most frequently played song in the world-has circled the globe like a dove to touch listeners' hearts with longing. Drawing upon insightful expert...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: Presented by sculptor Antony Gormley, this program was created to complement the 2002-3 exhibition of Aztec culture at London's Royal Academy. Many of the incredible works loaned to the exhibit are shown, along with sculptures and artifacts filmed in Mexico City and at important Aztec sites. Leading scholars and curators explore how the nomadic Aztecs drew inspiration from earlier cultures. The...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this Fred Friendly Seminar, Harvard Law School's Charles Ogletree stimulates a vigorous exchange on the tension between artistic expression, freedom of speech, and social responsibility. Presented with scenarios involving antisocial and sometimes violent messages in mass media, Richard Dreyfuss, Def Jam Recordings' David Harleston, the ACLU's Nadine Strossen, Congressman Barney Frank (D-MA),...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
View online at AVOD
Summary: It is predicted that within a century more than half of the world's languages will become extinct, but as languages are lost, new ones emerge naturally or are constructed. In this program, Noam Chomsky; Esperantist Thomas Eccard; endangered languages researcher Peter Ladefoged, who has since passed away; and others provide insights into the language life cycle. Topics include constructed...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: Marx divided the industrial world into two antagonistic classes: the bourgeois and the proletariat. In today's society, this simple dichotomy fails to capture the many segments of a global marketplace. From the communal hunter/gatherers and agrarian cultures; to ancient empires and medieval fiefdoms; to the technocrats, executives, laborers, and others of the stratified modern world, this...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
View online at AVOD
Summary: In this program, John McWhorter, author of The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language; Lyle Campbell, of the University of Utah; Brian Joseph, of The Ohio State University; and population geneticist Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza examine factors that contributed to the diversification and spread of languages, including early migration, the introduction of agriculture, and genes. Language...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: What precisely is language, and how did humans acquire it? In an effort to answer those essential questions, this program journeys back to prehistoric times in search of language's origin. But this is not a passive discussion, as Noam Chomsky; Brown University's Philip Lieberman; Johanna Nichols, of U.C. Berkeley; Stanford University's Merritt Ruhlen; professor of anthropology Richard Klein;...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
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Summary: In this TEDTalk, Steven Pinker charts the decline of violence from biblical times to the present and argues that although it may seem counterintuitive - and even offensive, given recent genocides and atrocities - we are living in the most peaceful time in our species' existence. Pinker is the author of The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined and one of Time's 100 Most...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2007
View online at AVOD
Summary: DNA testing has become a standard tool in genealogical research, but it takes more than saliva swabs and lab reports to truly understand one's ancestry. In this program, two young New Zealanders of Polynesian descent undergo DNA sampling, wrestle with the surprising results, and then embark on a journey of discovery, searching for their roots across the Pacific and into Asia. Their voyage-by...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Summary: This program examines the 20th-century history of Appalachia through the prisms of economic hardship, spiritual perseverance, and the region's rich musical heritage. Showcasing the power of the traditional string band, the video chronicles the rise of modern country music by way of the radio and phonograph. It also highlights the resonance of long-standing church traditions and documents the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: The nation seethes with racial conflict as immigrants increasingly become targets of prejudice, and as settlers and soldiers massacre Western Indians and force them onto reservations. As European freedom-seekers continue to pour into America through Ellis Island, the Supreme Court finally rules that non-citizens are due equal protection under the law.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2002
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Summary: Historically, the arts in Africa were largely communal and unrecorded. But much has changed over the past century, and this program takes a look at art in sub-Saharan Africa as it exists today through profiles of Senegalese rap groups Alif and Wageble and the rap collective Fight and Forget, who use their music as a form of political activism; Senegalese sculptor Babacar Niang, whose workshop...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Boxley, David A.
Summary: "Raised by his grandparents in the tiny village of Metlakatla, Alaska, David A. Boxley left a secure teaching job in his hometown to pursue an uncharted path as a full-time Tsimshian artist, ultimately leading a revival of traditional culture, art, dance, and song. Tsimshian Eagle: A Culture Bearer's Journey chronicles Boxley's life and art through images and interviews. What emerges is a...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Chin Music Press 2023
Copies Available at Kingsley
1 available in Adult Non-fiction, Call number: 921 BOXSummary: Promoted in its time as a celebration—or at least a fully informed study—of foreign ethnicities and customs, the 1900 World’s Fair is recognized today as a spectacle of Eurocentric myopia. This program lays bare that conceit as it interweaves archival photographs, film clips, and posters from the Fair with commentary from renowned art historians. Offerings from museum collections across the...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
View online at AVOD
Marx, W. David
Summary: "An examination of how individuals strive for social status and how this creates our culture as a whole Contrary to belief, status signaling isn't just the province of the immature or insecure but a fundamental human need to secure social standing. It drives our behavior, forms our tastes, determines what we buy, and ultimately shapes who we are. It's what's behind "cool" and what drives...
Format: text
Publisher / Publication Date: Viking 2022