Instructor?

1. Contact your Rep
2. Request an Exam Copy

• Print this page
• Email this page

Steven Biel (Author, Harvard University)

 

Book Details

• Paperback
• June 2006
• ISBN 978-0-393-32855-4
• 5.5 × 8.2 in / 128 pages
• Territory Rights: Worldwide

Endorsements & Reviews

“In his absorbing and often funny cultural study, Steven Biel traces the life of a painting that most of us have seen countless times but haven’t given much thought to . . . [he] persuasively shows how the multiple interpretations of the work's meanings reflect cultural shifts in American society.” — John McMurtrie, San Francisco Chronicle

“A slim but jam-packed record of critical reaction.” — Matthew Price, Washington Post

“A lively cultural history tracing the popular reception of Wood’s masterpiece that suggests how thoroughly the work has taken on a life of its own in the national imagination. . . . Biel argues persuasively that Wood's imaginative identification of Midwestern rectitude and repression with the American identity and character has become one of the work's most enduring legacies. . . . [A] rich, detailed portrait of a native masterpiece that is surely the most recognizable American artwork of the 20th century.” — Glenn McNatt, Baltimore Sun

“[Biel] writes with wit and broad knowledge.” — Jeanine Basinger, New York Times

Also by Steven Biel

1. Down with the Old Canoe: A Cultural History of the Titanic Disaster

   Updated Edition / Paperback

2. Titanica: The Disaster of the Century in Poetry, Song, and Prose

   Paperback

All Subjects

• Art
• Cultural Studies