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My Two Polish Grandfathers

Author: Witold Rybczynski

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2009-02-03

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 1416561285

AWARD-WINNING AND CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED WRITER WITOLD RYBCZYNSKI DELIVERS A REVELATORY COLLECTION OF LINKED AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL ESSAYS -- PART MEMOIR, PART FAMILY HISTORY -- ABOUT THE UPHEAVALS OF EUROPEAN LIVES DURING WORLD WAR II, HIS OWN INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT, AND THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGES OF ART, MUSIC, AND ARCHITECTURE. Witold Rybczynski's parents and grandparents were a thriving, cultured family in prewar Warsaw, then a sophisticated European city. With the onset of war, their world fell apart. His mother and father made separate escapes, reuniting against many odds on a ship bound for Scotland from Marseilles. That people can lose everything, overcome stunning odds to survive, remake themselves in a foreign country, learn a new language and culture, and then do it again is extraordinary. My Two Polish Grandfathers is a testament to the boundaryless world of art, architecture, and music -- which can be transported from one country to another -- and clear affirmation of Rybczynski's own path toward becoming an architect and one of today's most original thinkers. Beautifully written, thoughtful, and extraordinarily subtle, this riveting work offers a rare glimpse into the development of Rybczynski's educated outsider's eye and is a tribute to a European generation that has helped to define postwar American culture.

From Paderewski to Penderecki: The Polish Musician in Philadelphia

Author: Paul Krzywicki

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2016-03-16

Total Pages: 398

ISBN-13: 1483442675

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Extraordinary stories and accomplishments of 170 Polish musicians whose presence in Philadelphia influenced music in America. Paul Krzywicki, a native of Philadelphia, was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra for thirty-three years, performing in over four thousand concerts, more than 60 recordings and presenting master classes throughout the world. He is currently on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music. A full biography is in Part I.

My Grandfather's Book

Author: Gary Gildner

Publisher: MSU Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13:

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Believing that the last book his grandfather ever read, the one he was buried with, was Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Gildner reflects on his relationship to literature and writing and how that is related to his roots as a Slovakian. Much of his reflection takes place in the context of travels through Eastern Europe and the United States, as well as his relationship with family members past and present. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Understanding the Transgenerational Legacy of Totalitarian Regimes

Author: Elena Cherepanov

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-11-23

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 0429638507

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Understanding the Transgenerational Legacy of Totalitarian Regimes examines the ways in which the cultural memory of surviving totalitarianism can continue to shape individual and collective vulnerabilities as well as build strength and resilience in subsequent generations. The author uses her personal experience of growing up in the former Soviet Union and professional expertise in global trauma to explore how the psychological legacy of totalitarian regimes influences later generations’ beliefs, behaviors, and social and political choices. The book offers interdisciplinary perspectives on the complex aftermath of societal victimization in different cultures and discusses survivors’ experiences. Readers will find practical tools that can be used in family therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and peace building to recognize and challenge preconceived assumptions stemming from cultural trauma. This book equips trauma-minded mental health professionals with an understanding of the transgenerational toxicity of totalitarianism and with strategies for becoming educated consumers of cultural legacy.

Maria the Panther

Author: Adam Adrian Brostow

Publisher: iUniverse

Published: 2010-08-24

Total Pages: 88

ISBN-13: 9781450239943

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Maria the Panther presents the story of the author’s grandmother, Maria, who was a strong professional woman well ahead of her times. At the same time, her biography provides a sweeping overview of the history of twentieth-century Europe, transcending cultures. Grandma Maria was born in 1902 in Warsaw, which at that time was part of the Russian Empire. She died in 1992 at the age of eighty-nine, in a free Poland. She survived World War I and cheated death at least four times during World War II. She was arrested by the Soviet NKVD (later known as the KGB). As private in the Home Army (serial number 202), she fought the Nazis in the Resistance and the Warsaw Uprising. She was taken to a Nazi concentration camp and later worked at a labor camp in Berlin. There she gained a nickname—“The Panther”—for her resourcefulness and courage. She survived the carpet bombing of Berlin. In the late 1940s, at a time when most women were confined to domestic duties, she became the president of a bank. Years later she joined the free Solidarity trade union. She lived to see the fall of the Berlin Wall and to participate in free elections in her native Poland.

The Joys of Travel

Author: Thomas Swick

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2016-05-03

Total Pages: 194

ISBN-13: 1634508238

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The Joys of Travel: And Stories that Illuminate Them is a collection of Thomas Swick’s personal essays on what he has identified as “the seven joys of travel”: anticipation, movement, break from routine, novelty, discovery, emotional connection and heightened appreciation of home. The Joys of Travel awakens readers to pleasures that, as travelers, they may be taking for granted. It also shows non-travelers what they’ve been missing. It offers tips on how people can get the most out of their trips, as well as the titles of travel classics that will not only prepare them for the places they visit but make those places more meaningful once they get there. And it tells, through memories and stories, the tale of someone who has made a living writing about travel. In fact, the story of Thomas Swick’s life as a traveler neatly parallels the examination of a journey from beginning to end. Before you next trip, be it a family vacation or a backpacking tour of Europe, read The Joys of Travel. It will inspire you to get the most out of your time away from home and to get away more often.

Mysteries of the Mall

Author: Witold Rybczynski

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2015-09-08

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1429953241

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A deep exploration of modern life that examines our cities, public places, and homes Following How Architecture Works, Witold Rybczynski casts a seasoned critical eye over the modern scene with Mysteries of the Mall. His subject is nothing less than the broad setting of our metropolitan world. In thirty-five discerning essays, Rybczynski ranges over subjects as varied as shopping malls, Central Park, the Paris opera house, and America's shrinking cities. Along the way, he examines our post-9/11 obsession with security, the revival of the big-city library, the rise of college towns, and our fascination with vacation homes, and he visits Disney's planned community of Celebration. By looking at contemporary architects as diverse as Frank Gehry, Moshe Safdie, and Bing Thom, revisiting old masters such as Christopher Wren, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright, and considering such unsung innovators as Stanley H. Durwood, the inventor of the Cineplex, Rybczynski ponders the role of global cities in an age of tourism and what places attract us in the modern city. Mysteries of the Mall is required reading for anyone curious about the modern world and how it came to be that way.

The Story of Architecture

Author: Witold Rybczynski

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 2022-11-29

Total Pages: 736

ISBN-13: 0300270992

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An inviting exploration of architecture across cultures and centuries by one of the field’s eminent authors In this sweeping history, from the Stone Age to the present day, Witold Rybczynski shows how architectural ideals have been affected by technological, economic, and social changes—and by changes in taste. The host of examples ranges from places of worship such as Hagia Sophia and Brunelleschi’s Duomo to living spaces such as the Katsura Imperial Villa and the Alhambra, national icons such as the Lincoln Memorial and the Sydney Opera House, and skyscrapers such as the Seagram Building and Beijing’s CCTV headquarters. Rybczynski’s narrative emphasizes the ways that buildings across time and space are united by the human desire for order, meaning, and beauty. This is the story of architecture’s physical manifestation of the universal aspiration to celebrate, honor, and commemorate, and an exploration of the ways that each building is a unique product of patrons, architects, and builders. Firm in opinion, even-handed, and rooted in scholarship, this book will delight anyone interested in understanding the buildings they use, visit, and pass by each day.

Now I Sit Me Down

Author: Witold Rybczynski

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2016-08-23

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 0374223211

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"A history of chairs becomes a revealing history of design and leisure, and ultimately of how we see ourselves"--

How Architecture Works

Author: Witold Rybczynski

Publisher: Macmillan

Published: 2013-10-08

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 0374211744

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Explores "fundamental questions about how good--and not-so-good--buildings are designed and constructed. Introducing the reader to the rich and varied world of modern architecture, [the author] takes us behind the scenes, revealing how architects as different as Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, and Robert A. M. Stern envision and create their designs"--Dust jacket flap.