Otto Bettmann

Bach, the "holy cantor" church musician, has been often described in books. But the real Bach, the "eminently astute manager of his life," is frequently buried in endless, uninteresting detail. In contrast, Dr. Otto Bettmann's new book, Johann Sebastian Bach: As His World Knew Him, shows Bach with all his human qualities: the capable management of his vast family -- two wives and twenty children -- Bach's humor, his considerable business acumen, the all too human touches of eroticism, even his attitude toward death. Bettmann explains why for nearly eighty years after the death of the world's greatest composer, Bach sank into oblivion. - Jacket flap.

The story of Western civilization in 4460 pictures.

The author, Otto Bettmann, of the Bettmann archives uses illustrations from various publications of the past to make his point that perhaps things weren't as rosy in the fabled "good old days". Examples include widespread corruption and crime, filth and pollution, disease and contagion, life under no standards of food production whatsoever. An eye-opening look at what is often glossed over when rhapsodizing about our history.

From the writings of the great, the near-great, and the would-be-great, a delicious selection of quotes and anecdotes on that most dangerous of afflictions--the passion for books and reading.

An abridgment of Van Wyck Brooks: Makers and finders.