The Bible: A Global History, by Bruce Gordon (Basic Books, September 17): There’s a new book coming out tomorrow, and it’s called “The Bible.” No, not that one—in case of any confusion, this one has a single author and a subtitle, “A Global History,” to distinguish it. Bruce Gordon has produced a panoramic history of the Bible, from its writing and compilation to its sprawling editorial and translation history to its role in human affairs. The Bible (the original) presents a challenging combination of specific and universal: its constituent books were written in languages and historical contexts dramatically different from those of its many readers, yet its wisdom and power cut across millennia. That universal resonance, in turn, means the Bible proliferates in far-flung times and places, becoming specific all over—and over and over—again. —SM
“Gary Petersen: The Shape of Walking,” McKenzie Fine Art, New York (through October 20): Gary Petersen’s abstractions hark back to mid-century modern design, playing off the swirling shapes and shades of Eames-era textiles, wallpaper, and Technicolor entertainment. Never trapped in amber, his acrylics add a new dynamism to these upbeat forms. Now at McKenzie Fine Art on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Petersen incorporates window-like rectangles and rolling circles into his curving dips, with an added suite of ink-and-graphite works on paper that reveal the structures behind the colorful pizzazz. —JP
“Edinburgh: Preserving Heritage, Connecting Cultures,” with Christina Sinclair, at the General Society Library (September 24): Edinburgh may be the “Athens of the North,” but the city’s architectural heritage stretches back a good deal further than the Scottish Enlightenment, featuring splendidly preserved medieval buildings in the Old Town along with the better-known stately neoclassical structures of the New Town. On September 24, Christina Sinclair, the director of Edinburgh World Heritage, will deliver a talk at the General Society Library on the various initiatives devoted to preserving this singular city. —BR
“Symposium: Perspectives on Dutch Drawings,” presented by the Morgan Drawing Institute (September 20): Endowed by the great connoisseur E. V. Thaw, the Morgan Drawing Institute has played no small part in making J. Pierpont’s namesake museum and library a premier venue for the preservation and appreciation of stellar draftsmanship. This Friday, September 20, the institute will host a six-part symposium on Dutch drawing in celebration of the soon-to-close “Far and Away: Drawings from the Clement C. Moore Collection.” The first five presentations, led by specialists from around the globe, will treat such subjects as “Drawings of Ruins in the Early Dutch Republic” and “Theater and its Impact on Rembrandt”; the sixth, a panel discussion on art collecting, will include Clement C. “Chips” Moore himself. —RE
Podcasts:
“D. J. Taylor on George Orwell.” Remarks delivered at a New Criterion soirée by the author of Orwell: The New Life and Who Is Big Brother?
By the Editors:
“Democrats shouldn’t be surprised by Trump’s would-be assassins”
Roger Kimball, The Spectator World
From the Archive:
“McKim, Mead & White’s architectural citizenship,” by Michael J. Lewis (September 2006). On the influences of the architectural triumvirate McKim, Mead & White.
