Carol Clark – författare

Poet and soldier, brawler and charmer, Cyrano de Bergerac is desperately in love with Roxane, the most beautiful woman in Paris. But there is one very large problem - he has a nose of stupendous size and believes she will never see past it to return his feelings. So when he discovers that the handsome but tongue-tied Christian is also pining for Roxane, generous Cyrano offers to help by writing exquisite declarations of love for the young man to woo her with. Will she ever recognize who she is really falling in love with? Set during the reign of Louis XIII, Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac (1897) was one of the great theatrical successes of its time and remains as popular today for its dramatic power and, above all, for its good-natured, passionate and swashbuckling hero.

In the middle of the Mexican-American War, the secretary of the Navy authorized Lt. William Francis Lynch to command an unusual expedition, not south to the war zone, but east to Ottoman Palestine, now Israel and Jordan, to map the Dead Sea. Traversing this backwater of a dying empire, Lynch forged life-saving alliances with a Bedouin sheik and a Hashemite Sharif. Horses weren't strong enough, so he improvised with foul-tempered camels to haul metal boats overland from the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee. He navigated the treacherous, uncharted rapids of the Jordan and braved near starvation before reaching Jerusalem. But why? The expedition followed a long tradition of quasi-scientific expeditions as it attempted to establish that the Dead Sea lay below sea level—but it didn't generate enough knowledge to justify the expense or the suffering of the fifteen Americans who joined Lynch's obsessive quest. Was it a publicity stunt? Or the first step in returning Muslim Palestine to its former glory as a Judeo-Christian land of milk and honey? In vivid, absorbing detail, CLASH OF EAGLES masterfully recounts this seemingly foolhardy mission that the Civil War soon derailed. Another hundred years would pass before America again involved itself in the Middle East.

Learn the essentials of Asian gemstones with this useful and portable reference book.Gemstones, both mythical and real, are deeply embedded in the arts, religions and cultures of Asia. This handy pocket guide provides an excellent introduction to the full range of superb gemstones mined and processed in the region, their physical characteristics, historical importance and countries of origin. Stunning color photographs and informative text by noted writer on gemstones Carol Clark, will delight both gem collectors and lovers of fine jewelry alike. Periplus Handy Pocket Guides are practical field guides, useful for identifying various natural objects ranging from plants and animals to gemstones and seashells. Each page of each title throughout the series is filled with clear, precise photographs and informative text. Scientific and local language names are given.

Charles Deas (1818-67), an enigmatic figure on the edge of mainstream artistic circles in mid-nineteenth-century New York, went west to explore new opportunities and subjects in 1840. From his adopted hometown of St. Louis, Deas sent his iconic paintings of fur trappers and Indians back east for exhibition and sale, briefly winning the recognition that had earlier eluded him.This handsome volume - featuring more than 150 illustrations, 70 in color - is the first book exclusively devoted to Deas. In two major essays, Carol Clark presents Deas's haunting biography and complex art - works that embodied Americans' uncertainty about the future of their rapidly expanding nation, especially in the contested spaces of the West. Ranging from Indian genre scenes to more violent and bizarre themes drawn from literature and his own imagination, Deas's images reverberate with the racial tensions and cut-throat economic competition of the period. Three additional essayists examine the historical, political, and social context of Deas's art and discuss in detail two of his major paintings, Walking the Chalk and Long Jakes, ""the Rocky Mountain Man.""The volume also includes Clark's catalogue of Deas's paintings, watercolors, and drawings - the most extensive recovery and documentation to date of the work of this important but little-known artist. Charles Deas and 1840s America will constitute the definitive reference on the painter for years to come.