Joseph Manca – författare

On the banks of the Potomac River, Mount Vernon stands, with its iconic portico boasting breathtaking views and with a landscape to rival the great gardens of Europe, as a monument to George Washington's artistic and creative efforts. More than one million people visit Mount Vernon each year-drawn to the stature and beauty of Washington's family estate. Art historian Joseph Manca systematically examines Mount Vernon-its stylistic, moral, and historical dimensions-offering a complete picture of this national treasure and the man behind its enduring design. Manca brings to light a Washington deeply influenced by his wide travels in colonial America, with a broader architectural knowledge than previously suspected, and with a philosophy that informed his aesthetic sensibility. Washington believed that design choices and personal character mesh to form an ethic of virtue and fulfillment and that art is inextricably linked with moral and social concerns. Manca examines how these ideas shaped the material culture of Mount Vernon.Based on careful study of Washington's personal diaries and correspondence and on the lively accounts of visitors to his estate, this richly illustrated book introduces a George Washington unfamiliar to many readers-an avid art collector, amateur architect, and leading landscape designer of his time.

Whether you skipped college or need a refresher or supplementto what you learned, humanities professor Joseph Manca shows how acollege-level liberal arts education can be essentially free and accessible in‘Free Thinking: How to Educate Yourself in the Liberal Arts’.Professor Manca provides listings and commentaries to help you study and enjoyhigh-quality texts, works of art, films, and classical music.Thebook lays out a curriculum that, like college, one can follow over four years,or at your own pace. The chapters are arranged—not along the lines oftraditional academic departments—but more like life itself, with categoriessuch as love and desire, utopia and dystopia, and our relationship to thenatural world. This is not a traditional Canon, but is instead a lively listingof stimulating fiction, nonfiction, and important artworks and music.