Scott Curtis Books

In the years before the First World War, showmen, entrepreneurs, educators, and scientists used magic lanterns and cinematographs in many contexts and many venues. To employ these silent screen technologies to deliver diverse and complex programs usually demanded audio accompaniment, creating a performance of both sound and image. These shows might include live music, song, lectures, narration, and synchronized sound effects provided by any available party―projectionist, local talent, accompanist or backstage crew―and would often borrow techniques from shadow plays and tableaux vivants. The performances were not immune to the influence of social and cultural forces, such as censorship or reform movements. This collection of essays considers the ways in which different visual practices carried out at the turn of the 20th century shaped performances on and beside the screen.

The Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state has become the most toxic site in the Western Hemisphere, yet most Americans are in the dark about the damage their government's nuclear obsession has wrought on the environment and their tax dollars.

Draws our eye to the role of scientific, medical, educational, and aesthetic observation in shaping modern conceptions of spectatorship

"Experts estimate that just 5 per cent of original Renosterveld survives in a landscape fragmented by agriculture and human settlements. Often regarded as the ugly sister of Fynbos, Renosterveld is part of the Greater Cape Floristic Region's Fynbos biome. While this biome's more charismatic members--proteas, ericas and restios--survive in nutrient-poor environments, the shrublands of Renosterveld grow in relatively fertile soils. Extraordinarily diverse, this vegetation type is dominated by bulbs, flowering plants and palatable grasses. Field Guide to Renosterveld of the Overberg describes almost 1,000 plants and 140 animals found in the region. ... Detailing exciting new discoveries together with endemic and threatened species, this field guide promises to be an enduring record and a vital addition to any nature lover's bookshelf."--Page 4 of cover

"Relaying Cinema in Midcentury Iran investigates how the cultural translation of cinema has been shaped by the physical translation of its ephemera. Kaveh Askari examines film circulation and its effects on Iranian film cultures in the period before foreign studios established official distribution channels and before Iran became a notable site of so-called world cinema. This transcultural history draws on cross-archival comparison of films, distributor memos, licensing contracts, advertising schemes, and audio recordings. Askari meticulously tracks the fragile and sometimes forgotten material of film as it circulated through the Middle East into Iran and shows how this material was rerouted, reengineered, and reimagined in the process. "--