Looking at Ansel Adams -- The Photographs and the Man by Andrea G. Stillman, Little Brown '12 in oversized format on glossy stock, slight wrinkling at top of dust jacket but no tears or punctures, $40, 254 pages, ASIN #0316217808. Index, endnotes, no bibliography, scores of b&w images sprinkled through text.
Life isn't all black and white; unless, of course, your name is Ansel Adams. No Kodachrome for this iconic artist, whose work is displayed in this coffee-table book picturing a variety of subjects -- mountain ranges, skiers, family portraits, deserts, self-portraits, landscapes, animal and plant life, and newspaper front pages.
It's not all images, though. Here's a sampling of the text, written by the author, and taken from the Introduction:
"The Ansel I knew was funny, sweet, charming, full of laughter and jokes, addicted to work, unable to hurt anyone's feelings, though the best of him is reflected in his photographs. Alfred Stieglitz expressed a sentiment that many who knew Ansel shared when he wrote, 'It's good for me to know that Ansel Adams is loose somewhere in this world of ours.' Ansel no longer climbs Half Dome or strides the High Sierra, but his presence resonates in every one of his photographs."
Author Andrea G. Stillman worked closelhy with Ansel Adams for seven years in the 1970s as his executive assistant. She has edited several Adams books and lives in New York City.
Finding Jung -- Frank N. McMillan, Jr., a Life in Quest of the Lion by Frank N. McMillan III, with a foreword by Sir Laurens van der Post, Texas A&M Press '12, $29.95, 224 pages, ASIN #1603445811. Index, bibliography, notes, b&w images sprinkled through text.
From the book jacket:
"Frank N. McMillan, Jr., a country boy steeped in the traditional culture of rural Texas, was summoned to a life-long quest for meaning by a dream lion he met in the night. On his journey, he followed the lead of the founder of analytical psychology, Carl Jung, and eventually established the world's first professorship to advance the study of that field.
"McMillan, born and raised on a ranch near Calvert, was an Aggie through and through, with degrees in geology and petroleum engineering. As an adult working near Bay City, Texas, he was lunching in a country cafe' when by chance he met abstract expressionist painter Forrest Bess, who was ecstatically waving a letter he had received from Jung himself. The artist's enthusiastic description of Jung as a master psychologist, soul doctor, and healer led McMillan to the June Center in Houston, where he began Jung's Collected Works. McMillan frequently said 'Jung saved my life.'"
Protecting Heritage in the Caribbean, Edited by Peter E. Siegel & Elizabeth Righter, Alabama UP '11 paperback. 202 pages, ASIN #-0817356673. Index, references cited, 
notes follow each essay, unillustrated.
The editors have gathered herein 18 essays from a variety of experts, grouped by island or nation: The Bahamas, Cuba, Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, French West Indies, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, and the Netherlands Antilles.
From the back cover:
"Protecting Heritage in the Caribbean addresses the problem of how Caribbean nations deal with the challenges of protecting their cultural heritages or patrimonies within the context of pressing economic development concerns. Practitioners of heritage management on the frontlines of their own islands address the current state of affairs across the Caribbean to present a comprehensive overview of heritage preservation challenges. Considerable variability is seen in how determined and serious different nations are in approaching the responsibilities of heritage preservation. Packaging these diverse scenarios into a single volume is a criitical step in raising awareness of the importance of protecting and judiciously managing an ever-diminishing fund of Caribbean heritage.
Editor Peter E. Siegel teaches anthropology at Montclair State University in New Jersey. Editor Elizabeth Righter is former territorial archaeologist for the U.S. Virgin Islands State Historic Preservation Office, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
