Things Noted Here & There

"The Master of the Blue Jeans: A New Painter of Reality in Late 17th Century Europe," an exhibit at the Galerie Canesso in Paris, appears to present evidence that blue jeans garments were common working class attire in early modern Italy and France. See:"The Renaissance jean jacket," The History Blog, 25 September.

Andrew Roberts,"O Captain, Our Captain," WSJ, 2 October, reviews Ron Chernow's Washington: A Life.

John C. Waugh reviews James L. Swanson's Bloody Crimes: The Chase for Jefferson Davis and the Death Pageant for Lincoln's Corpse for the Washington Post, 3 October.

Philip Kennicott,"Defacing the Score," The Book, 4 October, reviews Norman Lebrecht's Why Mahler? How One Man and Ten Symphonies Changed Our World.

Janet Maslin,"Behind That Humble Pitchfork, a Complex Artist," NYT, 3 October, reviews R. Tripp Evans's Grant Wood: A Life.

Jonathan Yardley reviews Roger Moorhouse's Berlin at War for the Washington Post, 3 October.

Serge Schemann,"Living to Tell," NYT, 30 September, reviews Stephen F. Cohen's The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag After Stalin. See also: Steve Coates,"A Gulag Family Reunion," Paper Cuts, 4 October.

Peter Plagens reviews"Abstract Expressionist New York," an exhibit at Manhattan's Museum of Modern Art. He seems to think it's not"three-quarters brain dead."

Laura Miller reviews Scott Peterson's Let the Swords Encircle Me: Iran -- A Journey Behind the Headlines for Salon, 26 September.