Best Selling Books by James Hall

This book is an expansion on Hall Photon Theory, first presented in 1998. Recent observations by Hubble support HPT, & nothing has come about against it.

In "The Harpe''s Head: A Legend of Kentucky," James Hall weaves a captivating narrative that intertwines the dark undercurrents of early American frontier life with a richly detailed exploration of folklore and myth. Employing an evocative literary style that blends elements of Gothic fiction with vivid historical detail, Hall paints a haunting portrait of the notorious Harpe brothers, whose gruesome exploits challenge the boundaries of morality and law in the nascent Kentucky wilderness. As Hall adeptly navigates the thin line between historical fact and creative interpretation, he immerses readers in a landscape where horror, adventure, and the human psyche collide, all set against the backdrop of 19th-century American expansionism. James Hall, an esteemed figure in American literature and a prominent advocate for the exploration of regional narratives, draws upon his profound understanding of Kentucky''s history and culture to fuel this gripping tale. His experiences as a traveler, writer, and keen observer of human nature inspired him to delve into the chilling legends surrounding the Harpe brothers, amplifying the historical authenticity with his signature narrative style that appeals to both the emotional and intellectual sensibilities of his audience. "The Harpe''s Head" is not only a significant contribution to the genre of American Gothic literature but also an essential read for anyone seeking to grasp the complexities of early American society. Hall''s masterful storytelling and deep thematic explorations make this book a compelling choice for readers who appreciate a blend of history, horror, and rich narrative depth.

Excerpts from art critic, historian, lecturer, and broadcaster James Hall''s lively and comprehensive cultural history of self-portraiture, focusing on artists including Dürer, Gentileschi, Van Gogh, and Kahlo. Art critic, historian, lecturer, and broadcaster James Hall delves into the allure of self-portraiture in an engaging and accessible short history of the subject, revealing how it became the defining visual genre of our confessional age. Across six chapters, Hall maps the genre from its medieval origins to its present-day manifestations. Along the way he investigates the importance of biography for serial self-portraitists such as van Gogh; themes of sex and genius in works by Munch and Modersohn-Becker; and the effect of globalization on the art of self-representation. From the exuberantly caricatural to the stoic and heroic, Hall covers a full range of portraits and looks deeply into the worlds and mindsets of the artists who created them.

The understanding and enjoyment of a work of art depends as much on the story it depicts as on the artist''s execution of it. But what were once biblical or classical commonplaces are not so readily recognizable today. This book relates in a succinct and readable way the themes, sacred and secular, on which the repertoire of Western art is based. Combined here in a single volume are religious, classical, and historical themes, figures of moral allegory, and characters from romantic poetry that appeared throughout paintings and sculpture in Western art before and after the Renaissance. More than just a dictionary, this text places these subjects in their narrative, historical, or mythological context and uses extensive cross-referencing to enhance and clarify the meanings of these themes for the reader. The definitive work by which others are compared, this volume has become an indispensable handbook for students and general appreciators alike. This wholly redesigned second edition includes a new insert of images chosen by the author, as well as a new preface and index to highlight the ideas, beliefs, and social and religious customs that form the background of much of this subject matter.

"A Companion volume to James Hall’s perennial seller Dictionary of Subjects & Symbols in Art. which deals with the subject matter of Christian and Western art, the present volume includes the art of Egypt, the ancient Near East, Christian and classical Europe, India and the Far East. Flail explores the language of symbols in art showing how paintings, drawings and sculpture express man shades of meaning from simple, everyday hopes and fears to the profoundest philosophical and religious aspirations. The book explains and interprets symbols from many cultures, and over 600 illustrations clarify and complement the text. There are numbered references throughout the text to the sacred Iitcra-1 ture, myths and legends in which the symbols had their origins. Details of English translations of the works are in the bibliography. The book includes an appendix of the transcription of Chinese, notes and references, bibliography, chronological tables and index."

''. . . Michelangelo was constantly flaying dead bodies, in order to study the secrets of anatomy, thus beginning to give perfection to the great knowledge of design that he afterwards acquired.'' Giorgio Vasari, Life of Michelangelo, 1568.Michelangeo''s art is exhilarating, but also bewildering. What is the source of its incomparable power? In this imaginative and detailed study, the art critic James Hall explores some of the major puzzles - the unmaternal nature of Michelangelo''s Madonnas and their lack of responsiveness; his concern with colossal scale and size; the way that anatomical dissections affected his attitude to the human body; the passionate, anxious placing of solitary, heroic figures against a background of troubling crowds. In the process he arrives at a more precise appreciation of the body language of his figures, and offers new explanations of many of the most familiar sculptures, paintings and drawings, including the statue of David and the narratives of the Sistine Chapel ceiling, the complex iconography of the Medici tombs in the Sacristy of San Lorenzo and his powerful late images of the dead Christ. Hall dispels the notion of an artist-superman possessed of titanic mental and physical powers, embodying the sublime spirit of his age, and also topples the long-held view of Michelangelo as brilliant but unbalanced, obsessed with the male nude. Instead he redefines him as the first artist to put the human body centre stage, giving his study a profound relevance to our own time, in which artists, film-makers, writers and scholars are so fixated on ''the body''. If we really want to understand our own culture, Hall argues, we need to understand Michelangelo. This fine, elaborate study offers us a way to do so.

The Sinister Side reveals a hidden symbolic language in the visual arts: that of the perceived differences between the left and right sides of the body. Long forgotten or misunderstood, it is a symbolism that has been interpreted by artists differently through the centuries, and that sheds new light on some of our greatest works of art.

Both authors ... saw their book as a way of preserving an accurate visual record of a rapidly disappearing culture. The text, which was written by Hall based on information supplied by McKenney, takes the form of a series of biographies of leading figures amongst the Indian nations, followed by a general history of the North American Indians. The work is now famous for its color plate portraits of the chiefs, warriors and squaws of the various tribes, faithful copies of original oils by Charles Bird King painted from life in his studio in Washington (McKenney commissioned him to record the visiting Indian delegates) or worked up by King from the watercolors of the young frontier artist, James Otto Lewis. All but four of the original paintings were destroyed in the disastrous Smithsonian fire of 1865, so their appearance in this work preserves what is probably the best likeness of many of the most prominent Indian leaders of the early 19th century. -- Reese.