Renaissance Rivals

Download Renaissance Rivals PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780300105896
Total Pages : 540 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (58 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Renaissance Rivals by : Rona Goffen

Download or read book Renaissance Rivals written by Rona Goffen and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 540 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For sixteenth-century Italian masters, the creation of art was a contest. They knew each other's work and patrons, were collegues and rivals. Survey of this artistic rivalry, the emotional and professional circumstances of their creations.

Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese

Download Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Gower Publishing Company, Limited
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 324 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (318 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese by : Frederick Ilchman

Download or read book Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese written by Frederick Ilchman and published by Gower Publishing Company, Limited. This book was released on 2009 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "For nearly four decades in the sixteenth century, the careers of Renaissance Venice's three greatest painters - Titian, Tintoretto, and Veronese - overlapped, encouraging mutual influences and bitter rivalries that changed the course of art history. Venice was then among Europe's richest cities, and its plentiful commissions fostered an exceptionally fertile and innovative climate. In this environment, the three artists - brilliant, ambitious, and fiercely competitive - vied with each other for primacy, deploying the new combination of oil on canvas, with its unique expressive possibilities, and such new approaches as a personal and identifiable signature touch. They also pioneered the use of easel painting, a newly portable format that allowed for unprecedented fame in their lifetimes. With more than 160 stunning examples by the three masters and their contemporaries, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese elucidates the technical and aesthetic innovations that helped define the "Venetian style"--Characterized by loose technique. rich coloring, and often sensual subject matter - as well as the social, political, and economic context in which it flourished. Essays range from examinations of new approaches to studies of such crucial institutions as state commissions and the private patronage system. Most of all, by concentrating on the lives and careers of Venice's three greatest painters, the volume presents a vibrant human portrait - one brimming with intense competition, one-upmanship, humor, and passion."--Jacket.

The Lost Battles

Download The Lost Battles PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 030796101X
Total Pages : 427 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (79 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Lost Battles by : Jonathan Jones

Download or read book The Lost Battles written by Jonathan Jones and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2012-10-23 with total page 427 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From one of Britain’s most respected and acclaimed art historians, art critic of The Guardian—the galvanizing story of a sixteenth-century clash of titans, the two greatest minds of the Renaissance, working side by side in the same room in a fierce competition: the master Leonardo da Vinci, commissioned by the Florentine Republic to paint a narrative fresco depicting a famous military victory on a wall of the newly built Great Council Hall in the Palazzo Vecchio, and his implacable young rival, the thirty-year-old Michelangelo. We see Leonardo, having just completed The Last Supper, and being celebrated by all of Florence for his miraculous portrait of the wife of a textile manufacturer. That painting—the Mona Lisa—being called the most lifelike anyone had ever seen yet, more divine than human, was captivating the entire Florentine Republic. And Michelangelo, completing a commissioned statue of David, the first colossus of the Renaissance, the archetype hero for the Republic epitomizing the triumph of the weak over the strong, helping to reshape the public identity of the city of Florence and conquer its heart. In The Lost Battles, published in England to great acclaim (“Superb”—The Observer; “Beguilingly written”—The Guardian), Jonathan Jones brilliantly sets the scene of the time—the politics; the world of art and artisans; and the shifting, agitated cultural landscape. We see Florence, a city freed from the oppressive reach of the Medicis, lurching from one crisis to another, trying to protect its liberty in an Italy descending into chaos, with the new head of the Republic in search of a metaphor that will make clear the glory that is Florence, and seeing in the commissioned paintings the expression of his vision. Jones reconstructs the paintings that Leonardo and Michelangelo undertook—Leonardo’s Battle of Anghiari, a nightmare seen in the eyes of the warrior (it became the first modern depiction of the disenchantment of war) and Michelangelo’s Battle of Cascina, a call to arms and the first great transfiguration of the erotic into art. Jones writes about the competition; how it unfolded and became the defining moment in the transformation of “craftsman” to “artist”; why the Florentine government began to fall out of love with one artist in favor of the other; and how—and why—in a competition that had no formal prize to clearly resolve the outcome, the battle became one for the hearts and minds of the Florentine Republic, with Michelangelo setting out to prove that his work, not Leonardo’s, embodied the future of art. Finally, we see how the result of the competition went on to shape a generation of narrative paintings, beginning with those of Raphael. A riveting exploration into one of history’s most resonant exchanges of ideas, a rich, fascinating book that gives us a whole new understanding of an age and those at its center.

The Serpent and the Moon

Download The Serpent and the Moon PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 0743251067
Total Pages : 436 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (432 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Serpent and the Moon by : Princess Michael of Kent

Download or read book The Serpent and the Moon written by Princess Michael of Kent and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2005-09-13 with total page 436 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set against the stunning backdrop of Renaissance France, The Serpent and the Moon is a true story of love, war, intrigue, betrayal, and persecution. At its heart is one of the world's greatest love stories: the lifelong devotion of King Henri II of France to Diane de Poitiers, a beautiful aristocrat who was nineteen years older than her lover. At age fourteen, Henri was married to fourteen-year-old Catherine de' Medici, an unattractive but extremely wealthy heiress who was to bring half of Italy to France as her dowry. When Catherine met Henri on her wedding day, she fell instantly in love, but Henri could see no one but the beautiful Diane. When Henri eventually became king, he and Diane ruled France as one. Meanwhile, Catherine took as her secret motto the words "Hate and Wait" and lived for the day Diane would die and she could win Henri's love and rule by his side. Fate had another plan. Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent, herself a descendant of both Catherine and Diane, imbues this seldom-told story with an insider's grasp of royal life. The Serpent and the Moon is a fascinating love story as well as a richly woven history of an extraordinary time.

The Rival Queens

Download The Rival Queens PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Little, Brown
ISBN 13 : 0316409677
Total Pages : 448 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (164 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Rival Queens by : Nancy Goldstone

Download or read book The Rival Queens written by Nancy Goldstone and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2015-06-23 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The riveting true story of mother-and-daughter queens Catherine de' Medici and Marguerite de Valois, whose wildly divergent personalities and turbulent relationship changed the shape of their tempestuous and dangerous century. Set in magnificent Renaissance France, this is the story of two remarkable women, a mother and daughter driven into opposition by a terrible betrayal that threatened to destroy the realm. Catherine de' Medici was a ruthless pragmatist and powerbroker who dominated the throne for thirty years. Her youngest daughter Marguerite, the glamorous "Queen Margot," was a passionate free spirit, the only adversary whom her mother could neither intimidate nor control. When Catherine forces the Catholic Marguerite to marry her Protestant cousin Henry of Navarre against her will, and then uses her opulent Parisian wedding as a means of luring his followers to their deaths, she creates not only savage conflict within France but also a potent rival within her own family. Rich in detail and vivid prose, Goldstone's narrative unfolds as a thrilling historical epic. Treacherous court politics, poisonings, inter-national espionage, and adultery form the background to a story that includes such celebrated figures as Elizabeth I, Mary, Queen of Scots, and Nostradamus. The Rival Queens is a dangerous tale of love, betrayal, ambition, and the true nature of courage, the echoes of which still resonate.

Oil and Marble

Download Oil and Marble PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.
ISBN 13 : 1628726393
Total Pages : 354 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (287 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Oil and Marble by : Stephanie Storey

Download or read book Oil and Marble written by Stephanie Storey and published by Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.. This book was released on 2016-03-01 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "From 1501 to 1505, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo Buonarroti both lived and worked in Florence. Leonardo was a charming, handsome fifty year-old at the peak of his career. Michelangelo was a temperamental sculptor in his mid-twenties, desperate to make a name for himself. The two despise each other."--Front jacket flap.

Luxury Arts of the Renaissance

Download Luxury Arts of the Renaissance PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Getty Publications
ISBN 13 : 0892367857
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (923 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Luxury Arts of the Renaissance by : Marina Belozerskaya

Download or read book Luxury Arts of the Renaissance written by Marina Belozerskaya and published by Getty Publications. This book was released on 2005-10-01 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today we associate the Renaissance with painting, sculpture, and architecture—the “major” arts. Yet contemporaries often held the “minor” arts—gem-studded goldwork, richly embellished armor, splendid tapestries and embroideries, music, and ephemeral multi-media spectacles—in much higher esteem. Isabella d’Este, Marchesa of Mantua, was typical of the Italian nobility: she bequeathed to her children precious stone vases mounted in gold, engraved gems, ivories, and antique bronzes and marbles; her favorite ladies-in-waiting, by contrast, received mere paintings. Renaissance patrons and observers extolled finely wrought luxury artifacts for their exquisite craftsmanship and the symbolic capital of their components; paintings and sculptures in modest materials, although discussed by some literati, were of lesser consequence. This book endeavors to return to the mainstream material long marginalized as a result of historical and ideological biases of the intervening centuries. The author analyzes how luxury arts went from being lofty markers of ascendancy and discernment in the Renaissance to being dismissed as “decorative” or “minor” arts—extravagant trinkets of the rich unworthy of the status of Art. Then, by re-examining the objects themselves and their uses in their day, she shows how sumptuous creations constructed the world and taste of Renaissance women and men.

The Science of Describing

Download The Science of Describing PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : University of Chicago Press
ISBN 13 : 0226620867
Total Pages : 402 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (266 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Science of Describing by : Brian W. Ogilvie

Download or read book The Science of Describing written by Brian W. Ogilvie and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-09-15 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Out of the diverse traditions of medical humanism, classical philology, and natural philosophy, Renaissance naturalists created a new science devoted to discovering and describing plants and animals. Drawing on published natural histories, manuscript correspondence, garden plans, travelogues, watercolors, and drawings, The Science of Describing reconstructs the evolution of this discipline of description through four generations of naturalists. In the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, naturalists focused on understanding ancient and medieval descriptions of the natural world, but by the mid-sixteenth century naturalists turned toward distinguishing and cataloguing new plant and animal species. To do so, they developed new techniques of observing and recording, created botanical gardens and herbaria, and exchanged correspondence and specimens within an international community. By the early seventeenth century, naturalists began the daunting task of sorting through the wealth of information they had accumulated, putting a new emphasis on taxonomy and classification. Illustrated with woodcuts, engravings, and photographs, The Science of Describing is the first broad interpretation of Renaissance natural history in more than a generation and will appeal widely to an interdisciplinary audience.

Jean de la Taille

Download Jean de la Taille PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press
ISBN 13 : 088920120X
Total Pages : 93 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (892 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Jean de la Taille by : Taille

Download or read book Jean de la Taille written by Taille and published by Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. This book was released on 1981 with total page 93 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jean de La Taille's play Les Corrivaus is the comical story of the rivalry between Filadelfe and Euverte for the lovely Fleurdelys. Difficulties are resolved symmetrically, and matrimony is the order at the end of the day--though, in the best Renaissance tradition, the difficulties had appeared grave indeed. The play should appeal to anyone interested in the theatre, but it is of considerable importance to historians of Renaissance drama, since it is generally accepted as the earliest surviving French humanist comedy written in prose, and the first to be based on Italian models. In particular, La Taille draws heavily upon Le Maçon's translation of Boccaccio's Decameron. The play also amplifies understanding of numerous conventions of Renaissance drama--especially those related to stagecraft, plot, and thematic treatment--yet La Taille transcends mere conventionality in his skilled treatment of character and plot. He also manages to accomplish his didactic purpose, informing his audience of the foibles of lovers, with a minimum of sententious moralizing.

The Montefeltro Conspiracy

Download The Montefeltro Conspiracy PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Doubleday
ISBN 13 : 0385526806
Total Pages : 274 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (855 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Montefeltro Conspiracy by : Marcello Simonetta

Download or read book The Montefeltro Conspiracy written by Marcello Simonetta and published by Doubleday. This book was released on 2008-06-03 with total page 274 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brutal murder, a nefarious plot, a coded letter. After five hundred years, the most notorious mystery of the Renaissance is finally solved. The Italian Renaissance is remembered as much for intrigue as it is for art, with papal politics and infighting among Italy’s many city-states providing the grist for Machiavelli’s classic work on take-no-prisoners politics, The Prince. The attempted assassination of the Medici brothers in the Duomo in Florence in 1478 is one of the best-known examples of the machinations endemic to the age. While the assailants were the Medici’s rivals, the Pazzi family, questions have always lingered about who really orchestrated the attack, which has come to be known as the Pazzi Conspiracy. More than five hundred years later, Marcello Simonetta, working in a private archive in Italy, stumbled upon a coded letter written by Federico da Montefeltro, the Duke of Urbino, to Pope Sixtus IV. Using a codebook written by his own ancestor to crack its secrets, Simonetta unearthed proof of an all-out power grab by the Pope for control of Florence. Montefeltro, long believed to be a close friend of Lorenzo de Medici, was in fact conspiring with the Pope to unseat the Medici and put the more malleable Pazzi in their place. In The Montefeltro Conspiracy, Simonetta unravels this plot, showing not only how the plot came together but how its failure (only one of the Medici brothers, Giuliano, was killed; Lorenzo survived) changed the course of Italian and papal history for generations. In the course of his gripping narrative, we encounter the period’s most colorful characters, relive its tumultuous politics, and discover that two famous paintings, including one in the Sistine Chapel, contain the Medici’s astounding revenge.

The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance

Download The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : William Morrow
ISBN 13 : 9780380977871
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (778 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance by : Paul Robert Walker

Download or read book The Feud That Sparked the Renaissance written by Paul Robert Walker and published by William Morrow. This book was released on 2002-11-26 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The lively and intriguing tale of the competition between two artists, culminating in the construction of the Duomo in Florence, this is also the story of a city on the verge of greatness, and the dawn of the Renaissance, when everything artistic would change. Florence's Duomo : the dome of the Santa Maria del Diore cathedral 埩s one of the most enduring symbols of the Italian Renaissance, an equal in influence and fame to Leonardo and Michaelangelo's works. It was designed by Filippo Brunelleschi, the temperamental architect who rediscovered the techniques of mathematical perspective. He was the dome's ⨮ventor,⟷hose secret methods for building remain a mystery as compelling to architects as Fermat's Last Theorem once was to mathematicians. Yet Brunelleschi didn't direct the construction of the dome alone. He was forced to share the commission with his archrival, the sculptor Lorenzo Ghiberti, whose ⏡radise Doors⟡re also masterworks. This is the story of these two men, a tale of artistic genius and individual triumph.

ArtCurious

Download ArtCurious PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0143134590
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (431 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis ArtCurious by : Jennifer Dasal

Download or read book ArtCurious written by Jennifer Dasal and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A wildly entertaining and surprisingly educational dive into art history as you've never seen it before, from the host of the beloved ArtCurious podcast We're all familiar with the works of Claude Monet, thanks in no small part to the ubiquitous reproductions of his water lilies on umbrellas, handbags, scarves, and dorm-room posters. But did you also know that Monet and his cohort were trailblazing rebels whose works were originally deemed unbelievably ugly and vulgar? And while you probably know the tale of Vincent van Gogh's suicide, you may not be aware that there's pretty compelling evidence that the artist didn't die by his own hand but was accidentally killed--or even murdered. Or how about the fact that one of Andy Warhol's most enduring legacies involves Caroline Kennedy's moldy birthday cake and a collection of toenail clippings? ArtCurious is a colorful look at the world of art history, revealing some of the strangest, funniest, and most fascinating stories behind the world's great artists and masterpieces. Through these and other incredible, weird, and wonderful tales, ArtCurious presents an engaging look at why art history is, and continues to be, a riveting and relevant world to explore.

Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting

Download Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780300116779
Total Pages : 364 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (167 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting by : David Alan Brown

Download or read book Bellini, Giorgione, Titian, and the Renaissance of Venetian Painting written by David Alan Brown and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presents a survey of sixty Venetian Renaissance paintings of the calibre of Bellini and Titian's "Feast of the Gods" in Washington and Giorgione's "Laura and Three Philosophers" in Vienna.

The Art of Renaissance Europe

Download The Art of Renaissance Europe PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Metropolitan Museum of Art
ISBN 13 : 0870999532
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (79 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Art of Renaissance Europe by : Bosiljka Raditsa

Download or read book The Art of Renaissance Europe written by Bosiljka Raditsa and published by Metropolitan Museum of Art. This book was released on 2000 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Works in the Museum's collection that embody the Renaissance interest in classical learning, fame, and beautiful objects are illustrated and discussed in this resource and will help educators introduce the richness and diversity of Renaissance art to their students. Primary source texts explore the great cities and powerful personalities of the age. By studying gesture and narrative, students can work as Renaissance artists did when they created paintings and drawings. Learning about perspective, students explore the era's interest in science and mathematics. Through projects based on poetic forms of the time, students write about their responses to art. The activities and lesson plans are designed for a variety of classroom needs and can be adapted to a specific curriculum as well as used for independent study. The resource also includes a bibliography and glossary.

Cardano's Cosmos

Download Cardano's Cosmos PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780674095557
Total Pages : 316 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (955 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Cardano's Cosmos by : Anthony Grafton

Download or read book Cardano's Cosmos written by Anthony Grafton and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 316 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Girolamo Cardano was an Italian doctor, natural philosopher, and mathematician who became a best-selling author in Renaissance Europe. He was also a leading astrologer of his day, whose predictions won him access to some of the most powerful people in sixteenth-century Europe. In Cardano's Cosmos, Anthony Grafton invites readers to follow this astrologer's extraordinary career and explore the art and discipline of astrology in the hands of a brilliant practitioner.Renaissance astrologers predicted everything from the course of the future of humankind to the risks of a single investment, or even the weather. They analyzed the bodies and characters of countless clients, from rulers to criminals, and enjoyed widespread respect and patronage. This book traces Cardano's contentious career from his first astrological pamphlet through his rise to high-level consulting and his remarkable autobiographical works. Delving into astrological principles and practices, Grafton shows how Cardano and his contemporaries adapted the ancient art for publication and marketing in a new era of print media and changing science. He maps the context of market and human forces that shaped Cardano's practicesâe"and the maneuvering that kept him at the top of a world rife with patronage, politics, and vengeful rivals.Cardano's astrology, argues Grafton, was a profoundly empirical and highly influential art, one that was integral to the attempts of sixteenth-century scholars to understand their universe and themselves.

Competition over Content

Download Competition over Content PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 1684174589
Total Pages : 526 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (841 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Competition over Content by : Hilde De Weerdt

Download or read book Competition over Content written by Hilde De Weerdt and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2020-03-23 with total page 526 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Between the sixth and twentieth centuries, the civil service examinations created and maintained political coherence across the Chinese polity. Preparation for the examinations transformed the lives of literate elites by defining educational standards and disseminating a language that determined elite status. However, as participation in the examinations became central to that status, an intense competition to determine the educational curriculum and the subject matter of the examinations erupted between intellectual and political rivals. The principal goal of this book is to explain the restructuring of the examination field during a critical point in its history, the Southern Song dynasty (1127–1279), which witnessed the increasing domination of the examinations by the Neo-Confucian Learning of the Way movement.By analyzing textbooks, examination questions and essays, and official and private commentary, Hilde De Weerdt examines how occupational, political, and intellectual groups shaped curricular standards and examination criteria and how examination standards in turn shaped political and intellectual agendas. These questions reframe the debate about the civil service examinations and their place in the imperial order."

The Alliance Revolution

Download The Alliance Revolution PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 9780674016477
Total Pages : 330 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (164 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Alliance Revolution by : Benjamin Gomes-Casseres

Download or read book The Alliance Revolution written by Benjamin Gomes-Casseres and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: More than we ever anticipated, alliances among firms are changing the way business is conducted, particularly in the global, high-technology sector. The reasons are clear: companies must increasingly pool their capabilities to succeed in ever more complex and rapidly changing businesses. But the consequences for managers and for the economy have so far been underestimated. In this new book, Benjamin Gomes-Casseres presents the first in-depth account of the new world of business alliances and shows how collaboration has become part of the very fabric of modern competition. Alliances, he argues, create new units of competition that do battle with one another and with traditional single firms. The flexible capabilities of these multi-firm constellations give them advantages over single firms in certain contexts, offsetting the advantage of a single firm's unified control. When managed effectively, alliances can strengthen a firm's competitive advantage and narrow the gap between leading firms and second-tier players. This often results in intensified rivalry, and the competition within an industry is transformed. Alliances often spread swiftly through an industry as firms jockey for advantage. Yet the very spread of alliances increases their costs and poses new limits on their use. Gomes-Casseres concludes that firms need to manage their constellations to enhance collaboration within their groups, while raising what he calls "barriers to collaboration" for rivals. These ideas are developed and illustrated through original case studies of alliances among U.S., Japanese, and European firms in electronics and computers, including Xerox, IBM, and Fujitsu as well as other small and large companies. The book should be of interest to business academics, managers, and general readers concerned with contemporary capitalism.