American Characters: Selections from the National Portrait Gallery, Accompanied by Literary Portraits [Hardcover]

R. W. B. Lewis (Author), Nancy Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1999

This delightful book brings together 160 famous American figures from Pocahontas to Louis Armstrong, providing visual and verbal portraits that illuminate their place in American life. The portraiture -- painting, sculpture, photograph, or cartoon -- is paired with literary images taken from eyewitness accounts, memoirs, poems, letters, and biographies, and with lively and informative commentary by the editors, R. W. B. and Nancy Lewis. The whole is a rich addition to American cultural history.

The gallery of portraits includes statesmen and outlaws, artists and athletes, and writers and performers, all described by commentators who are equally colorful and illustrious. The book features, for example, John Guare on Eugene O'Neill, Al Capone on himself, Adlai Stevenson on Eleanor Roosevelt, Pete Seeger on Woody Guthrie, Stieglitz and O'Keeffe on each other, e. e. cummings on Buffalo Bill Cody, Arthur Ashe on Joe Louis, and Gertrude Stein on Ulysses S. Grant. Some of the verbal portraits were composed especially for this book, among them Harold Bloom on Joseph Smith, Russell Baker on H. L. Mencken, John Hollander on Wallace Stevens, John Updike on Ernest Hemingway, and Robert B. Parker on Dashiell Hammett. All of the images are from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, where R. W. B. Lewis has been a member of the Board of Commissioners since 1986.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The nearly 200 images in American Characters represent the scope of American portrait painting and popular illustration. . . . But it is the range of comments that gives this book its particular flavor--most historical, some hostile, all enhancing the impression made by the portrait itself. . . . The portrait selections are witty and full of surprises. . . . This is a book you can get lost in for hours. Even the notes on the portraits and the commentary make fascinating reading. -- David Walton, New York Times Book Review

This is a book you can get lost in for hours. Even the notes on the portraits and the commentary make fascinating reading. -- The New York Times Book Review, David Walton

Product Details

• Hardcover: 412 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press; 1St Edition edition (January 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300078951
• ISBN-13: 978-0300078954
• Product Dimensions: 10 x 8.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #448,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars jacket summary, January 17, 2006

By 

Ray Francis "sci fi enjoyeur" (St. Joseph, MI United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Characters: Selections from the National Portrait Gallery, Accompanied by Literary Portraits (Hardcover)

This delightful book brings together 160 famous American figures from Pocahontas to Louis Armstrong, providing visual and verbal portraits that illuminate their place in American life. The portraiture - painting, sculpture, photograph, or drawing - is paired with literary images taken from eyewitness accounts, memoirs, poems, letters, and biographies, and with lively and informative commentary by the editors,
RWB and Nancy Lewis. The whole is a rich addition to American cultural history.

The gallery of portraits includes statesmen and outlaws, artists and athletes, and writers and performers, all described by commentators who are equally colorful and illustrious. The book features, for example, John Guare on Eugene O'Neill, Al Capone on himself, Adlai Stevenson on Eleanor Roosevelt, Pete Seeger on Woody Guthrie, Stieglitz and O'Keeffe on each other, e.e. cummings on Buffalo Bill Cody, Arthur Ashe on Joe Louis and Gertrude Stein on Ulysses S. Grant. Some of the verbal portraits were composed especially for this book, among them Harold Bloom on Joseph Smith, Russell Baker on HL Mencken, John Hollander on Wallace Stevens, John Updike on Ernest Hemingway, and Robert B Parker on Dashiell Hammett. All of the images are from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, where RWB Lewis has been a member of the Board of Commissioners since 1986.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Famous and infamous American characters, January 10, 2005

By 

Gary Sprandel (Frankfort, Kentucky) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Characters: Selections from the National Portrait Gallery, Accompanied by Literary Portraits (Hardcover)

The National Portrait Gallery is now closed for renovation, but this book provides a peek at this museum of personalities. The expected hero's are here like Jefferson, Lincoln, and Robert Frost, but so are the uniquely American villains like Al Capone and Jesse James. Each of the 160 full page portraits is preceded by a paragraph giving a brief biography, and, more interestingly, a quote by the person portrayed or a revealing paragraph from another American figure. For example for Al Capone he states "I've been spending the best years of my life as a public benefactor. I've given people the light pleasures, shown them a good time". These characters are often interrelated, as Thomas Jefferson talks of John Adams, and Emerson writes in his journals about Daniel Webster. The arts are well represented also, and America's contributions to music include portraits of Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, W.C Handy, and George Gershwin (in a unique self portrait). This book also gives a glimpse of the history of portraiture including paintings, daguerreotypes, and photographs. In the case of Matthew Brady, there are both photographs by him, and of him. Very enjoyable book to browse!

4.0 out of 5 stars Irreverence Personified, March 20, 2008

By 

Herbert L Calhoun "paulocal" (Falls Church, VA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Characters: Selections from the National Portrait Gallery, Accompanied by Literary Portraits (Hardcover)

An irreverent and eclectic collection of rogues, criminals, patriots, founding fathers, and a gallery of national heroes, all with life-sized high quality photos and a one-page tightly written biographic synopsis of the characters, explaining why they are important to American culture.

One of the rewards of the book is that except for the period of the revolution, only a handful of politicians are included. The pictures are taken from the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

The portraits are of good enough quality that I have scanned them into by own iphoto library. The book is a bit pricey but still is a good value considering all it includes. Four stars.