American Art: History and Culture, Revised First Edition

The book its self is very good. I'm really enjoying if for my Art History class. The reading is informative and interesting.The quality/condition of the book is something else. From the description of the book when I purchased it I believe I would received a book in an acceptable condition. Apparently my idea of acceptable and the sellers are quite different. The book arrived with the front cover barely attached and the back cover taped on but also beginning to fall off. I had to tape the entire spine back together and still need to be careful that it doesn't loose pages. This definitely isn't acceptable to me but I needed the book for my class so I had to keep up but I wouldn't purchase from this seller again.

This book was assigned for art history class. It's very detailed and exhaustive, but it wasn't one of my favorites. Inside there are few color plates, and the book is mostly dominated by relatively murky black and white reproductions. For an art history book, I really prefer full color, especially for the price. The second issue I had was that this book just lacks spirit and storytelling. It's dry and dense, and that makes it harder to love for someone who isn't passionate about American art. There's a heavy focus on furniture and architecture. Craven certainly is capable of writing in a more interesting way- his Freake portraits essay is one example that I found quite engaging- but he doesn't seem to call upon that here.

I've only opened this book once, the entire semester. My professor told us the book was mandatory, but has yet to give any reading assignments (there are 4 weeks left for the semester). I currently have a 100 in the class, with 90% of the grade already accounted for. I plan on doing the extra credit assignment that was offered, so I won't even have to take the final to secure another A.

This book contains information about many important and influential artists, as well has good quality color examples of their work. It covers a large amount of artists, their backgrounds and styles, but if you want to really get into depth with one author, this isn't your book.

This textbook is well written and direct. Craven is straightforward in his approach to american art history. He is comprehsensive in his coverage of artists, movements, and issues - and the plates are of a nice quality. All in all a value for the money.

I rented this book used for a class. It was in great condition, met my needs, and returning it was very easy. I would recommend textbook rental over purchase over and over again! The book itself gave a great representation of the different artistic movements as they applied to architecture, painting, sculpting, etc.

This is one of the texts that the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco requires for its docent training program. As a trainee I will be using this book Fall semester as we continue with the very intense study program that the FAMSF conducts. Price was reasonable, delivery on time, quality perfect.

The book was in good condition, arrived in time. Unfortunately the class was one I couldve gotten away with not buying the text. Whatevs, thanks!