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The fascinating true story of a legend’s celebrated visit—and the cultural ambassador who helped bring her to America. In December 1962, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa set sail from Paris to New York for what many knew would be the riskiest art exhibition ever mounted. The fragile painting, sealed in a temperature-controlled, bulletproof box, traveled like a head of state accompanied by armed guards and constant surveillance. The driving force behind the famous painting’s high-profile visit was First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy, who convinced French Cultural Minister André Malraux and National Gallery Director John Walker to share the masterpiece with the American people. She overcame the fierce objections of art officials who feared the journey would ruin the world’s most celebrated smile, and “Mona Mania” soon swept the nation as nearly two million Americans attended exhibits in Washington, D.C., and New York City. It was the greatest outpouring of appreciation for a single work of art in American history. And as only Jacqueline Kennedy could do, she infused America’s first museum blockbuster show with a unique sense of pageantry that ignited a national love affair with the arts. Gathering rare archival documents, acclaimed biographer Margaret Leslie Davis has woven a tantalizing saga filled with international intrigue and the irresistible charm of Camelot and its queen. Shipping cost: $10
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Independent Publisher Award Finalist, and Winner of the Silver Award from the Bay Area Independent Publishers Association for editorial content, interior and cover design, this book is the richly detailed story of President Kennedy's 1963 visit to Ireland. Follow along to each of the places he visited, meet the people he met, and relive the events and proceedings - some more chaotic than anticipated - that honored the first Irish Catholic American president. Exhaustively researched from written and oral sources, the book unspools a memorable tale of a joyful presidential tour that was one of the highlights of JFK's life and presidency and that cemented a bond with a land and people who were then taking their first steps on the global stage. One of Ourselves: John Fitzgerald Kennedy in Ireland is the author's second presidential book with Images from the Past (after The Real Woodrow Wilson in 2000.) Its high quality has been recognized by a review in Ireland of the Welcomes (among many), an Independent Publisher IPPY award, and inclusion in the National Press Club's 27th Annual Book Fair and Author's Night. All of us at Images from the Past are very proud!
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