Featuring succinct page-length essays, instructive sidebars, and more than 300 photographs, The Annotated Mona Lisa: A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern takes art history out of the realm of dreary textbooks, demystifies jargon and theory, and makes art accessible—even at a cursory reading.

From Stonehenge to the Guggenheim and from Holbein to Warhol, more than 25,000 years of art is distilled into five sections covering a little more than 200 pages.

1) clear and concise; 2) inclusive of the audience; 3) makes art very approachable; 4) places art within its historical context and development; 5) quick reference;

I was exposed to this book after taking various humanities courses and found this book great. It does a much better job of making art accessable than books like Gardner and Janson. I was impressed that the book covered a variety of bases without leaving too much out.

The tone of the work was inclusive and allowed anyone with an interest in understanding methods, techniques, personalities and history of art to do well towards approaching that goal. It does not approach art for the few with a rarefied tone nor does it talk down to the reader.

The layout of the pages are done well and have a decent flow of text and image. It does not, thank god, go into list memorization which is the downfall of some compact versions of some topics.

Highly recommended for those who play academic tournaments at the high school and college levels. The topics covered and interesting personal history found in this book will be found at all levels of play. The pricing of the paperback version will allow people to compete very well indeed.

For home schoolers/educators this book is a good survey introduction and is portable enough for museum trips.

Very few books do so well with so much material to compress. Very impressive. The only thing I could wish further is a music history version of this work.


Great book !!!   January 7, 2003
 40 out of 44 found this review helpful

I don't know much about art, and I wanted to learn a little bit more. That is the reason why I bought this book. Truth to be told, I was pleasantly surprised when I read it: it teachs you a lot, but it's also entertaining and... FUN TO READ. You end up wanting to read more about art, and from my point of view that's what makes a book successful, disregarding the subject matter.

"The annotated Mona Lisa" allows you to appreciate paintings you have already seen in a new way (you must try to pay attention not only to de color and composition but also to the historical circumstances in which it was painted, and to the meaning hidden in the painting) and introduces you to new ones.

Carol Strickland, in the introduction to this book, tells us that "There is a world of difference between viewing a work of art and really seeing it - the difference between sight and insight". In "The annotated Mona Lisa" she tries to give us an insight into what art is really about, and in my opinion, she has a good deal of success.


Provides the basics to appreciating art to the fullest!   June 23, 1999
 32 out of 32 found this review helpful

In such a short book, compared to other Art History books such as Gardner's Art History, etc., one may begin to wonder what this book has omitted. The answer is basically NOTHING. The difference between Gardner's and this book is that this book is a wonderful introduction to anybody appreciative of art but lacks the basic skills at analyzing and appreciating art to the fullest. 1500pg Art History books serve as a wonderful reference but as a poor introduction. Enter "Annotated Mona Lisa" , giving readers an introduction to art combined with attention-grabbing description and prose with the history and background of several thousands of years of art from pre-historic to modern. This book can serve as a study guide to much larger books, especially for those who take college art history classes or the AP Art History class in High School. This is a genuine MUST HAVE for anyone vaguely familiar with the term "art."


A great bargain for the budding art history enthusiast   December 18, 2005
 20 out of 20 found this review helpful

It does indeed require a crash course to recount 25,000 years of art history in just under 200 pages. The Annotated Mona Lisa does it well with a few exceptions. Beginning with the title itself, it should be noted that this book details the history of "Western" art only, a distinction that is vital for a holistic understanding of art. Another exception is an occasional departure in chronological order. For example, the inclusion of Art Nouveau architecture in the section on Rococo Art (which is twenty-five pages before Art Nouveau is discussed) disrupts the chronological flow. There are also occasional poor choices of representative artwork. For example, I would not consider City Night to be representative of Georgia O'Keeffe's work. I noticed as well that certain well-known terms that describe art styles or techniques are omitted; an example is "Frontalism" in Egyptian art. Some art movements that I would consider to be significant are also omitted, such as the Pre-Raphaelites. And I must admit I was disheartened to see an outright inaccuracy when the book stated that artist Artemisia Gentileschi accused a fellow pupil of raping her when it is known to have been her teacher she accused.

What the The Annotated Mona Lisa excels at is providing the reader with numerous charts that compare styles that are often confused such as Gothic and Romanesque architecture or Italian Renaissance and Northern Renaissance art. There are also charts that distinguish between artists such as the one that differentiates the style characteristics of several Post-Impressionist artists. The upbeat writing and interesting facts about artists and their work really help to keep the reader engaged as do interesting page designs and more than 300 illustrations, many of them in color. Another nice feature is the inclusion of pronunciations for foreign words, giving the reader the confidence to discuss newfound knowledge with others.

At a price of under $25, despite the flaws mentioned above, The Annotated Mona Lisa has a lot to offer the new art history student that wants to learn a lot about art history in a short amount of time at little expense.



Poor in terms of Non-Western Art   August 3, 2004
 15 out of 19 found this review helpful

The book provides a quick glance on the art of the west and for that, I would give it 4 stars. It is faulty though, when the book calls itself "A Crash Course in Art History from Prehistoric to Post-Modern".

The book does little next to nothing in presenting Islamic Art and its influences on Western Art and vise versa. This leaves a big gaping whole in one's understanding of the History of Art and how the Renaissance began. The book also fails to mention the cultures pre-dating those of the Greeks and the Romans, leaving one to believe that those cultures just came from nowhere with no influences at all! Cycladic figures could have at least been mentioned along with the Minoans and the Myceneans. I also find it odd that the history and art of the Etruscans were left out, seeing as how it helps tie in the Greek influence on the Romans.

Basically, this book is a very abridged version of "Art History". It focuses only on Western Art, but does a poor job of tying it all together, showing the actual "History" aspect of art, how it has evolved and "why". It should really be called "Western Art for Dummies" as art from the non-western tradition is barely mentioned.