On the evening of May eighteenth, a young woman named Cass walks alone into the small village of Chimney Rock, North Carolina, intending to stay for exactly one

History.

Published to accompany an exhibition on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Apr. 26-Aug. 7, 2011, and at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Sept. 18-D

“A lively survey…her research and insights make us conscious of how we, today, use books.”—John Sutherland, The New York Times Book Review Two centuries

In this innovative historical portrait of society in the premodern Middle East, Abraham Marcus takes us on a guided tour of a past world, revealing its inner wo