My Life

The daughter of a courtesan and a Bonapartist major, convent-educated Aurore Dudevant rebelled against her disappointing marriage, moved to Paris to take up writing, and emerged as the brilliant and notorious George Sand

Biographies & Memoirs

Hofstadter, Dan

Sand, George, Pseud. of Mme. Dudevant

Professionals & Academics

Harper&Row

Documenting the true story of an art dealer who tried to buy a rare Byzantine mosaic, the author also relates how he was drawn into the strange underworld of smuggled and stolen art

Goldberg's Angel: An Adventure in the Antiquities Trade

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

Farrar. Straus & Giroux

An analysis of recently discovered personal writings by such literary figures as George Sand, Sainte-Beuve, and Alfred de Mussett considers the sexual portions of the writings and how they may have suggested themes for future novels.

The Love Affair As a Work of Art

Literature & Fiction

In this marvelously original book, Dan Hofstadter shows how a great treasure of forgotten personal writing—diaries, memoirs, and letters written by George Sand, Anatole France, and Marcel Proust, among others—bears on the erotic lives of the writers, and how the fine French tradition of conducting love affairs developed as an art form. As his subtle analysis makes clear, the love letters exchanged in a series of highly charged liaisons also suggested the themes of celebrated future novels.

The Love Affair as a Work of Art

Parenting & Relationships

Farrar. Straus and Giroux

A portrait of the sun-drenched volcanic city from an American who has lost his heart to the place and to a beguiling and mysterious Neapolitan woman. Weaving the tale of an elusive romance with a vivid and haunting evocation of a legendary metropolis, Dan Hofstadter brilliantly reveals Naples to us. He is our guide to the dilapidated architectural beauty and the irrepressible theater of the city’s everyday life; the centuries-old festivals that regularly overtake the jumbled streets; the conversations in dialect that start in the cafés after work and continue into the night; the countless curio shops where treasures mingle with kitsch. And he brings to life on the page the natives he befriends, people whose gestures and superstitions seem as ancient as Vesuvius: a master baker who’d rather be playing the stock market; an agoraphobic aunt who must meddle by phone; and, always, Benedetta, the object of our narrator’s fascination and affections, and, like her lifelong home-city, at once inviting and unfathomable. Hofstadter’s Naples is an amalgam of equivocal beauty, vestigial beliefs, betrayed resolves, and half-concealed secrets, a wounded city whose commonplace wonders are vividly conjured in this rich and lyrical book.

Falling Palace: A Romance of Naples

Travel

Europe

KNOPF

A portrait of the sun-drenched volcanic city from an American who has lost his heart to the place and to a beguiling Neapolitan woman. In Falling Palace Dan Hofstadter brilliantly reveals Naples, from the dilapidated architectural beauty to the irrepressible theater of everyday life. We witness the centuries-old festivals that regularly crowd the city’s jumbled streets, and eavesdrop on conversations that continue deep into the night. We browse the countless curio shops where treasures mingle with kitsch, and meet the locals he befriends. In and out of these encounters slips Benedetta, the object of the author’s affections, at once inviting and unfathomable. Weaving the tale of an elusive love together with a vivid portrayal of a legendary metropolis, this is a startling evocation of a magical place.

History

Vintage

A cogent portrayal of the beginnings of modern science and a turning point in the evolution of the freedom of thought. Celebrated, controversial, condemned, Galileo Galilei is a seminal figure in the history of science. Both Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein credit him as the first modern scientist. His 1633 trial before the Holy Office of the Inquisition is the prime drama in the history of the conflict between science and religion. In Galileo’s day, Rome was the capital of a sovereign theocratic power, which in 1600 had executed Giordano Bruno on similar charges and reserved the right to torture Galileo.Galileo was then sixty-nine years old and the most venerated scientist in Italy. Although subscribing to an anti-literalist view of the Bible, as per Saint Augustine, Galileo considered himself a believing Catholic.Playing to his own strengths―a deep knowledge of Italy, a longstanding interest in Renaissance and Baroque lore―Dan Hofstadter explains apparent paradoxes and limns this historic moment in the widest cultural context, portraying Galileo as both humanist and scientist.26 illustrations

The Earth Moves: Galileo and the Roman Inquisition (Great Discoveries)

W.W.Norton&Company

A cogent portrayal of a turning point in the evolution of the freedom of thought and the beginnings of modern science. Celebrated, controversial, condemned, Galileo Galilei is a seminal figure in the history of science. Both Stephen Hawking and Albert Einstein credit him as the first modern scientist. His 1633 trial before the Holy Office of the Inquisition is the prime drama in the history of the conflict between science and religion. Galileo was then sixty-nine years old and the most venerated scientist in Italy. Although subscribing to an anti-literalist view of the Bible, as per Saint Augustine, Galileo considered himself a believing Catholic. Playing to his own strengths―a deep knowledge of Italy, a longstanding interest in Renaissance and Baroque lore―Dan Hofstadter explains this apparent paradox and limns this historic moment in the widest cultural context, portraying Galileo as both humanist and scientist, deeply versed in philosophy and poetry, on easy terms with musicians, writers, and painters. 19 b/w Illustrations

The Earth Moves: Galileo and the Roman Inquisition (Great Discoveries (Paperback))

World

A collection of essays from a new voice from The New Yorker describes the moods, inspirations, frustrations, and obsessions involved in the creative processes of five distinguished artists.

Temperaments: Artists Facing Their Work

Study & Teaching

Mexico, 1946-73 (A Facts on File publication)

FACTS ON FILE+

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hofstadter, Dan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Hofstadter, Dan

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hofstadter, Dan. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

My Life

Goldberg's Angel: An Adventure in the Antiquities Trade

The Love Affair As a Work of Art

The Love Affair as a Work of Art

Falling Palace: A Romance of Naples

Falling Palace: A Romance of Naples

The Earth Moves: Galileo and the Roman Inquisition (Great Discoveries)

The Earth Moves: Galileo and the Roman Inquisition (Great Discoveries (Paperback))

Temperaments: Artists Facing Their Work

Mexico, 1946-73 (A Facts on File publication)