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Watson-Guptill's humanities-"lite" series (other titles cover architecture, art, fashion, music, photography, and Shakespeare) is brimming with names, dates, garish layouts, and irreverent and low humor, but it is condemnably short on substance. In its drive to entertain, oversimplify, and sensationalize, the "Crash Course" series undermines meaningful appreciation. A comic-book time line ("helps you avoid any art faux pas") runs across the top of the entire book, and the graphics render each page into a multiframe web-inspired explosion of data and visuals. Following a mostly chronological organizatio...Log In or Sign Up to Read More