Bookshelf: 4 new coffee table books to give this holiday season

This oversized book of photographs taken over the course of 70 years adds another layer to the chaos by zeroing in on scenes boasting a haphazard array of Christmas decorations. The overall effect is a dizzying commentary on the commodification of the holiday and, on occasion, its capacity as a beacon of hope. (Eakins Press Foundation, $65)

Credit: UGA Press

Credit: UGA Press

“Land of Everlasting Hills”

Renowned landscape photographer Ansel Adams reportedly made one visit to the Great Smoky Mountains and proclaimed it near impossible to capture their natural beauty on film. Thankfully, two photographers, George Masa of Asheville, North Carolina, and Jim Thompson of Knoxville, Tennessee, accepted the challenge. Their images from the early 1900s helped convince nature lovers and policymakers at the time that the region should be protected from the logging industry and preserved as a national park.

Written by Atlanta-based travel and nature writers Ren and Helen Davis, the book includes biographies of the two men. Their backgrounds and approaches to photography couldn’t have been more different, but they were friends and colleagues nonetheless.

The Davises also chronicle the story of how the park came to be established in a race against time with the lumber industry, as well as the roles Masa and Thompson played in helping blaze the path for the nascent Appalachian Trail in Tennessee and North Carolina.

But it’s the 300 photographs (mostly black and white) by Masa and Thompson that make this book one to treasure. (University of Georgia Press, $39.95)

Credit: Thames & Hudson

Credit: Thames & Hudson

“Black Chronicles: Photography, Race and Difference in Victorian Britain”

In 2011, “Black Chronicles,” an exhibition of British Victorian studio portraits of Black and brown people, debuted in London, filling a notable gap in a holistic picture of life in late 19th-century England. Three years later came “Black Chronicles II,” a larger collection of images that toured the U.S., including a stop at Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in 2016.

Now, nearly 10 years later, a coffee-table book amasses 400 of the restored, reprinted images retrieved from private and public archives in one extraordinary volume. It’s a stunning display of photographs taken between 1850-1900 that capture unidentified subjects in garb ranging from traditional robes, turbans and saris to costumed loincloths and animal pelts (most likely selected by the photographer) to the bustle dresses and waistcoats of contemporary Victorian fashion.

Edited by curator Renée Mussai, the book includes a foreword by Henry Louis Gates Jr. and additional essays and lecture transcripts from experts and scholars. (Thames & Hudson, $65)

Credit: Thames & Hudson

Credit: Thames & Hudson

“Vivienne Westwood & Jewellery”

Poring over images of jewelry designed by the late Dame Vivienne Westwood solidifies the answer to the age-old question: Is fashion art? Steeped in history, rooted in punk rock and exquisite as Faberge eggs, Westwood’s baroque baubles pushed the boundaries of the form and could captivate the imagination whether draped on a model’s body or hung on a wall.

From girly pearl and cubic zirconia-encrusted earrings to punk-inspired safety pin brooches to chunky bracelets influenced by ancient religions and death rituals, Westwood’s work reflected her varied interests. The common denominator was her ability to create something that felt timeless and modern at the same time.

Andreas Kronthaler, Westwood’s widower and the current creative director of the fashion house Vivienne Westwood, provides the introduction, with additional text by fashion journalist Alexander Fury. (Thames & Hudson, $70)

Suzanne Van Atten is a book critic and contributing editor to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She may be reached at Suzanne.VanAtten@ajc.com.