“Communities of Style presents the histories of many Iron Age Near Eastern communities through the lens of portable luxury arts, particularly ivories and metalwork. Feldman’s studies of selected luxury objects and their afterlives compel the reader to view them as active rather than passive agents in the formation of social groups. She offers an original and welcome perspective and sets a very high scholarly standard.”
— Elizabeth Carter, University of California, Los Angeles
“Communities of Style will be of interest to anyone interested in the Bronze Age continuities and Iron Age functions of a widespread corpus of carved ivories, their connection to the iconography of large-scale sculptures in the Near East, the widespread distribution and meaning of decorative or inscribed bowls, and the reuse of exotic objects. Feldman’s building of bottom-up narratives from individual artifacts, instead of putting all similar objects into a totalizing narrative, is the cutting edge of archaeological and art historical research.”
— Louise A. Hitchcock, University of Melbourne
“Provide[s] a richer understanding of the art of this period. . . . Recommended.”
— Choice
“This volume should have a significant impact on the way we think about ancient art. . . . Historians of ancient Near Eastern art . . . should take note of Feldman’s thoughtful and innovative study.”
— Art Newspaper
“An important and exciting book, which will be read with profit and enjoyment by scholars of times and places well beyond the Iron Age Levant.”
— Antiquity
“This important book provides a set of new research directions and interpretations for the study of ancient art for the Iron Age Near East and Eastern Mediterranean. . . . Feldman offers an enriched understanding of ancient Near Eastern art that goes beyond her contemporaries.”
— Journal of Near Eastern Studies
“Groundbreaking . . . . Feldman’s compelling argument has the potential to liberate ancient Near Eastern specialists from longstanding debates about the geographic origin of Levantine artistic styles and the mechanisms for their distribution. . . . A terrific addition to the art historian’s library.”
— caa.reviews