One hundred and ten years ago, the longest battle of the First World War and one of the costliest in human history began on hills near the city of Verdun in northeastern France. The fighting commenced on February 21, 1916, and lasted 302 days, accounting for an estimated 700,000 to 714,00 casualties among French and German forces. The anniversary of the battle is being marked with a new book "Verdun, photographier la Grande Guerre" ("Verdun, Photographing the Great War"), published by the French Ministry of Armed Forces' communication and audiovisual agency, The French newspaper Le Monde recently highlighted images from the book, providing a glimpse into the reality of the famous battle.

  You don’t want to miss this email conversation I recently had with Josh Cochran—artist, art director, muralist, educator and AI45 juror. In sharing his thoughts on collecting books and using his library, he also tells a story of childhood dreams come true. And please stay tuned for information about a new project launching soon  Peggy Roalf: As an artist, writer and educator,  you must own a lot of books. How have you structured your librar...