Sorrow's Anthem (Lincoln Perry)

Book Description

Once Lincoln Perry and Ed Gradduk were friends. Then Perry became a cop, Gradduk turned dangerous, and their friendship imploded. Now, Gradduk is dead. And Perry wants to use his PI license to prove that whatever else his childhood friend might have been, he wasn’t a murderer.

For the police, this case is over. The woman Gradduk is alleged to have killed can’t tell her side of the story, and the building she entered with him has burned to the ground. But Perry is making connections to a wave of arson that struck Cleveland seventeen years ago—fires that lit up the dark secrets of two families, a local powerbroker, and at least one crooked cop. Now Perry and his partner can see ties between the past and present, between innocents and criminals—and sirens that keep playing...

Customer Reviews:

Mystery Thriller.......2007-10-09

Sorry, but I do not agree with the other reviews. This book reads like and old detective novel. Totally boring. Macho character doing the impossible.
I was so bored with it I almost did not finish the book. Unusual for me as I read constantly. Hope this review saves someone the purchase price.

Two for Two.......2007-07-17

I've read both Tonight I Said Goodbye and Sorrow's Anthem and plan on buying a Welcome Grave. As in his first book, if you didn't know the author's age, you would think it written by a seasoned author. I know much is made of Michael Koryta's age, but talent at this young age just blows me away. I get the feel occasionally of Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder, but L.P. and Joe stand on their own.

Koryta is for real........2007-06-29

The author's debut novel, 'Tonight I Said Goodbye,' is an astonishingly good first novel for anyone, but is particularly impressive in light of the author's young age. Then came 'Sorrow's Anthem.' Sophomore follow-ups can make or break a series, and fortunately for mystery readers Koryta doesn't strike a false note anywhere in this second book. The man is the genuine article, a writer of clean, crisp prose who can deliver a tightly plotted tale of mystery and action. Main character Lincoln Perry is further developed and is getting more interesting. Koryta does for Cleveland what Crais and Connelly do for LA, i.e. makes the place a memorable and image-laden backdrop for the story. I'm heading off to my local bookdealer tomorrow to pick up the next book in this series. I can't wait!

Very Entertaining but................2006-05-26

we have seen this book before.

Koryta is a fresh new voice in crime fiction and I do not want to give away the plot here but......

One of the authors biggest influences (in his own words on his website) is Dennis Lehane. The but I refer to above is this book which is a great fun read is very similar yet a little less dark then Lehane's second novel Darkness Take My Hand.

Similar in that new crimes are somehow linked to past crimes...similar in that a tavern owner plays a big role in the story. I felt at times that this was a little too derivative of the Lehane book.

However, taken as a standalone book it is a highly entertaining read and Koryta is now 2 for 2. Perry and Pritchard are an engaging partnership and the contrast between the two detectives makes for good reading. I also like the developing relationship between Perry and Amy a local reporter.

I eagerly await this young authors third novel.

A worthy follow-up to his highly praised debut.......2006-04-29

Long repressed emotions erupt when Cleveland PI Lincoln Perry learns that former friend Ed Gradduk has been accused of arson and murder. Feeling pangs of regret from the results of a well meant past gesture gone bad, the ex-cop seeks his childhood pal out to offer his assistance. He eventually locates Ed, only to see him run down by a police car moments later. Motivated primarily by guilt and shame, Perry strives to uncover the truth behind the accusations, hoping to clear his friend's name. Investigating, he starts poking around at the edges of a conspiracy that includes members of a local police precinct; unfortunately for him, the conspirators are willing to go to any length, including murder, to protect their secrets.

A worthy follow-up to his highly praised debut, 2004's Tonight I Said Goodbye, Sorrow's Anthem is notable not only for its swift pacing, well drawn cast, and harrowing, hard boiled action, but also for the fact that its author is all of twenty two years old. Displaying an outsize talent that belies his youth, Koryta cements his reputation as one of the "top young mystery writers in America today," delivering a work that takes a hard look at the world of crime, and on the impact of the choices people in that world, both criminals and law enforcement officials, make everyday, choices that often mean the difference between life and death, and between a life lived inside or outside the blurry confines of the law.

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Sorrow's Anthem
Michael Koryta
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Minotaur
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTBYSE

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SORROW'S ANTHEM (LINCOLN PERRY, NO 2)
MICHAEL KORYTA
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MBHW5S

Book Description

The fifth installment of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Pellucidar series, Back to the Stone Age recounts the strange adventures of Lieutenant von Horst, a member of the original crew that sailed to Pellucidar with Jason Gridley and Tarzan who is left behind in the inner world. Von Horst wanders friendless and alone from one danger to the next among the Stone Age peoples, mighty reptiles, and huge animals that have been extinct on the outer crust for thousands of years. But woven among the tales of savage cave men in the country of the Basti, the hideous Gorbuses in the caverns beneath the Forest of Death, and the terrible Gaz is the story of the love this cultured hero feels for a barbarian slave girl who has spurned and discouraged him, working instead toward her own mysterious goal.

Gary Dunham provides an introduction to this Bison Books edition.

Customer Reviews:

Lost in the Stone Age.......2007-04-13

Back to the Stone Age follows the adventures of Lieutenant von Horst of the airship O-220 in
Pellucidar as he attempts to find his fellow crew members after being separated from them during
a titanic herbivore stampede caused by hundreds of saber-toothed tigers conducting a mass
slaughter. Getting lost in Pellucidar, Edgar Rice Burroughs' world within our world, is rather easy to
do since it is virtually impossible to get one' bearings there. The Sun remains fixed in the center
of the sky and the horizon curves upward so even the tallest peaks tend to merge into the
background. This sort of enviorment tends to lead to much aimless wandering about, interrupted frequently
by the most unlikely of coincidences as characters separate and meet again a timely manner. This
precludes a coherent plot structure, but Von Horst does have some interesting adventures.

Not the best Pellucidar book but not the worst.......2007-01-12

Even though it was clear by the time ERB wrote this, the Pellucidar books were starting to falter, I greatly enjoyed this book. I have a few reasons for this: One, Von Horst (or Von) is a likeable hero who isn't quite as gratuitously stupid as some of Burroughs' other heroes. For another, I just liked the spunky, matter-of-fact heroine, La-ja. She's easily one of ERB's best heroines despite being cast in the standard mold of such a character. While parts of the book seemed overdone (ie, the Mammoth Men portion), others were quite appealing(the Gorbuses, Von's living death in the trodon cave). For me then this was a satisfying read that more than paid off when in the end Von finally fought Gaz. Surely not among ERB's best but definitely far above his worst.

too long.......1999-02-09

Allready sai

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Back To The Stone Age

Manufacturer: ACE Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Similar Items:

ASIN: 0441046363

Product Description

A wonderful adventure in a long forgotten land full of dinosaurs and cavemen as only Edgar Rice Burroughs can tell it. "Young Wilhelm von Horst had been given up for lost. His comrades in the expedition had sailed to the surface without him, mourning the loss of their friend. But von Horst had not died. His only companion a barbarian girl, he battles his way to safety through terrors inconceivable on the surface of the Earth." Cover painting by Frank Frazetta.

The Avengers #191 : Back to the Stone Age (Marvel Comics)

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The Avengers #191 : Back to the Stone Age (Marvel Comics)
David Michelinie
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Back from the Edge: The American Bison (Animal Odysseys Series)

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Back from the Edge: The American Bison (Animal Odysseys Series)
Lynn M. Stone
Manufacturer: Rourke Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Library Binding

General | Ages 9-12 | Children's Books | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0865931011

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Back to the Stone Age
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Manufacturer: Ace Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000PJWRKM

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BACK TO THE STONE AGE
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Manufacturer: Ballantine Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000M7YZMU

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Back to the Stone Age
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Manufacturer: Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000HCR5L8

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Back to the Stone Age

Manufacturer: Ace
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000EZO2K0

Product Description

Vintage paperback reprint. Pellucidar series taking place at the center of the Earth.

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Back to the Stone Age

Manufacturer: ace books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000GZQTIG

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Back to the Stone Age
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Manufacturer: Ace
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000PGKUCM

Customer Reviews:

Growing Up Among Aliens.......2006-09-18

The Deep Beyond (2005) is an omnibus edition including Serpent's Reach and Cuckoo's Egg. These early SF novels take place on alien planets rather than human space. Both are about young people who are raised among aliens.

Serpent's Reach (1980) is an SF novel in the Alliance-Union Universe. In 2223, the interstellar probe Celia discovered the majat, a sapient alien species, on Alpha Hydri III -- Cerdin -- in the Serpent's Reach. The majat body structure and organization was much like social insects such as ants. At the time of discovery, there were four different hives, each ruled by a collective intelligence with memories spanning millions of years.

There were no survivors from the Celia, but the hives did decide that each human was an individual intelligence. In 2229, the crew of the Delia probe was kept alive and, in 2235, under terms of the Hydri Treaty, one shipload of colonists was allowed to settle on the planet. These became the Kontrin Company. The colonists, however, brought a shipload of embryos, from which were grown the Betas. These Betas, in turn, grew clones of themselves, the azi, with biological timers that limited lifespan to forty years.

In this novel, Raen a Sul hant Meth-maren is Kontrin. She is the direct lineal descendent of The Meth-maren, destined to lead the family some day. For the past fifteen years, she has been learning the things that she should know to govern. Since all Kontrin have been made potentially immortal by the majat, she has many years of learning before she is old enough to have fun.

One day, the family estate at Kethiuy is visited by the Houses of Thon and Yalt, but these welcome guests bring others from the House of Hald and, worse yet, members of the Ruil-sept of the Meth-marens. Neither Hald or Ruil would have dared to set foot on the estate without Thon and Yalt. The Ruil cadet-sept has come to suggest a change in the relationships with the majat, but the talks are only a cover for an attack on the Sul-sept.

Only Raen survived the vicious attack by the Ruil-sept, Red and Gold majats and majat-azi. She manages to escape to the nearby Hive of the Blue majats and to convince the Hive Mother to help her wrest Kethiuy from the Ruil-sept and others who have assisted in the attack. She succeeds in destroying the Ruil-sept, but the Blue Hive is also destroyed and she is captured.

She is brought before the Council and Eron Thel, the head of the conspiracy, is almost allowed to relinquish Raen to her enemies. Yet Moth, second oldest of all Kontrin, protests that there has been no vote and Lian, the Eldest, agrees with Moth. Lian makes a speech, at the conclusion of which Moth kills all the known conspirators. Raen is banished from Cerdin.

Cuckoo's Egg (1985) is the third SF novel of the Age of Exploration Series, but is essentially a standalone work. Dana Duun Shtoni no Loghn is a Hatani, a judge without appeal. He has been called Sey -- general -- and Mingi -- lord -- but now he is just Dunn. He is unique, for none have been asked to judge so important a question.

Duun accepts the bundled infant from the meds and starts to care for him. He soon stinks of urine and excrement, but he does not clean himself off, for the infant is more comfortable with the stench. Duun does ask his friend Ellud to prepare Sheon, the estate where he grew up, to provide a simpler environment for the infant's development.

When Sheon has been cleared of the people who had claimed the property, Duun takes the infant there and raises him to be hatani. Since the infant differs from ordinary shonunin, Dunn has to adjust his lessons. Most things, like the five fingers instead of four, are insignificant, but the child grows up to be scent-blind and lacking much fur.

Duun calls the infant Haras, with Thorn as his use name. He teaches Thorn to never say "can't" unless he is physically, mentally or emotionally unable to do something and Thorn finds that Duun never asks him to do anything that he cannot do. Duun also teaches Thorn to deny many of his needs, for these are really only desires.

Duun also teaches Thorn hand-to-hand combat, escape and evasion, and other martial skills. Duun is better than Thorn at close combat, despite the severe injuries that had scarred his face and torso, but the damage to his knee made him less agile than Thorn while climbing. Besides, Thorn's feet gave him a better grip on rocks than Dunn's claws.

One day Thorn is running from Duun as usual, but heads down the mountain instead of up, for he knows that Dunn would expect him to use his greater climbing ability. He runs all the way down to the nearby settlement where he can expect food and water. As he nears the first house, he sees and hears two children playing in the yard. Thorn notices that they are not like him, but look much like Duun.

These stories are unrelated to any other works by the author. Serpent's Reach ends at a suitable point and fits neatly into the Alliance-Union universe. Yet Cuckoo's Egg ends with many dangling plot threads. Indeed, it is difficult to place this work in any of the author's known universes, although it is arbitrarily placed in the Age of Exploration Series. There is some question about whether Thorn is truly human.

Highly recommended to Cherryh fans or to anyone else who enjoys tales of alien cultures and cross-cultural relationships.

-Arthur W. Jordin

On being an Alien.......2006-04-05

Voyager in Night takes you inside the personality, inside the world view, inside the feelings of an utterly alien computer program.
These stories develop the same combination of shock, revulsion and empthy as the protagonist journeys from something like human to something very different. Cuckoo's Egg resonates with Pyanfar Chanur, in that the protagonist starts as an Alien. Who we come to admire and respect.
Serpent's reach, the protagonist starts out fairly human. As in Voyager, the destination is immortality and a hive mind. Essential Cherryh!

Reissue of two great C.J. Cherryh Stories.......2005-10-04

The Deep Beyond contains two of C. J. Cherryh's great early works.

Serpents reach is a masterpiece of world building as it gives a totally plausible, totally believable world where Ants are the intelligent and evolved race. It explores how virtual immortality could affect wealth power and family relations. This is a great story about betrayal and revenge and acceptance.

The Cuccoo' s Egg is another great story that might be compared to the part (the part that you don't get to read., about when Valentine Smith is still on Mars.) of "Stranger in a Strange Land" As it is the story of a human boy raised on an alien planet by aliens, in an attempt to understand humans and to make up for killing humans. Hard to explain but a great read.

If you don't already have these two great stories... This is a great book to buy.

A long over due re-issue of 2 books.......2005-08-21

The Deep Beyond title reflects that old adage of map makers of yore: Here there be Dragons. And the implied warning that Dragons rule their worlds.

Serpent's Reach was printed in August 1980 by DAW and Cuckoo's Egg was printed in October 1985 by DAW. Both, according to C.J. Cherryh's website, take place in The Alliance-Union Universe, but much further down the time line from her classic Cyteen. (Cyteen is a MUST read for any person interested in Science Fiction.) While I rate both books at 4 stars, I am suprised that Cuckoo's Egg from the Era of Exploration was paired with Serpent's Reach from the Era of Rapprochement. A more natural pairing would have been Forty Thousand in Gehenna with Serpent's Reach as both are from the Era of Rapprochment with a focus of humans merging into the Alien's societies. (I suspect as those two novels together would have about 700 pages, this may have forced the publisher's choice.) Cuckoo's Egg has a tricker focus hinted so strongly by the title Cuckoo's Egg.

All of Cherryh's work should be required reading in Science Fiction and The Deep Beyond brings out-of-print works back for fans old enough to have read the first printings and for new Science Fiction fans born since 1985. Oh, the cover of The Deep Beyond is the same as the 1985 1st Edition of Cuckoo's Egg.

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SERPENT'S REACH.
C. J. Cherryh
Manufacturer: NELSON DOUBLEDAY,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000G3LNZC

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A Spark in a Powder Room
Amazing World and Culture Building!
One of my Favorites by Cherryh
One of C.J. Cherryh's best.
Future of Union and Alliance

Serpent's Reach
C.J. Cherryh
Manufacturer: Mandarin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

ASIN: 0749301007

Download Description

The constellation of Hydri, also called the Serpent, became an undesirable destination during the era of humanity's most prolific interstellar colonization. For Hydri was under strict quarantine because it harbored an intelligent and dangerous alien race, the insectoid majat. Yet human colonies predating the quarantine did exist in this sector of space, which they called Serpent's Reach. Cut off from others of their own kind, they had their own inbred culture and special relationships with the alien majat.
Raen was the only survivor of the massacred Sul family, and she had made a pledge to devote her life to seeking vengeance for her slain clan. Her thirst for revenge would take her not only across the worlds of the Reach, but into the very center of an alien webwork that knit the stars of the forbidden constellation into a complex of interbred alien hives that no outsider could hope to unravel, and where most of humanity dared not go.

Customer Reviews:

A Spark in a Powder Room.......2006-09-18

Serpent's Reach (1980) is an SF novel in the Alliance-Union Universe. In 2223, the interstellar probe Celia discovered the majat, a sapient alien species, on Alpha Hydri III -- Cerdin -- in the Serpent's Reach. The majat body structure and organization was much like social insects such as ants. At the time of discovery, there were four different hives, each ruled by a collective intelligence with memories spanning millions of years.

There were no survivors from the Celia, but the hives did decide that each human was an individual intelligence. In 2229, the crew of the Delia probe was kept alive and, in 2235, under terms of the Hydri Treaty, one shipload of colonists was allowed to settle on the planet. These became the Kontrin Company. The colonists, however, brought a shipload of embryos, from which were grown the Betas. These Betas, in turn, grew clones of themselves, the azi, with biological timers that limited lifespan to forty years.

In this novel, Raen a Sul hant Meth-maren is Kontrin. She is the direct lineal descendent of The Meth-maren, destined to lead the family some day. For the past fifteen years, she has been learning the things that she should know to govern. Since all Kontrin have been made potentially immortal by the majat, she has many years of learning before she is old enough to have fun.

One day, the family estate at Kethiuy is visited by the Houses of Thon and Yalt, but these welcome guests bring others from the House of Hald and, worse yet, members of the Ruil-sept of the Meth-marens. Neither Hald or Ruil would have dared to set foot on the estate without Thon and Yalt. The Ruil cadet-sept has come to suggest a change in the relationships with the majat, but the talks are only a cover for an attack on the Sul-sept.

Only Raen survived the vicious attack by the Ruil-sept, Red and Gold majats and majat-azi. She manages to escape to the nearby Hive of the Blue majats and to convince the Hive Mother to help her wrest Kethiuy from the Ruil-sept and others who have assisted in the attack. She succeeds in destroying the Ruil-sept, but the Blue Hive is also destroyed and she is captured.

She is brought before the Council and Eron Thel, the head of the conspiracy, is almost allowed to relinquish Raen to her enemies. Yet Moth, second oldest of all Kontrin, protests that there has been no vote and Lian, the Eldest, agrees with Moth. Lian makes a speech, at the conclusion of which Moth kills all the known conspirators. Raen is banished from Cerdin.

She chooses to go to Meron. The following year, Pol and Morn Hald appear and confront her. She sends Morn away, but Pol stays for dinner. They meet occasionally at social events and smile at each other, but they never meet in private.

Raen lives through a few assignation attempts, but never gives the Council any reason to curb her freedoms. When Lian is assassinated, she continues her usual social activities. She moves on to Andra and then Kalind. But then she leaves Kalind on the Andra's Jewel. Every Kontrin seems to know that she is in transit but none knows where she is going.

During the voyage, Raen challenges an azi to a Sej match, to continue until the ship reaches her destination. Jim, the azi, agrees and they play ten games a night until the ship reaches Istra, the contact point with the Outsiders. Jim gains a lead until the final day and only loses the match in the last game. Jim now belongs to Raen, so she buys him a full set of luxury clothes and accessories and installs him within her quarters.

A Blue majat is also on the Andra's Jewel. On the last day of the voyage, he awakes and Raen calms him down. He is a messenger from the Kalind Blue Mother to the Istran Blue Hive. Raen suspects that he is the only Blue messenger to reach Istra since the destruction of the Cerdin hive.

In this story, Raen discerns a plot on Istra that didn't die with Eron Thel. She sets out to correct the problem, making contacts with Beta companies and the Blue Hive. She burdens Jim with more responsibility and he expands his programming.

This story is typical of the author, with one human becoming the main contact with an alien species. However, there are secondary plots, including the results of providing humans with potential immortality. Jim also undergoes a significant metamorphosis by immersing himself in Raen's deepstudy tapes.

Highly recommended for Cherryh fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of alien cultures and human adaptations.

-Arthur W. Jordin

Amazing World and Culture Building!.......2005-02-07

What would a world be like if Ants were the evolved creatures?
What would their cultures be like? What would their values be? How could they interact with Humans? You will never look at a trail of Ants the same way again! What would happen if Humans could live for hundreds of years, how wealthy and powerful could they become?
These are the introductery concepts of this amazing story that explores betrayal, revenge, isolation in a new and fascinating way. This short book is plenty to work over for anyone. I just wish that Ms. Cherryh could manage to come back to this story some time and explore more of this fascinating tale.

One of my Favorites by Cherryh.......2002-08-13

Some of her works go slow for me, but I was completely enthralled by this story. Her characterizations are vivid and realistic. I've read it several times now!

One of C.J. Cherryh's best........2001-03-27

There are many reasons I love Serpent's Reach. 1) It is the first book by C.J. Cherryh that I bought (as I was judging it by the cover). 2. The Majat are a insect-like alien race and I like both insects and alien races, so for me it is a real treat. 3. C.J. Cherryh's might SEEM to start out slow, but she is really creating a setting and a foundation for a perfect story.

If you liked this book, I would suggest C.J. Cherryh's 'Pride of Chanur' which is a stand alone book that is followed by FOUR other books (A three book series and another stand alone). Alien cats, but not just your run-of-the-mill alien cats.

Future of Union and Alliance.......2000-08-30

Remote contact with Alliance. Dates mentioned do not fit with dates given in other Union-Alliance stories.

The worlds of Serpent's Reach are colonized by Union, but have only contact to Union and Alliance at a single station. They are ruled by immortal families, while the populace consists of azi and mortal "beta" humans. The immortals or "Kontrins" are the link to the four hives of indigenous giants ants.

The female protagonist is the only survivor of her family murdered by rival humans, then of all the ruling families, when humans perish as the hives make war on each other and are united in a single hive, which apparently is part of the natural life cycle of the hive, which spans several hundred years.

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Serpent's Reach - Book Club - Hardcover by Doubleday

Manufacturer: Nelson Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000EMVZQM

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Serpent's Reach
C. J. Cherryh
Manufacturer: Daw
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NPPIDG

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SERPENT'S REACH
C.J. Cherryh
Manufacturer: Daw
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000P1NYJ8

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Serpent's Reach
C. J. Cherryh
Manufacturer: Daw
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000NVQ37U

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Serpent's Reach
C. J. Cherryh
Manufacturer: Daw Books, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000NXPN1U

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Serpent's Reach

Manufacturer: Daw Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: B000HWL4CY

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Serpent's Reach

Manufacturer: Macdonald
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books | Authors, A-Z | Books on CD | Books on Cassette | Fantasy | Gaming | Large Print | Media | Science Fiction | Writing
ASIN: 0356085155

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Lovely and Anecdotal

A Study of America's Diverse Culinary History

A literary "buffet" of food history essays

The best of these insights from the 1840s to modern times

From Home Fries to History

From Hardtack to Home Fries: An Uncommon History of American Cooks and Meals
Barbara Haber
Manufacturer: Free Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

History | Gastronomy | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
General | Cooking, Food & Wine | Subjects | Books
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A Thousand Years Over a Hot Stove: A History of American Women Told through Food, Recipes, and Remembrances

Eat My Words: Reading Women's Lives Through the Cookbooks They Wrote

Stand Facing the Stove: The Story of the Women Who Gave America The Joy of Cooking

Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America, Revised Edition (California Studies in Food and Culture)

ASIN: 0684842173

Amazon.com

Barbara Haber's fascinating From Hardtack to Home Fries bills itself as "An Uncommon History of American Cooks and Meals." More exactly, it locates the recurrent intersection of American women's history and culinary practice and shows how one shaped the other. In lively chapters like "Pretty Much of a Muchness: Civil War Nurses and Diet Kitchens" and "The Harvey Girls: Good Women and Good Food Civilize the American West," Haber focuses on the untold female contribution to 19th- and 20th-century food culture, an engrossing story. Readers not only encounter great anecdotes--Civil War nurses guarding barrels of whiskey from thieves, for example, or pioneer chain-restaurateur Fred Harvey's female service corps in action--but discover a hidden American history.

The vividness of the narratives results, largely, from Haber's excerpts of contemporary diaries and memoirs, like that of World War II POW Sarah Vaughan, who was held by the Japanese in Manila. ("There is a great rush for spinach juice," Vaughan reported, "on the days this is served.") In addition, Haber supplies pertinent recipes, like Ella Kellog's Savory Nut Loaf, a chilling example of 19th-century food-reformist fare, and Baked Fudge, the formula of Cleora Butler, whose unsung cookbooks first explored African American food in the Southwest. These documents tell truths as no others can. Haber's final and most personal chapter, "Growing Up with Cookbooks," explores the importance of cookbooks more explicitly, revealing their "intimate power to make connections between people"--to make culture itself. The authors of most of these recipes are women, a fact not lost on Haber, as the delightful Hardtack shows. --Arthur Boehm

Book Description

Barbara Haber, one of America's most respected authorities on the history of food, has spent years excavating fascinating stories of the ways in which meals cooked and served by women have shaped American history. As any cook knows, every meal, and every diet, has a story -- whether it relates to presidents and first ladies or to the poorest of urban immigrants. From Hardtack to Home Fries brings together the best and most inspiring of those stories, from the 1840s to the present, focusing on a remarkable assembly of little-known or forgotten Americans who determined what our country ate during some of its most trying periods.

Haber's secret weapon is the cookbook. She unearths cookbooks and menus from rich and poor, urban and rural, long-past and near-present and uses them to answer some fascinating puzzles:

• Why was the food in Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt's White House so famously bad? Were they trying to keep guests away, or did they themselves simply lack the taste to realize the truth? It turns out that Eleanor's chef wrote a cookbook, which solves the mystery.

• How did food lure settlers to the hardship of the American West? Englishman Fred Harvey's Harvey Girls tempted them with good food and good women.

• How did cooking keep alive World War II Army and Navy POWs in the Pacific? A remarkable cookbook reveals how recollections of home cooking and cooking resourcefulness helped mend bodies and spirits.

From Hardtack to Home Fries uses a light touch to survey a deeply important subject. Women's work and women's roles in America's past have not always been easy to recover. Barbara Haber shows us that a single, ubiquitous, ordinary-yet-extraordinary lens can illuminate a great deal of this other half of our past. Haber includes sample recipes and rich photographs, bringing the food of bygone eras back to life.

From Hardtack to Home Fries is a feast, and a delight.

Customer Reviews:

Lovely and Anecdotal.......2005-12-06

This is not an intense "History of America Through Food", but rather a fun and witty serious of anecdotes about various chapters in American culinary history. It's in no way encyclopedic, nor is it a reference book, but it does make for a nice read for those who love American history or food. I look forward to Haber's next book... a sequel of this one might be nice, I'm sure there are a dozen more similar examples of American food stories.

A Study of America's Diverse Culinary History.......2003-02-24

Barbara Haber, Curator of Books at the Schlesinger Library, has compiled a basic history of America's food. The topics covered include the Irish famine, the Civil War, food reformers such as Graham and Kellogg, the abominable food served in FDR's White House, how food has maintained familial, cultural, and racial bonds, and even cookbook collecting (and I thought I was the only one!). Each topic is a basic history, and for more in-depth study and knowledge, one will likely need to dig through some of the resources provided in the bibliography. But for someone who wants just a basic overview, this book is perfect.

A literary "buffet" of food history essays.......2002-06-14

This book consists of essays concerning different aspects of the history of food and cooking in the United States, and, much like a buffet, some "dishes" are more appetizing than others. Make no mistake, this is well-written from beginning to end, but the subject matter of some chapters held little interest for me personally, while I found others quite fascinating. As a rule (with exceptions), the better the food, the more interesting the essay, so I found the first two chapters rather tedious. Finally, when I got to the chapter about the health food fads that originated from Battle Creek did I find the writing riveting and quite interesting. Other favorites include the chapter about the FDR White House food, which had a notoriously bad reputation, the essay on the Harvey girls, and the chapter about African-American cooks. In summary, this book is a mixed bag where the good outweighs the bland. What more could you ask for in a buffet?

The best of these insights from the 1840s to modern times.......2002-06-06

Barbara Haber has spent years investigating stories of changing ways of cooking meals in America: this gathers the best of these insights from the 1840s to modern times, using cookbooks and menus from all classes, regions, and eras to explore the changing world of food. From the role of food in luring adventurers to the undiscovered American west to how cooking kept POWS alive during World War II, From Hardtack To Home Fries is packed with intriguing history.

From Home Fries to History.......2002-04-04

Read this "delicious" book slowly and savor it. What a task the author has undertaken; I am dazzled by the amount of research Barbara Haber evidenced. What a wealth of detail. I found the material fascinating -- especially as it is a book that would not ordinarily cross my path.
Although I have never actually sat down and read a cookbook, I was familiar enough with the diet books to enjoy Haber's exploration of them. I, too, enjoy "fat narratives," but had never before considered diet books as "barometers of culture" It was also interesting to learn more about familiar names: Kellogg, and Graham, for example. And I, too, shared the hope that the magic idea of merely reading diet books would solve weight problems.
It was neat to learn more about the Harvey Girls, whom I only knew through the 1946 Judy Garland movie. The FDR story -- completely unfamiliar to me (and I would guess, most readers) -- was hilarious, and interesting throughout. What a glimpse behind the scenes with Mrs. Nesbitt, the inept White House cook.
My favorite moments in the book, however, are when the author steps out and speak personally about her own life and work, and I wish the book had more of this personal voice.
Laced with recipes culled from cookbooks, memoirs and diaries, this book a unique contribution to women's history

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