Book Description
This time out, smalltown caterer and minister's wife Faith Fairchild's neighbor, Pix Miller, takes center stage, heading off to Norway to investigate the sudden disappearance of a family friend. Determined to discover the truth, Pix is drawn into a suspenseful world of intrigue, stolen antiques, secret histories, and deadly echoes from Norway's past and the Nazi occupation. Surrounded by the country's breathtaking beauty, the ever-resourceful New Englander perseveres -- until at last she finds herself face-to-face with a remorseless killer...with no way out.
Customer Reviews:
Fun!.......2007-09-18
I have loved every one of Katherine Hall Page's books and this one didn't disappoint.
Mystery and Travelog combined.......2001-12-12
Warning -- this could be an expensive book -- you may find yourself longing to tour Norway yourself! All the standard elements of the genre are present, leavened with Norwegian humor (What does Sweden have that Norway doesn't? Good neighbors.), recipes (lutefisk is fish steeped in lye, so I'll aim for the ginger cookies), and such original similes as "Her voice was as bitter as an unripe lingonberry". Highly recommended.
Didn't capture interest............2001-06-14
I read the first few chapters, and skimmed the rest. While I like Pix, she just doesn't have the witty intelligence of Faith. This book was bogged down with details, and lacked excitement. I found some of the dialogue between the guests on the Scandia Sights tour amusing, but not enought to plod through the whole 200 hundred something odd pages of the book. Working on Body in the Bookcase presently, ah.....Faith is back!
Not the best of this series.......2001-01-18
Let's face it--Faith Fairchild is a much more interesting heroine than her friend Pix Miller. In this installment of "The Body....." books, Pix accompanies her mother on a trip to Norway. She has been summoned by her childhood friend, Marit Hansen whose daughter has disappeared after the death of her fiance. The theory is that since the two young people were tour guides, the group of women can join the tour and discover the culprits to the apparent murder/kidnapping. The best part of the book is the background of Norway with frequent references to the geography, climate, customs, and food of the country. Somehow this book doesn't come across as well as others of the series and it's hard to care about characters who are never fully developed.
fun for travelers.......2000-09-14
Having recently returned from Norway, I thought this was fun to read. The author captured much of the culture of the country and the comments about the food were hysterical and true! Travelling is always about food. The settings for the story were places most tourists to Norway tend to go. And the characters that were Norwegian were very believable. I think the author did a great job.
Average customer rating:
- Blessings and Curses
- A fractured tale, beautifully rendered
- An interesting idea, deftly rendered.
- Not the best by Wolfe, but good
- A correction
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Soldier of the Mist
Gene Wolfe
Manufacturer: Tor Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 United States | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century | African American | Asian American | Classics | Collections & Readers | Drama | General | Hispanic | History & Criticism | Humor | Jewish American | Letters & Correspondence | Native American | Poetry | Short Stories | Women Writers
Wolfe, Gene | ( W ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Fantasy | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
General | Science Fiction | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
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Soldier of Arete
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Latro in the Mist
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Shadow of the Torturer
ASIN: 0312937342 |
Customer Reviews:
Blessings and Curses.......2007-06-12
I recently picked this book up again and re-read it after many years. I remembered enjoying it the first time round, and did so again this time. On re-reading it I am both more and less impressed by Wolfe on second reading! More, because I really enjoyed the plot, the character of Latro with his supporting characters and the way the very nature of the plot causes sudden plot breaks. Less, because in places it felt a bit too neo-pagan influenced when presenting the gods and goddesses, and he presented the gods based on reconstruction, which I felt caused them to lack a little in places where he could have used his wonderful imagination to great advantage. The deities were a golden oppurtunity for Wolfe to really excel in a way we know he can from his short stories and the New Sun books. For that reason I only give the book 4 stars, though I still think it is very enjoyable and ought to be read by anyone interested in ancient Greece, fantasy or just good novels.!
A fractured tale, beautifully rendered.......2006-02-10
Anybody who has seen the recent movie "Memento" knows the premise: the protagonist (in this case a wounded mercenary) has lost his longterm memory, and so can only remember what happens to him for one day. In both the movie and this book, he tries to compensate by writing down what he needs to know. Gene Wolfe's fine novel, however, far predates "Memento", and the world it describes, Greece in the 5th century BC, is a far more exotic and alien place.
As a piece of craft, this is a wonderful book--full of apt and elegant descriptions, sparely but deftly rendered characters, and eruptions of violence that pack surprising power. Wolfe is a writer who transcends the genre he happens to be working in, which is something of a miracle in today's pigeon-holed, dumbed-down publishing climate. My only complaint is that he perhaps takes his conceit too far, throwing in one or two too many shifts in time and place (and, in the case of one character, even gender) so that the plot remains less involving that it might have been.
All in all, this is a remarkable achievement.
An interesting idea, deftly rendered........2004-03-24
Someone said elsewhere that this felt like an exercise for Wolfe, and I know what they mean-- using a Memento-like plot (a main character who loses his memory at the end of every day) Wolfe sketches the world of ancient Greece through the eyes of a soldier named Latro.
The details are compelling-- I was uninterested in the real historical value (people should not be trying to derive history lessons from fantasy novels) but Wolfe does a good job, as usual, of creating a realistic and detailed world for Latro to inhabit.
The plot is somewhat less compelling. It is nearly a necessity of the trope that he chose that the plot becomes confusing (particularly in times when Latro couldn't write his journal) and I'm sad to say that I often didn't feel any kind of guiding line that was coherent enough to motivate me through the confusion.
Interesting for Wolfe completists or real fans of historical fiction, not a place to begin with his work otherwise.
Not the best by Wolfe, but good.......2002-07-18
This book is set in Ancient Greece, during the Persian Wars. The protagonist, Latro, is a soldier who has recieved a head wound and forgets very quickly. Therefore, he keeps a journal to tell himself who he is and what has happened to him--and that journal is this book. When I first heard about this, I was skeptical that a coherent novel could be written this way, but Wolfe makes it work without stretching believability too much.
Wolfe describes the setting effectively. In order to prevent the reader from using prior knowledge of Greek history or mythology to unfair advantage, he usually replaces the Greek proper names with the protagonist's translations (sometimes incorrect!), which are then rendered into English. This makes the reader nearly as disoriented as the characters, making the book more interesting. Some readers may be annoyed that Wolfe never stops to explain anything, but I think it's better this way, since it avoids the contrived plot devices and character behavior that are often necessary for more explicit exposition. Wolfe's characters are realistic enough, and it's interesting to watch Latro's development as a character and the ways he deals with his affliction.
Of course, I do have some complaints. The first few chapters were boring, and sometimes the plot seemed to drift, as if the author, as well as Latro, had forgotten what he was doing. This aside, Soldier of the Mist could make a good introduction to Wolfe for those who find the New Sun series intimidating. I rarely had much trouble with that longer (and better) work, but some do, and they may be glad that the worldbuilding, allusions, and descriptive language have been toned down. If you have already read and liked Wolfe, then read this. It won't change your life, but it is a solid and rewarding novel.
A correction.......2002-03-02
Another reviewer thinks that Latro is a legionaire. Tain't necessarily so. Read the book yourself, the history lessons of ancient Greece and the Romans, Latins and Etruscans you can work out at for yourself. For now, just know that the army of the Great King had conscripts from kingdoms near and far.
Book Description
This omnibus of two acclaimed novels is the story of Latro, a Roman mercenary who was fighting in Greece when he received a head injury that deprived him of his short-term memory but gave him in return the ability to see and converse with the supernatural creatures, the gods and goddesses, who invisibly inhabit the classical landscape. Latro forgets everything when he sleeps. Writing down his experiences every day and reading his journal anew each morning gives him a poignantly tenuous hold on himself, but his story's hold on readers is powerful indeed.
Customer Reviews:
Wish I could give it 6 stars.......2006-12-29
If this was not written by Gene Wolfe, who is more well known for his New Sun series, this would be some writers greatest work. If you like mythology there is no way you won't love this book. If you like Neil Gaiman than there is no way you won't love this book. If you loved the New Sun series than you will love this book. Heck, if you love great books than here is another one for you.
Of all the Gene Wolfe books, well besides the short story collections, I would recommend this book for new Gene Wolfe readers. It is a great introduction to Wolfe's style but very accesible because its based in an environment where the reader is somewhat knowledgable of.
READ THIS EVERY DAY.......2006-10-30
This is what Latro writes on the outside of his scroll to remind himself to read over his writings every morning. He has to leave himself this note because he cannot form new memories. Sound familiar? Yes, this is very much the same general idea as the film Memento from 2000, but this novel (actually a compilation of two novels, Soldier of the Mist, 1986 and Soldier of Arete, 1989) was written well before then. According to Wikipedia another book in this series, Soldier of Sidon is due out this year (2006), although I felt that the second novel, Soldier of Arete, pretty neatly ended the story.
On to the specifics. On one hand I found it really interesting, well-written, historically engaging, and a real challenge to follow a lengthy novel when the narrator isn't much help. On the other hand, the format was at times frustrating and the whole "I forget everything" got a little tiresome, especially near the beginning when most chapters were consumed by notes from Latro to himself explaining that he can't remember anything. Gene Wolfe seems to enjoy the relationship that the narrator has with the audience, as I've found his narrators are generally unusual in some way. In the New Sun books his narrator couldn't forget a single detail that he had lived through; in the Latro books the narrator can barely remember what happened a handful of hours ago, losing the rest to time, what he describes as the mist. In many ways I found myself enjoying the task of piecing together Latro's experiences into a meaningful narrative, flipping back in the novel over and over again to see if I really remembered hearing that name or that place.
This brings me to the one thing that I think really helped the Latro books be successful, which is true of Memento as well, and that is that the medium of the work inherently causes the reader to suffer the same ailment and fate as the protagonist. Wofle's writing keeps you slightly in the dark, and his method of opening each chapter with what has most recently happened, not what you just finished reading about, before moving back in time and catching up with this new present keeps you on your toes. This is why I like reading post-modern novels and novels that share many characteristics with a post-modern novel, such as this one: the effort that the reader must give to the reading and the ability and responsibility to help create the art.
Lastly, it was interesting to read what could be very loosely constructed as an historical novel. Set in ancient Greece, Wolfe does a fairly good job of helping the reader through difficult geography and cultures without giving away the game too much. He gives us many details which are likely true (I'll admit that I'm nothing close to a Grecian scholar, but what I read of Wolfe is that he likes to bleed history into his fiction) and many rough sketches of life in Greece around the turn of the calendars from BCE to CE. These details never seem to intrude on the story, only to enhance or flush out a given moment.
Overall, I would recommend this novel to others, but keep in mind that it is not a passive read. However, I found it to be pretty rewarding. Yay for Latro.
An entertaining story that nobody else could have told.......2006-04-27
`Latro In The Mist' brings together two novels by Gene Wolfe that brilliantly meld history and fantasy with a twist unique to literature. It's good to see these back in print in a form that will let you pick up both for a reasonable price.
With `Soldier of the Mist' Wolfe tells a story that would stop any other author in their tracks. `Soldier of the Mist' is the diary of Latro, a soldier of ancient Rome (maybe) who suffered a head wound on the battlefield. Every day when Latro awakens, he has a new case of amnesia. Not only does he not know who he is, but whatever he learns lasts only one day. He has found travelling companions in his search for his identity, and every morning they have him read his diary to learn who he is. Every night he makes new entries, hoping they will be useful in the coming day. The next morning he will face the world as new, knowing only what he's written and what he sees in front of him. Latro wanders ancient Greece dealing with war, politics, gods and goddesses. His lack of knowledge and prejudices let him (and you) see the world of the ancients in an entirely new light.
Latro's journey continues in `Soldier of Arete.' While not as compelling as `Mist', Latros walking tour of ancient Greece remains a fascinating view into the ancient world. Unfortunately it does not advance his story as much as one might like, and some of the promise of the end of `Soldier' is not redeemed. A third (and concluding?) volume was rumored for years; I wait anxiously to see if the recently announced `Soldier of Sidon' will bring Latro to a well-deserved recovery. But whether it does or not, the next step in his journey will be well-informed, well-told, and well worth reading.
Herodotian Fantasy.......2006-01-22
It`s not quite a fantasy or sci-fi novel. Let`s call it culturological novel. Impressed by writings of the Ancient Greek historian Herodotos (Father of the History) Wolfe re-creates internal spiritual world of the ancient people and thier vision of the world around them, there hyerophania (the revealing of the God or the pagan gods) is usual experience of everyday life.
Hero of the novels, soldier Latro, retreats with the defeated Persian army through Greece in 479 B.C. and tries to remember his past and to understand his own life. The worst mistake of all novels about the history - to place modern character in the historic environment and to describe his (or her) adventres as in cinema (a kind of Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra). There`s no such a mistake. Wofe tries to re-create heroic and religious aspects of the ancient culture of the Mediterranean world.
Novel "Soldier of the Mist" is among the best novels of the Ancient Greece. It is written as poem in prose, with its own rhythm of narration. Probably Wolfe was impressed also by European Symbolist artists (Klimt etc.) and by their vision of the Antiquity.
By the way, I read this novel before "The Book of the New Sun" and "Soldier of the Mist" impressed me much more than Wolfe`s well-known novels (well, I`m a historian).
"Soldier of Arete" is a kind of "The Urth of the New Sun" here. There`s no solutions and answers to all questions and sometimes it`s hard to understand the plot and the author. And after the first novel you should wait for more... But, sorry... Let`s say: "Thank you!!!" for "The Soldier of the Mist". In 2006 was released the next novel - "Soldier of Sidon" - let`s hope - it would be better.
And you could belive me - though "Soldier of the Mist" is a kind of easy reading book - you could understand it only if you had read "History" by Herodotos.
Don`t be scared. It`s also very interesting book. As one Russian historian once said, Herodotos was not only the first historian-scientist, but also the first historical novel-writer and the first ethnologist (Herodotos described the ancestors of many modern nationalties - even the ancestors of the Slavs; he travelled on the territory of modern Ukraine).
P.S. Epigraph to "Soldier of the Mist" is taken from "History" by Herodotos, book 9, 62-65. If you would read it you would understand, why Latro lost his memory.
While you are reading these novels by Gene Wolfe - why not to listen to authentic music of Ancient Greece?
Try following CDs: Ensemble De Organographia "Music of the Ancient Sumerians, Egyptians and Greeks" and "Music of the Ancient Greeks" - authentic ancient music; modern music in Ancient Greek style played on reconstructed ancient instruments - "Melpomen: Ancient Greek Music" by Conrad Steinmann.
Wonderful Promise, Horrible Follow-Through.......2005-09-13
This omnibus edition collects two older novels about Latro, a mercenary soldier in Ancient Greece. Latro was injured in a battle, causing him to lose his short term memory. He begins each day without any memory of the day before. His only memories are fragments of his childhood. His only gift-or curse-- is that he can see the gods and other supernatural creatures.
Wolfe manages to spin an interesting tale, but seems incapable of finishing anything he starts. The first novel ends so abruptly I was tempted to track the author down and smack him. The second novel's ending makes me think the author got bored after page 500 and literally ran out of steam. There is a point in any novel where the action reaches a peak, and the reader is rewarded for slogging through the hundreds of pages that came before. There is a fulfillment. Wolfe apparently could not be bothered with such tedious things as conclusions. A few of the more fawning reviewers here seem to think this is a virtue. I consider it to be proof of a lazy writer.
I am sorry that I wasted my time reading this book.
Average customer rating:
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Soldiers In The Mist
Garry Douglas
Manufacturer: Harpercollins Pub Ltd
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Historical | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
War | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0006498930 |
Average customer rating:
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MIST ON THE RICE-FIELDS: A Soldier's Story of the Burma Campaign 1943 - 1045 and Korean War 1950-51
John Shipster
Manufacturer: Pen and Sword
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Military & Spies | Professionals & Academics | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
General | Military | Leaders & Notable People | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books
Myanmar | Asia | History | Subjects | Books
General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
General | World War II | Military | History | Subjects | Books
General | World | History | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0850528747 |
Book Description
This is the story of a young officer in the Indian Army who commanded a company in the Burma Campaign of 1943 to 1945. It covers the part played by the author and his unit in the long campaign to recover Burma, starting with the fierce close-quarter fighting in the jungles and rice-fields in the Arakan in which the Japanese suffered their first major defeat. The story moves on to Kohima which was the scene of some of the bitterest fighting in the Burma War, and which saved India.
For the author, however, the Burma War was a prelude to the bitter campaign in Korea (1950-51), where the author commanded a company of the Middlesex Regiment in the harsh conditions of extreme cold and snow, as part of the Commonwealth Brigade fighting in close co-operation with the Americans.?
Average customer rating:
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Soldier of the Mist
Manufacturer: TOR Book
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Wolfe, Gene | ( W ) | Authors, A-Z | Science Fiction & Fantasy | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000EK8IUA |
Product Description
"Soldier of The Mist" is a triumphant departure into the realms of fantasy by an acknowledged master craftsman.
Book Description
Now in a revised and expanded edition, this popular workbook teaches coping skills proven to decrease the discomfort, depression, and anxiety associated with chronic pain. The information and techniques presented have been used by tens of thousands of people over nearly two decades, and have been demonstrated to empower pain sufferers and decrease pain-related disability and distress. The approach is also valuable for people coping with other chronic illness-related problems, such as fatigue. Through hands-on exercises and homework assignments, readers are helped to understand the pain process, learn about medications and their effects, and recognize factors that exacerbate or relieve symptoms. The revised edition features updated coverage of commonly used pain medications and specific pain disorders, current nutritional recommendations, and a new appendix on complementary alternative medicine. Also included are a wealth of helpful new ideas on coping with pain flare-ups, staying active, accomplishing personal goals, and more.
Customer Reviews:
Used in our Pain Class.......2007-05-24
Since 2003 I've been using this book in my chronic pain class that I conduct. The patients get to check out the book for the four weeks. We have a difficult time getting them to turn it back in because they enjoy the material. There are so many good tools in this book. I would recommend this for any health care professional that deals with chronic pain patients.
Using it for Ongoing Chronic Pain Program.......2007-01-05
Our Pain Committee reviewed several resources before settling on this workbook for our community Living With Chronic Pain Program. It has not disappointed us as we are in our 5th program cycle. Participants find it a valuable resource, the summaries are like 'cliff notes' at the end of chapters so they can keep up with the reading, and I have been very pleased with the information. It is current, helpful, and up to date.
Serious help for persons in chronic pain.......2005-09-03
This book was recommended to me by my Dr. in a chronic pain clinic. I have since personally recommended it to everyone I know who suffers chronic pain. It discusses mind-body approaches,therapeutic exercises and diet as well as pain medications. It offers a program to help us help ourselves.
The book is user friendly for those not participating in a formally structured program.
Clinically helpful.......2004-06-30
We had two copies of this book in our back pain clinic library. They were recommended to us by a psychologist working in the pain field. Patients seemed to find it very helpful - to the point that both copies of the book were eventually borrowed and not returned! That must be the ultimate positive review.
Changed My Life.......2003-09-15
After decades of dibilitating pain, employing techniques offered in this book changed my life dramatically. I am now in control of my pain and my life. There is no "quick fix" to chronic pain, but with resolve and dedication to educating yourself, it is possible to live a fulfilling life even with chronic pain. This book offers just that, real life techniques and tools you can employ immediately, to change your approach to a chronic problem. I recomend this book to anyone who is serious about making positive lifestyle changes in order to manage their pain more effectively. Drugs and their negative side effects are not the only option. I have my life back after many, many years.
Amazon.com
Perfection Salad, a dish that won its creator first prize in a 1905 cooking contest, consisted of pristine molded aspic containing celery, red pepper, and chopped cabbage. Laura Shapiro, author of this eponymous social history, part of the Modern Library Food series, takes the salad as a model for the domestic science movement, an intriguing women's crusade of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Bent on convincing housewives that the way to domestic order lay in cooking "dainty" nutritional meals from sanitary ingredients in "scientific" kitchens, the movement helped give birth to our mass-market food scene, with its reliance on home economics precepts, processed convenience foods, and no-cook cooking--our cuisine of boil-in bags and microwave frozen dinners. Entertaining and informative, but also unexpectedly moving, the book chronicles in numerous intriguing stories the ways in which an impulse to liberate women from the drudgery and imprecision of daily food preparation led to its debasement. It's a fascinating story, of interest to anyone who wonders why and how we cook and eat--and think about food--as we do.
Beginning with portraits of early domestic movement reformers such as Catherine Beecher and Mary Lincoln, and investigating institutions like the Boston Cooking School, home of Fannie Farmer, the Mother of Level Measurements, the book then pursues "scientific cookery" into its mid-20th-century manifestation. "With the help of the new industry of advertising," Shapiro writes, "the food business was able to reflect Mrs. Lincoln's values [of food-production uniformity] by keeping its achievements in packing, sanitation, convenience, and novelty at the forefront." But greater ills ensued: the effect of the reformers, Shapiro contends, was to encourage women to become docile consumers tethered to commercial interests--and to rob our vigorous cooking and eating traditions of their rich life. In making that point, Perfection Salad reveals its true subject: the cultural priorities that defined American 20th-century life and, finally, the sorry nature of the order they established. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
Perfection Salad presents an entertaining and erudite social history of women and cooking at the turn of the twentieth century. With sly humor and lucid insight, Laura Shapiro uncovers our ancestors widespread obsession with food, and in doing so, tells us why we think as we do about food today. This edition includes a new Introduction by Michael Stern, who, with Jane Stern, is the author of Gourmet magazine's popular column Roadfood and the book
Eat Your Way Across the U.S.A.
Customer Reviews:
Great research, fascinating topic.......2007-06-08
This is a "must read" for anyone who fancies themself a chef, professional or home-cook. The writing is fluid and interesting, laid out in a comprehensible and sensible manner, and quite the scholarly document. Even those not intersted in cooking, but enjoy great nostalgia and history will love this book. Highly recommended as a gift where appropriate interest exists.
fascinating.......2003-08-06
the late 19th century movement for scientific household management is an almost unbelievable amalgam of middle-class protestant social standards and religious impulses, intellectural curiosity and discipline, political thought (compare it with leninism--everything the same for everyone all the time, and the middle class knows better than the proletariat), and naivete. while having less influence on its time than its proponents would acknowledge (even when reporting its failure), the movement led, through corporate exploitation and perversion, to many of the problems with eating, cooking, and "food production" in america today. it also led to many improvements we take completely for granted.
the author seems to be unaware that there was a comparable movement in britain. my british mother could remember horrific results from the school recipes she was forced to produce (one stew was so bad her friend's dogs refused it) and the british government published many educational pamphlets about "proper" methods of cooking, to the same indifference or resentment that met the domestic scientists' efforts.
i was a bit disappointed that the author did not pursue the links to the Transcendental Movement, though she did mention the connection with american protestentism. of course, the attitude of the 19th century cooks (and twentieth century nutritionists) has a long history: a Classical philospher (i'm too lazy to look up his name) wrote: "a man should eat to live, not live to eat" before the christian era. the author does discuss some of the social attitudes towards women and physical pleasure and how the ideal of a woman's being without appetite encouraged the domestic scientists to ignore the actual food in the cooking process.
while there is much to amuse in the domestic scientists' efforts and belief (and horrify--did anyone actually eat this way?), and while the author does acknowledge the dire state of production with reference to, for instance, the stock yards, i don't think she understands the appeal of predictable levening (how many of us want to make baking powder from wood ash?) preditable results (my british mother adored measuring cups and spoons--as a very short woman, she couldn't use the "two handsful of flour" recipes her family used and), and flour and sugar that are actually flour and sugar (the colonial housewife was warned by one contemporary author to make sure the sugar she bought in loaf form [and had to pulverize by hand] was not plaster of paris). the fact that 20th century corporations, especially after the second world war, {influended} their ideals into food which has caloric content without nutrition or taste should not detract from the real benefits the movement bestowed in its heyday.
this is an enjoyable popular history. i wish there had been more analysis of the movement's origins. the book's main strengths are its demonstration of how the movement's ideals were subsumed by industry and the analysis of the attitudes of the movement's founders.
the worst part is the description of the baked bean and celery "salad"--with dressing and whipped cream. that will live in my nightmares for years. and years.
Fascinating and scholarly read.......2002-01-12
Foodies and feminists alike should read this book. As part of the Modern Food Library reprints, chosen by Ruth Reichl (who is known for her good taste and her own laudable literary contributions - "Tender at the Bone" and "Comfort Me with Apples"), "Perfection Salad" describes all the elements present at the turn of the century that combined to forever change the way Americans view food. Food, its preparation and presentation became a female obsession in an time where the kitchen was really the only arena in which a woman could rule. The female nutritionists and cooks from that era seemed bent upon exerting control on SOMETHING, and that something turned out to be food - with sometimes terrible consequences. After reading "Perfection Salad", I understood the recipes that my grandmother (born in 1898) and my mother after her learned and served. Don't be frightened by the scholarly look of "Perfection Salad" - there are hilarious nuggets in the text - like color-themed menus (everything green and white, for example), putting everything into gelatin for the sake of "daintiness" (no messy lettuce leaves hanging out of your mouth) and covering absolutely anything and everything with "white sauce". For more laughs, peruse "The Gallery of Regrettable Food" by James Lileks in which he has gathered some of the most revolting-looking photos of the consequences of "Perfection Salad".
Ever wonder where pineapple-marshmallow salad comes from?.......2001-12-14
This highly readable, beautifully researched book provides a fascinating look into American "cuisine" circa 1850-1920. The Boston Cooking School and other institutions promoted Americanization through cooking conducted on scientific principles, although immigrants proved reluctant to give up their "coarse and unsavory" meals for triumphs of digestibility such as the following, served to President Wilson on his first day in office: "cream of celery soup, fish with white sauce, roast capon with two white vegetables, a fruit salad,and a dessert made with gelatin, custard, and whipped cream"(212). Other triumphs included a salad made of bananas and pimentos bound together with mayonnaise and whipped cream and, later, grapefruit pieces mixed with dessert mints. Often funny and always interesting, this book
also helps readers to understand the convenience food mania of the 1950s.
Food for Thought.......2001-08-01
I found Perfection Salad in a used bookstore in Manhattan ten or twelve years ago. I read it, was fascinated and stirred by its tale of the psychological manipulation of women - particularly, the women who were new immigrants to America at the turn of the century. I loaned the book to someone who never returned it, and have been quoting it -- and longing to re-read it -- ever since. I have just re-ordered the "back in print" edition...Here is what is important about this book: it details an overlooked, but critical, thread in the fabric of family and community life -- a thread that was quietly pulled until the greater tapestry unraveled.
Books:
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- The Cat Who Robbed a Bank (Cat Who...)
- The Cat Who Saw Stars (Cat Who...)
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- The Concubine's Tattoo (A Sano Ichiro Mystery)
- The Confession of Brother Haluin
- The Darkest Hour (Warriors, Book 6)
- The Drowning Pool
- The Faithful Dead (Hawkenlye Mysteries)
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