A. Merritt Books

This book is a wonderful specimen of family research! I learned alot about my background that I otherwise didn't know. Looks like new additions to the family might lead towards a revised or second edition . . . the author should get busy incorporating all that new information!

It was most interesting to read about the young John Speirs family's early days in Maryland.

Set in New York City in the 1850's, Scandal's Daughter by Mallory Dorn Hart is a vivacious and entertaining novel based on the life of Isaac Merritt Singer, developer of the sewing machine, and as told from the viewpoint of Gussie Singer, his fictional daughter. Filled with steamy romance, the power of new technology made available to the masses, and the imminent threat of the Civil War, Scandal's Daughter is an exciting and immersive read that fully captures the spirit of its time.

I have taken Dr. Miner's classes, there is no better authority on Russian or Soviet history. If you want to understand more about the Soviet union in World War two, I recomend this book. This man has done research within Stalin's personal library, one of few American's to do so.

The story of the shy, single school teacher about to turn thirty who has dated every loser in the tri-state area is one which many single girls can relate to. However, the author puts her own personal spin on things by introducing the idea that the shy school teacher can let her hair down and get steamy--through a series of emails. The main character first gets the idea because of the steamy romances she reads herself, deciding to try her hand at a little erotica herself, which she determines she will never email off to her date...but because she hits that wrong key...off into cyberspace it goes, only to be energetically recepted by the man in question...does that help or hurt her future relationship? Read to see...

Here's a tale of a mysterious beautiful item called the Dragon Glass, which was looted by a man named Herndon, from the Forbiddened City, where he found the mysterious item accidentally. At first all he could see was the beautiful built of the glass itself, the frame exotically decorated with gems and orientated pictures.

One day at home, he was found nowhere within his mansion and much panick they inform a friend of his, only to reappeared around a week later, wounded. They finally decided to let his friend to talk to Herndon since he seemed to be too traumatised to talk to anybody about his disappearance.

It was then when they were alone at last, he finally revealed that he went through the dragon glass, where he met a mysterious female in a strange place and where he meet the mysterious Wonder-Worker

This western is thrilling and takes you back to the days of the old west. A very good read.

I highly reccomend this book to any fans of Piozzi or Johnson. It takes the odd position of defending Piozzi for re-marrying as opposed to the classic view that she betrayed her husband and children for love.

This book cannot be missed, it will and should be a cornerstone of biographical information about Piozzi.

After her father's passing, Dena Colby comes home to Lander, Wyoming. Ry Hardin, her father's foreman petitions to be a comfort---Dena has other plans. And the heat is on! Fun romance.

From the invention of the cell phone - in the unlikely era of 1901 - to late 1800s television testing, Wondrous Contrivances provides a new type of history of emerging technologies which actually emerged far before their published development. Especially intriguing are parallels drawn between inventions of yesteryear and modern times.

If I could only have one cookbook -- this would be it. I buy it as a gift for kids starting out on their own and foreign visitors looking for a souvenir of America. It is nearly encyclopedic and the recipes are of a uniformly good quality. I find the recipes more consistently good than Betty Crocker and consistently better than the Joy of Cooking. The only general purpose standard American cookbook that beats it for the taste of the food is James Beard (who unfortunately died of heart failure for a reason -- food tastes better with more butter, cream and sugar).

Of course, I actually own a couple of hundred cookbooks -- so I no longer use it every day. I tend to find a recipe here, a recipe there that I like (often a unique treat). But when someone requests something standard that I don't have a special favorite for, I always start here. And Thanksgiving would not be Thanksgiving without Fanny Farmer on the counter -- sweet potatoes with pineapple (sometimes) and pecans (always) and creamed onions. This book has some of the best recipes of Marion Cunningham's other classic The Breakfast Book (e.g., Dutch Babies) but not all (so buy both). As with all New England cooking, it excels at the finish (Indian pudding, every cake in the book and cookies -- lace in particular). Pies are also first rate (although I usually use the Norske Nook for pies -- the advantage of having more books). By the way, the recipes do go beyond traditional American, I just rarely try the "ethnic" ones since I usually have a specialized alternative.

The only negative about the book is the formatting. The recipes are written in one paragraph (steps are not broken out). This makes them compact (and allows more recipes in a book). But I find it too easy to skip a sentence and miss a step.

If you are looking for a general purpose, day in day out cookbook, you cannot go wrong here.

The Fannie Farmer Cookbook has been a staple in our kitchen for over 30-years. I've not found a better guide and I give it as a gift to new households.

The Fanny Farmer cookbook is great for somebody who just needs to know how to make good, solid meals. It does not have all the fancy recipes that other books have. Instead, it is just the kind of cooking that Mom did to feed her family. In addition, it has thousands of recipes and how-to-cook suggestions so that you will always know what to do...

I had been cooking for about 25 years before someone gave me Fannie Farmer as a gift. It is a classic among cookbooks, and the beauty of this issue is that it has been updated with new recipes, as well as tweaks to the traditional ones. A favorite feature is the suggestions for what to do with leftovers, be it beef, chicken, lamb, etc. This book makes a terrific gift for both the seasoned cook looking to replace an original version, as well as the less-experienced cook. Everyone should have at least one A-Z cookbook on their shelf, and this is my favorite!

This is the best all around cookbook ever written. It has recipes for absolutley everything. I wore out my first copy so I bought a hard cover the second time. I also give this as a gift to new brides and all the girls in my famly.