Missouri Books

When I was a child one of my favorite books was Understood Betsy by Ms Fisher. I was looking forward to enjoying her as an adult, but I was blown away by her finely crafted stories, their depth and subtlety. Why is this women not well known? She is every bit as skillful as Willa Cather, Laura Ingals Wilder, and Louisa May Alcott.

A most absorbing and well written memoir by a now retired American diplomat who experienced an outstanding thirty five year career in the U.S. Foreign Sevice: Both East and West Germany: Somalia:and Zaire to mention a few. But written with much compassion, humor, humanitarian, and historical insights. To say nothing about his including his experiences with several notable personalities such as Chester Bowles, Robert and Ethel Kennedy::Ronald Reagan: and The Carters etc. etc.

The memoirs of Sideny Drake Jackman add much to our understanding of the recruitment of Confederate troops in Union held territory, specifically in Missouri. Jackman recruited troops in western Missouri in 1862, and fought them at the bloody engagement at Lone Jack before they were drilled. This account contains the best first person account of the battle of Lone Jack in print. Jackman does not fail to credit bravery or mock cowardice. His candor is unusual for books of this genre. All in all this is a good read and a great discovery for students of the war in Missouri. Norton has included a fine introduction and his footnotes are useful and informative.

I really loved the horriffic tales with interviews and tragic details of lofe in a huge public housing project in St. Louis, the Pruitt-Igoe. Amazing insights & interviews with real people throughout the book make for a very impactful, well organized work.

I was much more than pleasantly surprised with this book by a first-time author, Jeni Grossman. Few novices could possibly construct a book that so masterfully maintains the suspense, brings the characters to life and evokes numerous emotions--from laughter to tears. Her descriptions are well done and her dialog believable. It was truly a "great read."

The many facets of the career of Benjamin Franklin have brought one biography after another, with some specializing in one particular aspect of his life. As he had so many active fields of endeavor, the supply of books will continue. Franklin was a scientist, inventor, philosopher, revolutionary, chess player, journalist, essayist, and lifelong do-gooder. He was also a printer, and from that he was a businessman. It is this seemingly ordinary part of his spectacular life that is the subject of _Benjamin Franklin's Printing Network: Disseminating Virtue in Early America_ (University of Missouri Press) by historian Ralph Frasca. Franklin, of course, thought of himself as a printer. It was what he was trained to do as an apprentice. He became a fugitive apprentice when he ran away from his older brother's Boston shop to make his own way in Philadelphia. He succeeded, and although others eventually took over the ink and typesetting parts of the trade while he made himself busy with other things, he extended his influence to other shops and other newspapers. Using his job skills, he was able to rise beyond his class, a common enough and even typically American story now, but something that was just not done in what was still the British social system of the time. He developed a network of printers which was not only lucrative to him, but helped him get the word out about the importance of virtue, morality, and industry.

That Franklin was a success himself as a printer in Philadelphia there can be no doubt, but he was enormously influential in making a printing empire. In 1731, South Carolina invited him to become its printer of official records, but he did not want to leave Philadelphia. He hit on the alternative of sending his journeyman, Thomas Whitmarsh, to Charleston, along with a press, fonts, and funds. Whitmarsh thus was the first member in what we would recognize as a franchise marketing scheme. He surrendered a third of the profits to Franklin, and in return got the start-up costs, as well as almanacs and other books to be sold in his shop, and news stories so that the _South-Carolina Gazette_ would be a sister publication to Franklin's in Philadelphia. Over the succeeding decades, Franklin would select other journeymen to become his distant proxies, always valuing their industry and sobriety, and in this way hoping that his emphasis on virtue might create further examples for others to follow. Eventually, the Franklin printing empire extended to New York, Newport, New Haven, and even Antigua. Not all of the shops flourished, and some not only lost money but caused their founder family heartache. Nonetheless, Franklin's printing network was the largest and most influential of the time. His first partnership started in 1729, and he forged his last over fifty years later. By his franchises, he increased the growth of printing throughout the colonies; by 1755, eight of the fifteen newspapers in the colonies were from the Franklin network, and other printers learned and borrowed from them. Franklin's success was the press's success, and formed the early American printing tradition. Not only were information and opinion disseminated through the network, but also the value of journalism was impressed upon the reading audience. When the new government was being formed, the importance of a free press was not lost upon it.

Perhaps the most important function of the network was that it allowed Franklin to spend more time on other things, the experiments in electricity, the advising on colonial independence, and the appointments to France by which we better remember him. It was the printing that made him, though; in drafting his will in 1788, he went on to mention his other offices, but identified himself as "BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, of Philadelphia, printer..." right at the beginning. He also wrote the wonderful epitaph for himself (not actually used on his monument) comparing his printer's body to a cover of a book from which the contents have been torn out. Even within the sphere of being a printer, however, he went on to be much more. Frasca's welcome book shows just how Franklin made himself into a printing empire, and stresses (just as Franklin would have wanted) how it was done as part of his effort at improving humanity.

Saw this book reviewed in the newspaper and had to order it. It is small and has the most popular plants grown here. These are plants that will grow best and can prevent buying plants that will not survive the winter.

Experienced outdoorsman Charles Farmer presents The Best Of Fishing, Hunting, Camping, And Boating In Missouri: Tips From An Outdoor Enthusiast, a primer of basic techniques and strategies to get the most out of one's wilderness experience in the Show-Me State. From where to find the premier fishing lakes and trout parks, to advice for which fishing lures to use and how to fish with kids, optimal habitats for hunting, various Missouri hunting clubs, camping checklists and safety tips, boating basics, and much more, The Best of Fishing, Hunting, Camping, And Boating In Missouri is a superb primer. Black-and-white photographs embellish this plain-terms introduction to the joy of experiencing what Missouri has to offer.

There is really not a lot to say about this particular book. Yes, the dishes that are featured are cooked in Missouri, but to be quite frank, I have run across the same recipes in just about ever state of the Union. To be honest, there is not one thing in this book that I have found so far that is uniquely Missouri! The recipes have been taken from many, many other cook books from across the state and someone made the arbitrary decision as to which were the best of the best in these five books. Personally I feel the title is a bit misleading in this aspect. Most dishes associated with this state are not necessarily limited to this region. Missouri is sort of a cross roads and melting pot, and has been for all of its history. Just about ever major group that inhabits North American, or has passed through has contributed something in the way of food and how it is prepared. Here in the Ozarks, the S.W. corner of the state, each individual community, and indeed, each individual family group have their own eating and cooking traditions which for the most part are variations of already known dishes. My own wife, and excellent country cook and gourmet cook (when she feels like it), was very much influenced by her two great-grandmothers, both Osage Indian, and both "hill folk." Most families here have similar backgrounds.

That being said, this is not a bad cookbook at all and there are many very good dishes to be found between its pages. There are hundreds of recipes in this volume which consists of over 300 pages. The recipes are quite complete and the directions are simple to follow. The measurements are quite concise and cooking times, for the most part, quite accurate.

It would be difficult to find a taste that could not be satisfied with at least some of the various concoctions found in this volume as they are quite diverse. We have personally prepared at least twenty dishes from this book. Most were excellent and were put into the "let's do this again file." Some were not to our taste, but were not actually "bad." I suppose some of the dishes that are made for the Microwave are our least favorite, but that is probably personal prejudice on my part, as I hate those things for anything other than just warming up leftovers and reheating my morning coffee when it goes cold.

All in all this is a decent book and I am sure there are many other dishes in it we have not tried that would be great. I am giving this one four stars due to the fact that I feel the title is misleading. I would give it three due to that fact, but there are some fine things to cook up in this book and if you can get a copy, I am sure you will not regret it. On the other hand, again, to be honest, I doubt if the experienced cook or cook book collector will find anything particularly unique about this one.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

"Best Of The Best From Missouri Cookbook: Selected Recipes From Missouri's Favorite Cookbooks" is a spiral-bound collection of hundreds of recipes drawn from a large number the most beloved cookbooks published in the "Show Me" state by private individuals, non-profit organizations, and small presses. From Plum Bread, to Gooseberry Salad, to Chicken Dijonnaise Strudel, and so very much more, these wonderfully diverse recipes combine flavorful explosions of favorite local ingredients, easy how-to instructions, and the solid stamp of approval that comes from the test of time. The "Best Of The Best From Missouri Cookbook" is enthusiastically recommended as a 'kitchen cook friendly' addition to any home and community library cookbook collection! Cookbook collectors are encouraged to visit the Quail Ridge press website for a complete listing of all of their "Best of the Best" series of cookbook compilations.

This memoir is as compelling as a novel. It describes the author's stay in Moscow and St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) as an English teacher in 1982, and in particular her romance with Kolya, a Russian living in St. Petersburg. She describes a return trip the following summer to see if the relationship had a future, and I was completely engrossed by the story. This is a very candid memoir, and Alberts is very honest about her own insecurities. In addition, the memoir is an accurate portrayal of life in the Soviet Union (at least according to my wife, who spent her first forty years there, and who also read the book).