Missouri Books

Pot Roast, Politics, and Ants in the Pantry: Missouri's Cookbook Heritage is not a cookbook per se - rather, it is a surprisingly involved treasury of anecdotes concerning the history of cookbooks and food preparation in Missouri, the Show Me State. From traditional "kitchen medicine", to household tips that have been passed down through the generations, to extensive cookbook collections preserved in libraries, historical societies, and the shelves of private individuals, to how the Internet has transformed modern-day recipe sharing, Pot Roast, Politics, and Ants in the Pantry is a thoroughly entertaining tour de force of how love of good Missouri cooking has been passed along through the generations.

If you don't know the Battle of the Atlantic from the Battle of Leyte Gulf, you'll want to do a quick review of U.S. naval history during World War II before starting Dr. Rose's second volume in his Power at Sea trilogy. That said, I think that even the casual historian will find this book well worth their while. A revealing look into the rise of the aircraft carrier as the dominate weapon of sea power is only one of the several intriguing topics covered. I was particularly fascinated by the section that described how close the axis nations actually came to winning the war they had so recklessly begun. This book provides an excellent look into the era in which the United States surpassed Great Britain as the greatest sea power in the world.

Prairie Power: Voices Of 1960s Midwestern Student Protest is an anthology of oral histories from former student radicals of the University of Missouri, the University of Kansas, and Southern Illinois University. Directly challenging the stereotype of prairie power activists as "long-haired, dope-smoking anarchists" who brought about the downfall of Students for a Democratic Society, Prairie Power explores lasting student activist contributions to the New Left, and delves into the histories of national SDS leaders, the local midwestern activists who often felt they were on their own, and the stories of the grassroots activists. Building upon the testimonies of individuals to present a cohesive whole, Prairie Power is a welcome contribution to understanding the dynamics of 60's student protests and influence and its effect upon the nation for generations to come.

Award-winning author and poet John Knoepfle presents Prayer Against Famine & Other Irish Poems, a work that embraces his Irish roots and contemplates the human drive for survival in spite of terrible suffering. Compassion and tragedy intertwine in these brief, free-verse compositions that evoke a sanctity of the human spirit. Dancing with the Inupiaq: the man dancing on one foot / told us he did not know / where his songs came from / only that his grandmother sang them // we understood how it was with him / how the man at the desk and that one / skulking in the beloved fields / would tell him it did not matter // so we put on our gloves / and we all got up and danced / keeping time as well as we knew / and awkward as a room full of bears // learning how the inupiaq dance.

If you like romance mixed with some very good history this is the book for you. The love stories in this book are great. I fell in love with the families and felt their pain as they suffered through so many trials during the Civil War. A very good book.

What a great book that truly respects the importance of great literature. Such a rarity in today's superficial academic environment. I wish I could have dinner with the Prof and enjoy some great conversation!!

sps

A fascinating read of pre-Lewis and Clark explorations into the upper Missouri River Basin from its earliest beginnings, with the main focus on the 1795-1797 Mackay-Evans expedition.
Most people have never heard of Scotsman James Mackay and Welshman John Evans, but if it wasn't for their efforts in cartography and ethnology, the celebrated Lewis and Clark expedition would have been quite hampered in its early stages.
When the Louisana Territory was still under Spanish rule, Mackay became a naturalized citizen and Evans swore allegiance to Spain. Their responsibilities to Spain included exploring, mapping and locating a route to the Pacific for trade possibilities, evicting British traders in its territory and promoting Indian intertribal peace to further enhance trade with Spain. Evans' primary objective in accepting this offer was to locate the mythological Welsh Indians whose original Welsh ancestors were suppose to have settled in mid-America during the year 1170 AD.

Although not a completely successful mission, the Mackay-Evans expedition did produce maps of the upper Missouri which Lewis and Clark referred to on numerous occasions and opened understandings of Missouri River Indian cultures and customs.
Dr. Wood effectively sifts through the available journals and maps of Mackay and Evans, along with other pertinent papers and charts of the day, to make this an exciting work.

In his poem,"The Young Husband", Bill Bauer remarks,"You must go and find that place and be there./It may be a day, or year, or many years." These poems take us there. They visit a day and often capture that day for Bill Bauer, but also for us. That day may not be the same day for us..but it is close enough to stimulate recall and understanding of a similar day lodged tightly in our own memory.

These poems frame places and years that are hauntingly familiar. They develop the demographics of promise through poems as diverse as "Fragment of a Letter" which captures the promise that "all the short timers say/they will write when they get home./They never do,..." or, from the poem " For Old Girlfiends" a father looks at promises "A man never suffers the depths of his own cruelty/until his daughter recognizes him for the first time."

This collection of poetry wipes the dust from the table of promises that has been used to serve the future to many generations. The craftsmanship of the author leaves the table clear and allows the reader to see through the dust into similar moments. Clear, sharp, moments summed up so well in poem after poem, remind us, as Bill Bauer says so well in his poem "The Pigeons of Chernoble"; "Each generation/fantasy birds visit earth./Mozart knew them,/so did Freud." These promises belong to every generation. Bill Bauer has captured them for those who have buried the promises in the dust. He has also captured them for those who will have their own to bury in the future.

The material covered in this book was what we expected, and then some. We had seen and used the 1st edition, which influenced our purchase of our own. The second edition gave more information, particularly updated info, which will give the info that we are looking for. It is, in our opinion, very helpful in giving us short trip guides for one or two day travels, particularly info on what may otherwise be overlooked.

Charles Edward Russell's time on the river occurred decades after the four short years when Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens) was in the pilothouse. Like Twain (and like George B. Merrick, too), Russell began working for a newspaper in a river town, later went on the river as a steamboatman, and finally settled on a career as a writer.

Amazon has already provided a professional review that highlights other aspects of Russell's activist career. But two of his books stand separately from his political and muckraking writings. One, "Theodore Thomas and the American Orchestra," a biography of the great conductor and founder of orchestras, won the Pulitzer Prize.

The other is "A-Rafting on the Mississip." Here, Russell brings to life the era when great lumber and log rafts, acres in size, came down out of the Great North Woods of Minnesota and Wisconsin, to build the towns and cities along the Mississippi. From the early days when rafts of cut lumber floated with the current, through the decades when steam towboats pushed and maneuvered even larger rafts of logs, Russell describes the industry and the men who made it, some of whom were personal acquaintances and others of whom were on the boats with him.

And on top of all this thoroughly researched and well-written history, Russell's powers of description rival and at times exceed those of Mark Twain. Twain could describe a sunrise or sunset on the river such that the reader's eye pictures it easily. Russell's powers go beyond the visual to capture the rivermen's reverence, respect and devotion to the great and mysterious Mississippi, constantly flowing (in his words), "out of the mystery above the point, into the mystery below the bend."

If you're a devotee of river history and steamboats, you must have this book.