Book Description
Balanchine, Celebrating a Life in Dance is a tribute to twentieth-century ballet's most influential choreographer. Even before founding the New York City Ballet with Lincoln Kirstein, George Balanchine ha achieved international recognition as a dance innovator. Creating dances for his own company, Balanchine's insights reinvigorated ballet by combining new forms with the traditional while dancing to contemporary musical scores. The works that emerged from this synthesis of styles brought new audiences to dance, as well as new meaning and relevance to the art of dance.
To commemorate the centenary of Balanchine's birth, Balanchine explores fifty of the choreographer's greatest works. A host of the most recognized names in dance have come together in this book to pay tribute to George Balanchine in essays that recall their personal experiences with "Mr. B." and offer analysis of his masterpieces.
Clive Barnes, Suzanne Farrell, Peter Martins, Kay Mazzo, Maria Tallchief, Helgi Tomasson, Edward Villella, and Karin von Aroldingen are among the many Balanchine proteges and notables in the dance industry who provide commentary on the ballets. Full-color and black-and-white photos from Costas accompany each essay.
Customer Reviews:
Balanchine: Celebrating a Life in Dance........2007-04-12
The book was all that I hoped for, a copy in excellent condition.
It will make a wonderful gift for a talented ballerina on her fourteenth birthday. The book also arrived quickly.
Thank you. Dale Allan Pelton.
A fitting tribute to Balanchine and Costas.......2004-04-03
This lavishly illustrated and handsomely designed book is as much a tribute to choreographer George Balanchine as it is to the photographer Costas. True, it is Balanchine who gets centre stage, commemorated for the centenary of his birth with no less than 50 of his ballets, covered by quite an impressive host of authors. Dancers like Maria Tallchief, Suzanne Farrell, Sara Leland, Karin von Aroldingen, Violette Verdy, and Peter Martins, who have been instrumental in bringing Balanchine's work to life or proved an inspiration to "Mr. B." at various moments in his cornucopian career, are joined by the fine fleur of Anglo-saxon dance writers of today - Clive Barnes, Robert Greskovic, Robert Gottlieb, George Jackson, among others - to pay homage to his creative genius.
Yet, it is the photographic legacy of Costas - born Costas Cacaroukas in Chios, Greece and a dance photographer for more than 35 years - which turns "Balanchine, Celebrating a Life in Dance" into an irresistible reference work. With more than 370 photographs (color and black and white) showing Balanchine at work or illustrating his ballets as performed by various leading ballet troupes and artists, past and present (New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Paris Opera, Kirov-Mariinsky, Bolshoi), this book will prove indispensable to any ballet lover.
A most fitting tribute.
Book Description
Starting on September 10, 1955, and continuing for more than 600 episodes over the next twenty years, Gunsmoke ruled the airwaves. Never in the history of television had a show so captured the hearts of the American public. Each week, Marshal Matt Dillon and his friends would face a new threat to the peace and lawfulness of their frontier home of Dodge City, Kansas. And each week, goodness and determination prevailed. In recognition of this, the show's golden anniversary, author Ben Costello has produced a remarkable testament to the on-screen and off-screen individuals who made the story lines come alive.
Customer Reviews:
How fun would it have been..........2007-05-10
How fun would it have been to have been on the set of this amazing show? This is a great book with a lot of interviews, anecdotes, and pictures. I wish more shows today had the quality of Gunsmoke...maybe I'd watch them more than the Gunsmoke reruns!
Certain to be a popular addition to any community library American Popular Culture collection.......2007-04-07
In "Gunsmoke: An American Institution Celebrating 50 Years of Television's Best Western", author Ben Costello has provided the legions of fans for America's most popular and long-running television western series with an exhaustive compendium showcasing and celebrating all twenty seasons (comprising a total of 635 episodes) of Matt Dillion and his many friends and foes. Profusely illustrated with literally hundreds of photos about what went on both in front and in back of the cameras, "Gunsmoke" covers the major cast members, as well as the producers, writers and directors, and features an especially insightful interviews with Dennis Weaver, Buck Taylor, and Burt Reynolds. There are even sections featuring Dean Martin Celebrity Roast Highlights; reminisces of distinctive guest stars; Gunsmoke memorabilia, the post-television series Gunsmoke films, and so very much more. Certain to be a popular addition to any community library American Popular Culture collection, "Gunsmoke" is a 'must read' for anyone who grew up with Matt Dillion, Miss Kitty, Doc, Chester, Festus, and all the other denizens of Dodge City and the Old West.
Gunsmoke Fan.......2007-01-10
This book is a pleasure to read. The background stories and photos really enhance the episodes presently shown on TV Land cable channel. The volume is both informative and entertaining.
Great book!.......2007-01-03
This about covers every aspect of that 20 year phenomenon "Gunsmoke"The personal insights from everyone associated with that show from the writers to all the great and soon to be great actors.As a die hard fan of this show I was incensed by some of the decisions made by a couple of producers who made I think,some very bad decisions based on personal feelings and insults made to some key actors.
But the bottom line is thats what a good book does.Gets the reader wrapped up in the story and triggers emotions of both good and bad.This book did all of that and if you are like me and still enjoy watching all the re-runs then you should buy this book and put it all in a wonderful perspective..
Now a note to all that stations that are airing these shows:Where are all the black and white episodes?
Wonderful Tribute to THE Classic TV Western!.......2006-04-07
Tons of baby boomers grew up with 'Gunsmoke.' As a youngster I can vividly remember Marshall Dillon stalking through Dodge City's Boot Hill in the show's opening moments, commenting on the tragedies that made up frontier life as mournful music played in the background. As I grew up I and my family were loyal fans, marveling at the wonderful characters and plots presented year after year. 'Gunsmoke' set the standard for TV westerns. Now, at last, it has a proper tribute in Ben Costello's oversized volume dedicated to what he terms 'an American institution.'
This is a great book, well-researched, well-written and well-illustrated. The show and its marvelous cast of characters comes alive again in this warmly affectionate volume. It is a shame someone didn't undertake this years ago when Milburn Stone and Amanda Blake were still with us. And I was disappointed that James Arness apparently chose not to contribute but perhaps he feels he has told his story in his recent autobiography. In any case, we should be grateful for the work Costello did. The book is filled with wonderful reminiscences from so many 'Gunsmoke' alumnus along with tons of photographs. You couldn't ask for a finer tribute!
Highly recommended!
Customer Reviews:
Inspiration for web designers.......2000-07-11
This book is a great resource for graphic designers looking for ideas for web site illustrations. Broad color schemes, dramatic but often simple posters many of which could be adapted as animations. A beautiful tribute to the great children's authors.
Book Description
Every fan's quest for the ultimate Lucy treasury ends right here. Celebrate fifty years of classic comedy with the ultimate tribute to I Love Lucy®! In I Love Lucy: The Official 50th Anniversary Edition, you will relive each and every episode of the most popular and best-loved series in the history of television. You will experience anew the magical ensemble of Lucy, Ricky, Ethel, and Fred through photographs, descriptions, gossip, star biographies, and trivia questions. You will even learn how the show has inspired and influenced generations of comedians and television stars, and continues to delight legions of diehard Lucy fans!
Customer Reviews:
I Love Lucy: Celebrating Fifty Years of Love and Laughter.......2006-03-22
I purchased and sent this to my daughter, teaching in Namibia, Africa as a birthday gift. She and her roommate in college, use to run home, each day after their last class, to be sure and watch a I Love Lucy rerun on television - it was one of their "stress relievers" before they "hit the books". She said it did the same thing in Namibia, after teaching 3 English classes and 3 Environmental Management Classes, monitoring the new Library, and an HIV/AIDs club for her students/"learners" - a 12 hour day (plus class planning for the next day and correcting papers)!!! She's only 28 years old, but I Love Lucy is TIMELESS. She also received the first five year episodes. Thanks to Amazon.com for making this so easy for me to be able to do this for my daughter!!!!
A Lucy Book Not to Love .......2005-04-11
With so many Lucy books out there, you would think the author and publishers would try to make a knockout book to stand apart from the competition. Amazingly, this book "authorized by CBS Broadcasting Inc. and the Estates of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz" is one of the weakest books on Ball and/or LUCY I've ever seen!! Let's start with the photos. As many have mentioned, their reproduction is just awful. They resemble pictures in a vintage tabloid or cheaply printed pulp magazine from years past. The sepia tinting (black and white photos colored one color) might not have been so bad had the images been sharper (despite the fact that "sepia" photos were not in fashion in the 50's but in the 20's and 30's!!!); the photos that are very small here you can barely make out the subject's faces! The publishers/designers may have been going for a vintage look but it's not appropiate to the 1950's and even if it was, it's just not appealing in a 21st century book.
The bulk of the book consists of pages on each "I Love Lucy" episode with a brief paragraph describing the plot and a bunch of trivia questions. "Trivia questions" belong in paperbacks not an expensive book and it's clear they are only here for padding the pages. Anyone who needs to know anything about the I Love Lucy episodes will find everything they need and then some in Bart Andrews "I Love Lucy" book, you certainly won't get any major new information here.
The only nice things in this book are the interviews with Keith Thibodeaux ("Little Ricky") and writers Jess Oppenheimer, Madelyn Pugh, and Bob Carroll Jr. The photos of latterday Lucy memorabilia are ok but nothing special.
Lucy diehards want all the books on her of course but unless you find a copy of it super cheap, make this one close to the bottom of your want list.
I LOVE LUCY... 50TH ANNIVERSARY.......2002-09-15
Excellent Book. Highly recommended for any "Lucy" fan. A good read!
Excellent Source of Entertaining Information on I Love Lucy!.......2002-08-29
I received this book as a birthday present, and have enjoyed reading and looking through the numerous amounts of memorable pictures this book has to offer. It takes you through each episode, giving you little known facts about each episode, and provides excellent pictures from each episode. Anyone who is a fan of "I Love Lucy" show strongly consider buying this book!!!
The Best Lucy Book On Earth.......2002-03-04
I was DELIGHTED with this book. It featured biographies, the compleye episode guide with interesting coincidences and facts. I really liked the episode guide. It featured rare seen pictures, script lines, and a summary of every one. Plus, it also tests your lucy knowledge, with over 500 trivia questions and answers. It also features facts many books or episodes don't. For example: When Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz eloped in 1940, where did Desi buy the last-to-minute brass wedding ring he gave to Lucy? Read the book to find out!!
Book Description
Seasonal nature tables are an invaluable way of making young children aware of the changing cycle of the year.
With simple materials and basic knitting and crocheting skills, a series of colorful and effective tableaux can be made at home or in school for depicting the seasons and major festivals.
Illustrated, with many in full color.
Customer Reviews:
essential for Waldorf homeschoolers.......2006-02-23
This little book is a real must-have if you're setting up a Waldorf environment in your home. Tons of ideas for Nature tables in each season of the year, wonderful full-color pictures, and patterns and directions to make your own creations. The book covers basic techniques including how to make a Waldorf doll head, and is divided into 11 Nature table scenes for all times in the year. The Table of Contents is set up as follows:
Introduction
Basic Techniques
Early Spring
Spring
Easter
Ascension and Whitsun
St. John's Tide
Summer
Autumn
Halloween and Martinmas
Advent
Christmas
Winter
I especially love the Winter tableau with King Winter and Mrs. Thaw. All parts of this book are inspirational and, even if I haven't been able to follow all the patterns, it's because of my meager knitting and crochet skills -- not the fault of the author! If you're a crafty person you'll find this book easier to use than a complete novice would. But the photography of the seasonal table alone is enough to justify buying this book! Although the Nature table is discussed in Earthways and All Year Round, this book goes much farther and I turn to it often. A necessary addition to your Waldorf library.
Bringing Crafts and Nature Together.......2001-01-12
What a wonderful little book! It's packed with seasonal table ideas and instructions for making the dolls, animals and other craft suggestions. The color photographs are inspiring. After buying this book, I immediately set out to make Mother Earth and the Earth Babies. My daughter is now a preteen, but she still enjoys having these special touches in our home. She rarely adds to the scenes anymore, but having a bit of nature around the house is comforting. During this time of growth and change, she outwardly denies her interest in such "babyish" traditions, but if I try to alter our traditions, she voices her disappointment. I think long after she's moved on, I'll continue to set up a seasonal table -- just for me! For anyone interested in starting a Seasonal Table or if you want new ideas, consider adding this gem to your craft library.
Creatively sharing nature's changes with children........1998-07-29
This book is excellent for the parent or teacher looking for a way to use simple materials and objects found in nature to create little scenes celebrating the seasonal changes and holidays. Beautifully illustrated with very clear instructions and complete patterns, this book encourages a return to genuine imaginative creativity and an awareness of natural beauty.
Product Description
TV Guide: The Official Collectors Guide is the ultimate price guide for collectors, as well as a history of TV as seen through the pages of TV Guide® magazine. The book contains almost 38,000 covers all in color, as well as the values of every issue starting from the 1950s. It profiles the history of TV programs by decades and tells collectors where and how to find back issues. The book is 8 ½ x 11 inches, perfect bound, and has 315 full-color pages. This is the first time every TV Guide digest-size cover has been printed in one publication. Dr. Stephen H. Hofer, a professor of communications at Chicago State University and curator of the Philo T. Farnsworth Television History Center in Auburn, Indiana, is the Editor.
Customer Reviews:
A very highly recommended tour of American television programming .......2007-02-03
Enhanced with more than 3,700 full color covers from America's most popular, iconic, and widespread weekly magazine, "TV Guide: The Official Collectors Guide" compiled by Stephen F. Hofer (Curator of the Philo T. Farnsworth Television History Center, Auburn, Indiana, and who himself is the owner of one of the largest collections of TV Guide magazines and memorabilia in the United States) covers all the national and regional digest size covers from April 10, 1953 to October 9, 2005. Included are TV Guide foldout covers, holographic covers, and multiple covers. For the antique dealer and hobbyist collector, each issue has the current secondary market prices listed. Featuring memorable quotes from TV Guide and from television shows, "TV Guide: The Official Collectors Guide" is more than a price guide compendium, (and a superb history of the magazine itself), it is also a very highly recommended tour of American television programming through more than fifty years of popular culture.
Great book, but flawed.......2006-10-04
This book has several major flaws. For a start, there is no index. The only way to locate covers with your favorite stars or shows is to browse the pages year-by-year.
The price guide only gives values for "mint condition" issues, with no guidelines for how to adjust value for copies in less than mint condition. (Most collectors' guides give a range of prices based on condition.)
It would have been nice if they had included some lists, such as: the most valuable issues; issues with multiple covers; people who have appeared on the most covers; etc. All of these things are mentioned in the text, but there is no way to look them up except by browsing every listing.
Despite these flaws, this is still an invaluable book for collectors, because of it's comprehensive checklist.
Fabulous.......2006-08-05
I was so happy to receive the TV Guide Official Collector's Guide, it is a great publication!! It has a lot more information than I expected - comments by stars over the years and much more!! It is very colorful and I will enjoy reading it for years to come. My 45 year old son has a collection of TV Guides and I know he will be interested in seeing the publication to see if the ones he has are valuable! Thank you
A TV GUIDE FAN'S DREAM BOOK!.......2006-07-06
The episode of Seinfeld where Frank Costanza was noted to be a collector of TV Guide pretty much cemented that publication's place in the lore of pop culture. Now, from Bangzoom publishers comes "TV Guide" the official Collector's Guide. A lot of collector's books claim to be the only book you'd ever need to own but this one truly fits the bill. With over 3700 pictures, and every national and regional TV Guide cover pictured from 4/10/1953 through 10/19/2005 this is truly the ultimate resource for not only collectors, but fans of the magazine as well.
With a foreward by senior TV Guide editor Michael Davis, the book provides info geared towards the collector on where to buy, grading, and preserving your TV Guide collection. The cover subjects are what drives the price of back issues with the very first issue featuring the baby Desi Arnaz Jr. being the most valuable. While I've never collected TV Guide I was a long-time Comic Book collector and basically TV Guides should be kept and stored the same way...in protective bags and ideally in acid free storage boxes.
The guide provides a 19 page history of the magazine as well as a look at TV shows and trends by decade from the 40's through the 2000's; everything from Milton Berle and Howdy Doody to Lost and American Idol. I was born in the 1960's and love many of the shows from that era even though I didn't watch many in their initial runs. It wasn't until syndicated re-runs in the 1970's that I came to adore shows such Bewitched, Gomer Pyle, and Green Acres. As noted in the book, The Brady Bunch was never a top-rated show, but you'd hardly know that since it has gone on to become one of the most syndicated shows in history and a true TV legend.
Next up is 213 pages which show each of those covers from 1953 through 2005 in full color and it's like a trip on a wonderful time machine to page through the decades to see many of the actors and shows that you remember so fondly, and many you may have forgotten such as The Governor and J.J. One TV Guide trend that seems to have ended some time in the early 80's was featuring Santa Claus on the cover of a December issue. The book concludes with a 68 page index and value guide for each issue and doubles as a handy checklist for collectors.
Whether you are storing issues away chronologically like Frank Costanza, or just have a life long love of TV, you are certain to find something to enjoy in this fabulous book.
Reviewed by Tim Janson
Television Timeline.......2006-04-25
A mind-bending, if not surreal, parade of TV trivia presented week by week, year by year, era by era. Every single TV Guide cover is shown in true color, from April '53 to the first mag-size issue from autumn of last year. They're arranged as text would be on each page, left-to-right, top-to-bottom and IN ORDER on each page, dated and readily viewable. They even include full displays of all fold-out covers, as well as every version of each multiple cover, such as the one which had to be updated at Michael Landon's death, different regional sport-season previews, and the 25-cover tribute to all the Star Trek cast.
The book is in 3 main sections:
1) A 26-page section of blurb overseeing the history of TV Guide and background trivia of many of the covers
2) The section displaying the covers themselves, and
3) A listing of all covers (with dates and captions) and their collectible worth in mint condition.
It is bound in durable yet manageable paperback binding.
Anyone can invent their own TV trivia diversions just by scanning through this book (i.e. what are the earliest covers featuring people who are still alive? or Who has appeared the most times? or How did TV Guide handle documentarial times and issues [JFK's assassination, 9-11, the advent of cable & PBS etc.], or When did one televion era end, and another begin? and the like). The price list section also serves as an easier-to-count ready-reference of all the cover headings.
Mad Magazine presented a similar, also top-rate, timeline of all their covers a few years ago upon the advent of their 400th issue. The first such resource to incorporate all the TV Guide digest covers certainly doesn't disappoint.
Book Description
For two centuries, Americans have made stunning, utilitarian objects by hand. Each tells a story—about the person who laid his or her hands to the work; about the historical moment in which it was created; and about the political mood, community, and cultural forces that gave rise to that design.
The only book of its kind and the companion book to the PBS series of the same name, Craft in America highlights the work of America’s most interesting craft artists past and present. Illustrated with more than 200 commanding images and signature objects from furniture, wood, ceramics, and glass to fiber, quilts, jewelry, metal, and basketry, this definitive work shows how crafts, long admired for their marriage of functionality and creativity, also reflect our nation’s history and the remarkable people who passed on their traditions.
The last two hundred years have brought extraordinary transformation to America—not just in the landscape and culture but also to the myriad communities that crisscross the continent. Organized by the societies in which our many craft traditions originated, Craft in America introduces the virtuoso craftspeople who expressed and elevated the values and ideals of their groups—ideals that have become quintessentially American. From American Indians and enslaved Africans who worked with indigenous materials to religious people such as Shakers, whose clean lines reflect adherence to simplicity; from designers of the Arts and Crafts Movement for whom handmade objects held a moral integrity and righteousness to the government-sponsored WPA artists who created in the service of their nation, to today’s studio artists reimagining meaning and methods, Craft in America unfolds a rarely examined side of our history.
Visceral, important, and seductively beautiful, and with a prologue from former president Jimmy Carter, Craft in America showcases some of the most important American objects. In these pages, you will discover how handcrafted objects are not only essential to daily life but how they are also a culture’s tribute to its own character and place in history. They embody the desire to remember, reflect, and connect, serving as bridges among individuals, community, and the environment.
Craft in America will take you on an aesthetic adventure through the evolution of craft and reveal what makes American crafts uniquely ours. Ultimately, this is the story of how enduring handmade objects both unite and define us as Americans.
CRAFT IN AMERICA, INC., is a nonprofit organi-zation based in Los Angeles that is dedicated to the exploration, preservation, and celebration of craft and its impact on our nation’s cultural heritage. The mission of Craft in America is to document and advance the original handcrafted works through programs in all media made accessible to all Americans.
Book Description
While many artists have portrayed the steam era on canvas, David Weston was one of the few who realized the necessity of using art to make a record of this nostalgic means of transportation--before it was too late!
In this stunning collection of sketches and oil paintings on canvas, Weston captures the last vestiges of an era with passion and reverence. He beautifully preserves the mighty steam trains, humble industrial locomotives, and ponderous road engines of yesterday.
With special attention paid to technical accuracy, For the Love of Steam makes the perfect gift for every locomotive buff or steam era enthusiast.
Amazon.com
As its name suggests, the Slow Food movement, founded in Italy, is dedicated to preserving and promoting traditional foodways--to protecting artisanal food producers and the pleasures of eating well. Corby Kummer's The Pleasures of Slow Food introduces readers to the movement and its goals, while acquainting them with some of the producers worldwide who embody its spirit and objectives. Thus we meet the likes of Cindy and David Meyers, whose Vermont dairy makes exceptional cheeses, and Germany's Torshen Kramer, producer of fine cured meats and sausages. The artisans also share with Kummer the stories of their work (of their early cheese-making efforts Cindy Meyers says, "The bleu wouldn't turn blue ... I buried a lot of cheese in the manure pile").
Most excitingly, perhaps, Kummer has included 40 recipes from chefs and everyday cooks whose approach to food and cooking also represents the Slow Food ideal, and in this Kummer has excelled. Not meant for weekday cooking, but easily doable if, in line with the Slow Food ideal, people will put aside time to produce truly gratifying food, the recipes are hits that just keep on coming. Whether it's a simple Chicken Cacciatore with Baked Potatoes from the Piedmontese farm of Elena Rovera; Fried Plantains with Chipotle Ketchup, courtesy of Steve Johnson at the Blue Room restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts; an extraordinary lamb stew from master chef Daniel Boulud; or Alice Waters's caramelized Apricot Tart, the recipes are universally superb. With an introduction by Eric Schlosser, author of Fast Food Nation, and marvelous color photos by Susie Cushner, the oversize book offers a thoughtful introduction to the movement, as well as culinary thrills to those willing to take it slow. --Arthur Boehm
Book Description
In a world increasingly dominated by fast food, The Pleasures of Slow Food celebrates heritage recipes, artisan traditions, and the rapid evolution of a movement to make good food a part of everyday life. Slow Food is defined by how it s made: if it s allowed to ripen before it s harvested, prepared by hand and enjoyed among friends, it s Slow Food. It s a philosophy, a way to farm, a way to cook...a way to live. It s also the name of a 65,000-strong international movement, numbering among its members some of the most distinguished names in the food world. The Pleasures of Slow Food showcases over 60 recipes from the world s most innovative chefs for dishes that feature local handmade ingredients and traditional cooking methods. Premier food writer Corby Kummer also profiles Slow Food s luminaries, such as Italian cheese maker Roberto Rubino and Canadian Karl Kaiser, who makes sweet ice-wine. Pairing fantastic recipes with engaging stories, The Pleasures of Slow Food brings the best of the food world to the kitchen table.
Customer Reviews:
frank bruno .......2004-12-21
this book is a waste. the few simple recipes can be found in any monthly food magizine for alot less money. at best they are not even correct. example pg, 128 has you soaking dried cod for 1 hour. I can make many italian jokes about the procedure in the book. but cod, normally is soaked three days. unless you like a mouth full of pure salt with cardboard. of the more then 300 books I own this is the worst.
Very Good Essay on Slow Food. Little use as a cookbook.......2004-12-13
`The Pleasures of Slow Food' is edited by Atlantic Monthly editor Corby Kummer in that the half of the book contains recipes collected from European and American chefs prominent in the Slow Food movement. The first thirty pages of the book are taken up by a preface written by the founder of the Slow Food movement, Carlo Petrini, a Foreword written by Atlantic Monthly colleague (and author of the best-selling `Fast Food Nation') Eric Schlosser, and with an essay by the author on a description of the history and activities of the Slow Food organization. Eleven (11) essays take up the next fifty pages on various artisinal food producers. After the recipes is a very nice two-page table of contacts for the Slow Food movement in Europe and the United States and for contributors to this book.
The most important question to a prospective purchaser of this volume is `Do I want to shell out $40 for a collection of recipes by Rick Bayless, Deborah Madison, Alice Waters, Judy Rodgers, Paul Bertolli, Daniel Boulud and ten other notable American and European chefs'. The question becomes more acute if you, like me, already own twenty cookbooks by these contributors. I will soon point out some observations that make this decision even easier.
The `Slow Food' moniker for Carlo Petrini's movement is really a serious misnomer, as the primary objective of the movement is not as an adversary to MacDonalds, even though the projected startup of a MacDonalds at the base of Rome's Spanish steps was the precipitating act which set the movement in motion. As Allison Janney's character C. J. Craig said in a `West Wing' episode, `We need an enemy on this issue'. Fast food restaurants are not so much evil in themselves as, like Gresham's law, they threaten to drive out the things which this movement wishes to preserve. These valuables are artisinal foods and methods, most of which have been used and practiced for centuries, and are in danger of disappearing as much through the action of large food processors and government regulations as they are by the presence of a McDonald's in Rome. This is not to say Fast Food is not evil in its own right, as Schlosser points out, a typical fast food hamburger is a virtual soup of overprocessed, underflavored, artificial ingredients with an unpleasant aftertaste. But this is really a different battle than the preservation of valuable food traditions.
The Slow Food movement was founded in Italy, which still has the largest participation. In the early years of the movement, the leading country outside of Italy was Germany. France came to the table very late, and in the last few years, membership in the United States has been leading the charge alongside the Italians. This is largely due to the synergy between the movement's objectives and the vision of American culinary leaders such as Rick Bayless, Deborah Madison, Alice Waters, and Waters' apostles Judy Rodgers and Paul Bertolli.
The movement has three principle initiatives. These are the Ark, a directory of endangered foods around the world, the Presidia or local organizations which work at preserving Ark foods, and the Slow Food Award which brings attention and assistance to agricultural activists who work with Ark foods. The most visible activity of the movement is the Salone del Gusto, a multi-day conference on the activities of the movement. But back to the book.
As an introduction to the Slow Food movement, this book is much better than the two earlier books I have reviewed on this subject by prominent authors Paula Wolfert and Joyce Goldstein. Had I known of the information in this book before I reviewed Wolfert and Goldstein, I would have had a much better take on their books. Still, this book may be less valuable in the long run than the cookbooks by Wolfert and Goldstein. My first reason for saying this is that for $40, you are getting nothing more than 80 pages of recipes from a very wide variety of different voices. Since almost all cookbooks are, by their nature, reference books to which one goes when you need a recipe to fit a particular situation, this book is poor, as there is no central theme to the recipes. There is no question I can think of which would make me pull this book from my shelves in preference over any one of a dozen other books.
But wait a minute. Isn't this book supposed to be all about slow food? Yes, but the recipes in this book do not really exemplify the slow food objectives, as they simply do not focus on artisinal ingredients and techniques. And, unlike Wolfert's and Goldstein's books, the recipes range in style from Germany to Mexico. So, while a lust for something Italian may take me to Goldstein's book, nothing will suggest I go to this book. The only thing connecting the recipes is the recipes' authors are all active in the movement.
By far the most valuable contribution of this book is in its informing us of the various families of Ark foods to which we can give allegiance and to help support. The most famous issue for Americans may be the case of raw milk cheeses. As the government may at any moment tighten up on their ban on importing raw milk cheeses from Europe, creating these delights in the United States becomes more and more urgent.
While the book was written by a professional writer, I was surprised at the number of cases of poor usage and exaggerated metaphors I found in the text. It is really a bit much to say that a plate being passed from one person to another is white hot. My recollection from physics is that white-hot is about 1200 degrees Fahrenheit. But, this is not the real issue.
You may want this book if you need a good description of the Slow Food activities and objectives.
join slow food usa.......2002-11-20
I recommend this book to anyone who is worried about the unhealthy dominance of fast food and global agribusiness in the world today. This beautiful tomb, while not sponsored by Slow Food, heighlights a number of families around the world, who are sustaining the production of foods that give us choice in the marketplace, and a foothold against those who produce products that look great , ship well but are without taste.
Bravo, Atlantic Monthly for promoting this most profound Slow Food movement that is reawakening us to the politics and business of food. Buy this book, look at slowfood.com, and buy locally grown and artisan foods .
Well-written (and beautiful) book on important movement.......2002-11-15
I think that "The Pleasures of Slow Food" is a remarkable book with something for everyone. You can enjoy the engaging stories of farmers, food artisans and cultural preservationists from around the world, written in Kummer's delightful manner. Alternatively you can relish in the sheer beauty of the photography. It's even a cookbook if you want to try the recipes of world reknown chefs. But what I liked best was the understanding I gained from it about the Slow Food movement. I'd never heard of it before. When I bought the book I thought it just referred to slow cooking. Instead it is a truly important effort that combines the fight against the loss of traditional ways of growing and preparing foods (as big business assumes more and more control of agriculture) with the desire for healthy, realistic (and delicious) alternatives to a fast food, high fat diet. Who knew you could join a movement that was both making the world a better place while allowing you to nurture your palate? Rush to get this book and to support what it represents.
Not much here, even for a slow reader.......2002-11-09
I heard about this book on the radio and was very excited, since I love cooking and hate fast food. This book is overpriced and overproduced. The information about "slow food" is interesting, but could have been a long magazine article--just doesn't warrant oversized full-color treatment. There are very few recipes. I recommend the recent regional Italian cookbook, Rustico, by Mikol Negrin, a real treasure trove of slow recipes.
Book Description
The CowParade is here! To immortalize the event, Orange Frazer Press has published a full color picture book upon which to showcase these bovine beauties. 100 full color pictures show off the creatively color coated cows which adorned the sidewalks, parks, and streetcorners of San Antonio this past winter. The 'a-MOO-sing', fiberglass creations were decorated by hundreds of local artists, professional and amateurs, from throughout San Antonio and South Texas. The cows will be sold at a live and online auction at the conclusion of the event for the benefit of the American Cancer Society and the City of San Antonio Office of Cultural Affairs, which supports local arts in the community. Therefore, CowParade San Antonio will be the only official record of the event after all of the animals have been sold. CowParade is the world's largest public art event. From Chicago and New York in 1999 and 2000 to Kansas City and Houston in 2001 and London in 2002, CowParade continues to evolve, not just in size, but in creativity and quality of art. While the cow sculptures remain the same, each city's artists are challenged by the art from past events, inspired by the cultural influences of their respective cities, and moved by their own interpretaion of the cow as an art object. Capturing the hearts and imaginations of millions worldwide, CowParade travels to exciting new cities around the globe. Along the way it fosters art education through its programs and benefits charitible causes through its one-of-a kind cow auctions.
Books:
- Blood and Thunder: An Epic of the American West
- Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
- Boatowner's Mechanical and Electrical Manual
- Botanical Illustration Course: With the Eden Project
- Botanical Illustration Course: With the Eden Project
- Botanical Illustration Course: With the Eden Project
- Brushwork Essentials: How to Render Expressive Form and Texture With Every Stroke
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8, Issue 1
- Caliban Cove (Resident Evil #2)
- Change Your Brain
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- The Works of Jonathan Edwards
- The Friday Night Knitting Club
- Impressionist Quartet: The Intimate Genius of Manet and Morisot, Degas and Cassatt
- Mulligan Stew
- Richard Avedon Portraits
- Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects Volume 1:
- Shot in the Heart
- Up & Coming: An Inside Guide to the Emerging Art Scene in New York
- Maybe You Know My Kid ù 3rd Edition: A Parent's Guide to Identifying, Understanding, and Help
- Aroids: Plants of the Arum Family
General
| Dance
| Performing Arts
| Arts & Photography
| Subjects
| Books
Balanchine
In Balanchine's Company: A Dancer's Memoir
Winter Season: A Dancer's Journal
101 Stories of the Great Ballets: The scene-by-scene stories of the most popular ballets, old and new (A Doubleday Dolphin Book)
Choreography By Balanchine / Chaconne, Prodigal Son, Ballo Della Regina, Elegie, The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux
