While PERFECTION SALAD is certainly about food, it is also a rich cultural history of women and food. With a wonderful selection of resources, from a recipe for raisin stuffed marshmallows to a celebration of Fannie Farmer, this is a delightful and interesting treat. Introduction by Michael Stern, co-author of EAT YOUR WAY ACROSS THE U.S.A and Gourmet Magazine?s popular column "Roadfood."

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".

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.

I've been interested in the Baha'i faith for a long time, and this book takes the cake as one of my favorite Baha'i books. It is essentially Abdul Baha explaining to a student of his certain key questions, from the importance of nature, to connections to Christianity. He even mentions workers rights, and many topics relating to the early 20th century. This book as a religious text seems slightly odd, because most of the concepts aren't to foreign and can directly be applied to a person living an Euro-American lifestyle. All this, and I'm not even an actual Baha'i.

Some Answered Questions by Abdu'l Baha is a master work of questions put to Abdu'l Baha, son of Baha'u'llah, founder of the Baha'i Faith. Abdu'l Baha was the successor of his Father's faith and the authorized exponent of his teachings. These questions were put to him by one of his French followers. They are a lively array of topics: Biblical prophecy, comparative religion and scripture, social issues, Baha'i perspective on traditonal Christian topics, spiritual psychology, man's development, etc. This incredible array of topics is so amazing that few will find it hard to believe that Abdu'l Baha was a prisoner of the Ottoman Empire most of his life, suffering alongside his father, Baha'u'llah. Abdu'l Baha was eventually freed during the Turkish revolution, allowing Abdu'l Baha to speak in Western countries, including the United States and Europe. These questions and answers are bound to stimulate your thinking and enlighten you as many spritual mysteries are made clear to you. I strongly recommend this book to all seekers after deep spiritual reality, students of comparative religion and scripture, Biblical students, and students of the Baha'i Faith. It is wonderful book which will get you thinking and provoke you about spiritual subjects for a long time.

Some Answered Questions is an excellent book. For me it provided many answers to my questions concerning such things as, Life After Death, the Nature of the Soul, and Biblical Prophesies. The reason and logic made a lot of sense.

I love this book. My children are now in college but I can still recite most of the poem. I would love to have the words to the poem if anyone is willing to e-mail them to me. If this book was in stock I would buy several to have on hand as presents and keep at least one for myself.

This is nice book--the text, the pictures, and the light-hearted vegetarian message. I am so disappointed it is out of stock!

I am interested in this book, but want only the poem. Can you help me

Details of a mother tiger and her babies' life are lovingly but accurately depicted in both the poetry and pictures. Ms. Winters and Ms. Regan display their mastery of their respective art forms, and the result is both impressive and touching. This is a great poetry book, picture book and science book.

TIGER TRAIL is a beautiful book for elementary age kids. Like WOLF WATCH, also by Kay Winters and illustrator, Laura Regan, it shows the beginning of life in the animal world. But unlike wolves, who live in a pack, the only protector of the tiger babies is their mother. "I am the tigress. I walk alone." I couldn't help but compare her to a single mom as she loves, teaches and trains her children to live independently. The details of both words and illustrations bring TIGER TRAIL to life in a poetic rather than pedantic way.

Kay Winters' poetic prose is perfectfully matched by Laura Regan's lush illustrations. Non-fiction lovers will find plenty of facts to chew on, parents will enjoy the family bonds described. Best of all, children will return to this fascinating, beautiful book again and again to enjoy the powerful story of the tigers. A must for any classroom, and treasure for the home library.

Toni has decided to have a potluck party and calls six of her good friends on the phone, to tell them what to bring. Unfortunately, they all live or work in noisy environments and can't quite hear her instructions clearly. Ruth lives near the airport and instead of punch and lemonade brings a pooch and a maid. Vera, the dogwalker can't make out steak for kabob and brings a snake and a snob instead. Fiona was supposed to supply the salad and juice, but she lives by the fire station and brought a sailor and a moose. And so on... Now Toni has even more guests than she knows what to do with, and no food for her party. Her quick thinking and noisy friends solve the problem by calling and ordering pizza, but even the pizza man can't quite hear the order correctly..... Laura Ljungkvist has written a delightful and inventive story that anyone who has ever played the game of telephone will easily identify with. Her humorous text is only outdone by her amazingly creative and innovative illustrations, full of bold colors, geometric shapes and a telephone line that literally connects the entire assemblage from the beginning of the story to the end. Perfect for youngsters 4-8, Toni's Topsy Turvy Telephone Day is a winner the entire family will enjoy and is sure to have everyone giggling and laughing every time it's read.

Laura Ljungkvist's book is a winner with both my daughter and my cat. It is a very clever and engaging story (did she think this up on her own??) but also beautifully illustrated. I like the color development from start to finish. It is a very inventive and beautiful book. Its also very funny.

Our daughter (5 years) cannot get enough of this book. She loves for us to read it out loud, and to trace the illustrations with her finger.

The book is about Toni's potluck dinner party. She calls and asks her friends to bring things to her party, but every request is misunderstood and the story grows from there.

The wonderful illustrations consist of a single line. The colors are spectacular.

My 5 year-old niece, Elizabeth, just lost her very first tooth, so I decided to get her this book and velvet pouch.I found out about it from Amazon.com.
Her Grandma was baby-sitting her at the time, and as soon as she received it she wanted Grandma to read the whole book to her immediately.
Then when my sister and brother-in-law got home, my niece had my sister read her the WHOLE book AGAIN!
She absolutely LOVES the book and velvet pouch.
It was so special to her when she lost her first tooth. She has another tooth that is quite wobbly (which she'll probably lose any day now) so the velvet pouch will come in very handy.
She did ask my sister, however, if the Tooth Fairy got to keep the velvet pouch.She was VERY concerned about the velvet pouch, and if it was hers to keep or the Tooth Fairy's. My sister assured her that it was her very own velvet pouch to keep.
I highly recommend this precious little book and velvet pouch as a gift for a child who has lost their first tooth/ or is about to lose a tooth.It is a very sweet and adorable gift for a very special and memorable event.

This book about the world of toothfairies, losing teeth, and what becomes of your lost teeth is absolutely charming! My five year old received this book from the toothfairy when she lost her first tooth, and she was delighted. It is very sweet, and in addition to the toothfairy story, comes with toothfairy legends from around the world, tooth jokes, and so on. The little velvet bag is also very sweet, and my daughter looks forward to using it when she loses her next tooth.

I love this book the illustrator is great! All the pictures are wonderfully painted. The written part of the book is great to

Bought this book as a Christmas gift for my nieces and nephews (ages 2 - 8). Both art and story were loved by all. Looking forward to the rest of the Ernest books, and I know the kids are too.

I hope there will be more books from Laura Barnes because this is so wonderful. I have given this book to numerous kids who just absolutely fall in love with the characters and story. The smile that this book brings is priceless.

Twist & Ernest is a book that will bring a smile to your face whether you are a child or adult. I could not wait to share it with my girls. We each have our favorite part, but we all agree Ernest is adorable. The story reminds us that everyone has something special to bring to a friendship, a friend can be found in anyone and true friendship is a wonderful thing.

I just received my copy of What Girlfriends Do yesterday. I was lucky enough to appear on one of the pages of the book with my girlfriend that I have known since the Sixth Grade. I had been very anxious to see the final copy, and to see Laura's other photographs. I feel lucky to be a part of this fine book. While flipping through the pages, each photograph reminds me of different stages in my life and the various girlfriends I have shared special moments with throughout these stages. Laura did a wonderful job of capturing that feeling of friendship only women can understand. I like the size of the book and will certainly buy more copies to give to my Girlfriends of all ages.

This is a photographer who may well be the eye of a new generation. All you need do is see her images to learn that the computerized perfection of today's cameras means little compared to the emotion and joy she captures time and again.

The photographs in this book are absolutely beautiful. I absolutely love this book! While hinting of Cartier-Bresson and Sally Mann, this is distinctly the vision of Laura Straus. The wonder of childhood fantasy and potential, the balance of teenager feelings, the depth of adult friendships are all artistically portrayed in this attractive book. A great gift for girlfriends of all ages.

Alienated from her mother, 13-year-old Lexi Jordan adopts her neo-Nazi friends as her family. Then she meets Ursula, a former Nazi who reminds her of her grandmother. Through their growing friendship, Lexi gradually acknowledges to herself that she does not believe in the hateful tenents of her skinhead friends. Even though it means loneliness and danger, Lexi resolves to leave the group and seek her identity elsewhere.

This book is an amazing story and I loved it. This is so cool because of its similarity to life. This could happen to anyone! If you are interested in WWII and the Nazi's then this is the book for you. The author never had any low points in the story, I could't stop reading this book! I always fell asleep with it in my hands because the author make you keep wanting to read more and more to find out what is going to happen next. Great book.

I'm a school social worker who knows kids from many different backgrounds. I think THE SPIDERS WEB is a good story with strong lessons about making mistakes that might not be 'fixable'. Besides teaching middle and high school kids about the reality of anti-semitism and neo-naziam, it will interest almost any kid who has gotten into dangerous or frightening situations because they're at a low point in their life. It's ideal for reluctant readers because it's highly interesting and very readable. It would be a good addition to any Holocaust curriculum.

Being a horror fan, I was pleased to find this anthology. There are not that many 'theme' anthologies, and many of them just pull from the old classics. All 21 stories are new, written for this compilation. The theme of treachery naturally lends itself to stories of demons and gods, and many of the stories hinge on religion in some way. My favorite of those were Jerry Olton's 'The Judas Lesson' and 'Perfidy' by Dennis L. McKiernan. Olton has a great twist on Christianity and Christmas. If kids are bribed by Christmas to be good, as their religion dictates they should be, what would happen if their religion dictated they be Judas rather than Jesus? And what happens when they fail? 'Perfidy,' the shortest story in the collection at three pages, was a powerhouse condemnation of the Hebrew God's betrayal of humanity.

One that was not derivative of religion, and my favorite, was 'Kiss Me, You Fool' by Del Stone, Jr. Having already read his novel _Dead Heat_, with its zombie anti-hero, I was expecting something strange. This short story is a nightmare, with utterly horrifying creatures, human and otherwise. The humans are believable and recognizable. The monsters although unique, resonated uncomfortably with some archetypal fear and truly creeped me out. The story is sexy, hilarious, and has one of the best backstabs ever devised, through its sheer strangeness and off-handed cruelty.

All the stories were of high quality. The editors did a fine job. My only complaint is that there was no biographical material on the individual authors. I would have liked to have seen what other writings they had available.

This anthology is such great fun! The baddies range from truly human villains, -- as in the wonderful story by new author Nancy Moore, to otherworldly creeps-- like Esther Friesner's charmer, to something in between-- see Scott Edelman's unusual second person narrative. This book is a keeper, one of those collections you'll enjoy reading more than once.

One of those modern rarities, a themed anthology. But what a theme! Maybe food has more weight in the affairs of human history than betrayal, but not by much. The stories themselves cut an astonishing cross-section through the heart of modern short SF. From the terse action fiction of William C. Dietz and Anne Bishop, to the jewel-like cyber-punk poetry of Tom Cool, to the tough-minded and elegiac "Borders," by Nancy Jane Moore -- Treachery and Treason presents stories that transcend the science fiction genre. Particularly good are the stories by Cool and Moore. "Frozen" is a dazzling tone poem to love and broken promises. "Borders" by Nancy Jane Moore is a riveting action story of a labor revolt, set on the Texas-Mexican border in the near future, and of the anguished soldiers who are brought in to put it down. Moore is a clean, tough action writer with a fine eye for historical irony, an unsentimental view of political reality, and a sense of genuine moral outrage at her heart. Buy the book for "Borders." Keep it to read the rest.