Elizabeth

Mad Men Unbuttoned

Natasha Vargas-Cooper, author of Mad Men Unbuttoned, uses the essays in her book, some written by her and some by others, as something of a gateway into the real world cultural and historic events of the 1960s. The book is less a companion piece to the television show Mad Men as it is a companion piece to the era. The book is divided into nine sections including: The Ads and the Men Who Made Them which looks at the real life ad men of the 60s and what they did to change advertising; Style which covers everything from the skinny tie to hemlines; Literature which looks at the influence of books like Lady Chatterley's Lover and Atlas Shrugged on the decade; and, of course, Sex which covers the pill to homosexuality and everything in between. My friend Noel gave me the book for my birthday. When I first started reading it I realized I had to put it aside until I finished watching the 3rd season of the show on DVD. My only disappointment in the book was that it did not offer spoiler alerts up through that season. I found out something from the book I would have rather gotten from watching the show.

Dick and Jane - Fun With Our Family

This is a reprint of one of the Dick and Jane readers that were used to teach reading in 1950s and 60s America. The books featured stories with simple vocabulary words and charming illustrations and were published by Scott Foresman and Company. Fun with Our Family has a copyright date of 1965 which is one year before I was born. I did not grow up learning to read with Dick and Jane but because they are pure Americana I knew of the stories and their format. The stories are rather flat but, being a first grade teacher of reading, I know that part of learning to read by oneself means having to learn and read basic sight words. If these stories have any charm at all it comes from remembering learning to read with simple books. It's a rite of passage.

Finding Betty Crocker

Finding Betty Crocker is fascinating not only because of the biography of its fictional subject but also because of the history of 20th century Minneapolis it presents. According to the book's jacket, "In 1945, Fortune Magazine named Betty Crocker the second most popular American woman, right behind Eleanor Roosevelt, and dubbed Betty America's First Lady of Food. Not bad for a gal who never actually existed." I don't think I realized Betty Crocker hadn't been a real person until I was about 30 years old.

True Compass

This is an incredible account not only of Kennedy's life but also of American history and politics. Kennedy reflects on events in his life including his family's time in Europe just prior to U.S. involvement in World War 2, his lost family members and how they impacted him, and his endorsement of Barack Obama for president. As a child, Kennedy's father said to him, "You can have a serious life or a nonserious life." What really struck me was his gratitude for the privilege he had and for what it allowed him to do for his country.

The United States of Arugula

The United States of Arugula, written by David Kamp is about the rise of the foodie culture in the U.S.

The following is from the book jacket and does a great job of summing up the book:

"The wickedly entertaining, hunger-inducing, behind-the-scenes story of the revolution in American food that has made exotic ingredients, celebrity chefs, rarefied cooking tools, and destination restaurants familiar aspects of our everyday lives. Amazingly enough, just twenty years ago eating sushi was a daring novelty and many Americans had never even heard of salsa. Today, we don't bat an eye at a construction worker dipping a croissant into robust specialty coffee, city dwellers buying just-picked farmstand produce, or suburbanites stocking up on artisanal cheeses and extra virgin oils at supermarkets. The United States of Arugula is a rollicking, revealing stew of culinary innovation, food politics, and kitchen confidences chronicling how gourmet eating in America went from obscure to pervasive - and became the cultural success story of our era."

I couldn't have said it better myself...

JDL

Harold and the Purple Crayon

I remember waking up REALLY early one morning when I was about 5 or 6 years old and not being able to get back to sleep. I had a bunch of my favorite books in a brief case that Mom and Dad had found at an estate sale. Harold and the Purple Crayon was one of the books that I had in that brief case. I remember reading it that morning. I absolutely loved this book. When my brother Pete graduated from college, I gave him Harold and the Purple Crayon as a graduation present. To me, the book represented being able to build a world out of the smallest of resources; in this case, a purple crayon. Pete was surprised when he opened the gift. He told me he had never heard of the book before. I couldn't imagine how that could be...