How the Quest for Food Shaped America
James E. McWilliams
James E. McWilliams presents a colorful and spirited tour of culinary tastes and techniques throughout colonial America. Confronted by strange new animals, plants, and landscapes, settlers in the West Indies, New England, the Chesapeake region, the Carolinas, and the Middle Colonies found new ways to produce and cultivate food. Integrating their British and European tastes with the demands and bounty of the rugged American environment, early Americans developed a range of regional cuisines. From the dining rooms of tobacco farmers and the kitchen tables of typical Puritan families to Iroquois longhouses in the backcountry, slave kitchens on Southern plantations, and taverns in Philadelphia, McWilliams portrays the grand variety and inventiveness that characterized colonial cuisine.
As colonial America grew and expanded so did its palate. Interactions among European settlers, Native Americans, and African slaves created new dishes and attitudes about food. And while a mania for all things British was a unifying feature of eighteenth-century cuisine, the colonies discovered a national beverage in (domestically brewed) beer, which came to symbolize solidarity and loyalty to the patriotic cause in the Revolutionary era. The beer and alcohol industry also instigated unprecedented trade among the colonies and further integrated colonial habits and tastes. Victory in the American Revolution initiated a "culinary declaration of independence," prompting the antimonarchical habits of simplicity, frugality, and frontier ruggedness to define American cuisine. McWilliams demonstrates that this was a shift not so much in new ingredients or cooking methods, as in the way Americans imbued food and cuisine with certain values that continue to shape American attitudes to this day.
To Make Pumpkin Pie:
Take the Pumpkin and peel the rind off, then stew it till it is quite soft, and put thereto one pint of pumpkin, one pint of milk, one glass of Malaga wine, one glass of rose-water, if you like it, seven eggs, half a pound of fresh butter, one small nutmeg, and sugar and salt to your taste.
Contents
Introduction: Getting to the Guts of American Food
1. Adaptability: The Bittersweet Culinary History of the English West Indies
2. Traditionalism: The Greatest Accomplishment of Colonial New England
3. Negotiation: Living High and Low on the Hog in the Chesapeake Bay Region
4. Wilderness: The Fruitless Search for Culinary Order in Carolina
5. Diversity: Refined Crudeness in the Middle Colonies
6. Consumption: The British Invasion
7. Intoxication: Finding Common Bonds in an Alcoholic Empire
8. Revolution: A Culinary Declaration of Independence
About the Author
James E. McWilliams is assistant professor of history at Texas State University-San Marcos. His articles on food history have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor and the Texas Observer , and he is a past winner of the Whitehill Prize in Colonial History awarded by the New England Quarterly for the best essay of the year. He lives in Austin, Texas
From the series Arts and Traditions of the Table: Perspectives on Culinary History
$29.95
April, 2005
cloth
384 pages
ISBN: 0-231-12992-0
Bill J. Leonard
From Little Dove Old Regular Baptist Church, up a hollow in the Appalachian Mountains, with its 25-member congregation, to the 18,000-strong Saddleback Valley Church in Lake Forest, California, where hymns appear on wide-screen projectors; from Jerry Falwell, Jesse Helms, and Tim LaHaye to Martin Luther King, Jr., Jesse Jackson, Bill Clinton, and Maya Angelou, Baptists are a study in contrasts. At first glance, Baptist theology seems classically Protestant in its emphasis on the Trinity, the incarnation of Jesus Christ, the authority of Scripture, salvation by faith alone, and baptism by immersion. Yet interpretation and implementation of these beliefs have made Baptists one of the most fragmented denominations in the United States. Indeed, they are often characterized as a people who "multiply by dividing."
This book introduces readers to this fascinating and diverse denomination, offering a sociological portrait of a group numbering some thirty million members. Bill J. Leonard explores Baptist history, beliefs, practices, and disputes, as well as contributions to American culture and the religious landscape. Leonard also discusses the major controversial issues within the denomination, including race, the interpretation of scripture, the role of women in the church, the separation of church and state, religion and politics, ethics, and sexuality.
Contents
Introduction
Baptists Beginnings
Baptists in the Twentieth Century
Baptists´ Beliefs and Practices
Baptists´ Groups: Denominations, Subdenominations, and Churches
Bible, Ordinances, and Polity: Debates and Divisions Among Baptists
Baptists and Religious Liberty: Citizenship and Freedom
Ethnicity and Race in Baptist Churches
Women in Baptist Life
Baptists and American Culture: "In the World But Not of It"
About the Author
Bill J. Leonard is dean and professor of church history at Wake Forest University Divinity School. He is the author or editor of fourteen books, including God's Last and Only Hope: The Fragmentation of the Southern Baptist Convention ; Christianity in Appalachia: Profiles in Regional Pluralism ; and Baptist Ways: A History . His work is often cited in the media, and he appears frequently on NPR and other radio and television stations. He lives in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
From the series Columbia Contemporary American Religion Series
$35.00
March, 2005
cloth
512 pages
15 illus
ISBN: 0-231-12702-2
New York Through the Centuries
Edited by Kenneth T. Jackson and David S. Dunbar
An American Library Association "Best of the Best from the University Presses" Selection
As perhaps never before in its extraordinary history, New York has captured the American imagination. This major anthology brings together not only the best literary writing about New York -from O. Henry, Theodore Dreiser, F. Scott Fitzgerald, John Steinbeck, Paul Auster, and James Baldwin, among many others -but also the most revealing essays by politicians, philosophers, city planners, social critics, visitors, immigrants, journalists, and historians.
The anthology begins with an account of Henry Hudson´s voyage in 1609 and ends with an essay written especially for this book by John P. Avlon, former Mayor Rudolph Guiliani´s speechwriter, called "The Resilient City," on the September 11th attack on the World Trade Center as observed from City Hall. The editors have chosen some familiar favorites, such as Washington Irving´s A History of New York and Walt Whitman´s "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry," as well as lesser-known literary and historical gems, such as Frederick Law Olmsted´s plan for Central Park and Cynthia Ozick´s "The Synthetic Sublime" -an updated answer to E. B. White´s classic essay Here Is New York , which is also included. The variety and originality of the selections in Empire City offer a captivating account of New York´s growth, and reveal often forgotten aspects of its political, literary, and social history.
About the Author
Kenneth T. Jackson is Jacques Barzun Professor of History and the Social Sciences at Columbia University, and president of the New-York Historical Society. He edited the monumental Encyclopedia of New York City and was a prominent contributor to the PBS documentary New York and its companion volume. David S. Dunbar is co-founder and academic dean of CITYterm at the Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York, an interdisciplinary, experience-based semester program that immerses high school students from around the country in the history, literature, and culture of New York City. He lives in New York City.
$42.00
September, 2002
Cloth 1008 pages
5 illus
ISBN: 0-231-10908-3
$24.95
August, 2005
paper
1008 pages
ISBN: 0-231-10909-1
The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Northeast
Kathleen J. Bragdon
Descriptions of Indian peoples of the Northeast date to the Norse sagas, centuries before permanent European settlement, and the region has been the setting for a long history of contact, conflict, and accommodation between natives and newcomers. The focus of an extraordinarily vital field of scholarship, the Northeast is important both historically and theoretically: patterns of Indian-white relations that developed there would be replicated time and again over the course of American history. Today the Northeast remains the locus of cultural negotiation and controversy, with such subjects as federal recognition, gaming, land claims, and repatriation programs giving rise to debates directly informed by archeological and historical research of the region.
The Columbia Guide to American Indians of the Northeast is a concise and authoritative reference resource to the history and culture of the varied indigenous peoples of the region. Encompassing the very latest scholarship, this multifaceted volume is divided into four parts. Part I presents an overview of the cultures and histories of Northeastern Indian people and surveys the key scholarly questions and debates that shape this field. Part II serves as an encyclopedia, alphabetically listing important individuals and places of significant cultural or historic meaning. Part III is a chronology of the major events in the history of American Indians in the Northeast. The expertly selected resources in Part IV include annotated lists of tribes, bibliographies, museums and sites, published sources, Internet sites, and films that can be easily accessed by those wishing to learn more.
Contents
The Northeast: An Overview
Chapter 1. Overview of the Northeast Culture Area
Chapter 2 The Northeast During the Period of European Exploration and Colonization
Chapter 3 The Expanding Frontier
Chapter 4 The Northeast: 1850 to the Present
People, Places, and Events in Northeast Native History
Historical Timeline for the Northeast
Resource Guide to Research and Theory
About the Author
Kathleen J. Bragdon is professor of anthropology at the College of William and Mary. She is the author of Native Peoples of Southern New England, 1500-1650 .
From the series The Columbia Guides to American Indian History and Culture
$49.50
January, 2002
cloth
352 pages
25 illus
ISBN: 0-231-11452-4
$22.95
March, 2005
paper
352 pages
ISBN: 0-231-11453-2
Though they speak several different languages and organize themselves into many distinct tribes, the Native American peoples of the Southeast share a complex ancient culture and a tumultuous history. This volume examines and synthesizes their history through each of its integral phases: the complex and elaborate societies that emerged and flourished in the Pre-Columbian period; the triple curse of disease, economic dependency, and political instability brought by the European invasion; the role of Native Americans in the inter-colonial struggles for control of the region; the removal of the "Five Civilized Tribes" to Oklahoma; the challenges and adaptations of the post-removal period; and the creativity and persistence of those who remained in the Southeast.
Contents
History and Culture
Chapter 1. Writing About Native Southerners
Chapter 2 Native Southerners
Chapter 3 The European Invasion
Chapter 4 Native Peoples and Colonial Empires
Chapter 5 "Civilization" and Removal
Chapter 6 Native Southerners in the West
Chapter 7 Those Who Remained
People, Places, and Events, A to Z
Chronology
Resources
About the Author
Theda Perdue is professor of history at the University of North Carolina and author of Cherokee Women. Michael D. Green is professor of American studies at the University of North Carolina and author of The Creeks.
From the series The Columbia Guides to American Indian History and Culture
$49.50
October, 2001
cloth
320 pages
25 illus
ISBN: 0-231-11570-9
$22.95
March, 2005
paper
320 pages
ISBN: 0-231-11571-7
Edited
by Ronald H. Bayor
Since the first European settlement in the New World,
race, ethnicity, and related issues have loomed large in American history. The
Columbia Documentary History of Race and Ethnicity in America explores these
topics, including not only the history of black-white interactions but also
attitudes and reactions surrounding Protestants, Native Americans, Irish Catholics,
Mexican Americans, Jewish Americans, and other groups. Each of the eight chronological
chapters contains a survey essay, an annotated bibliography, and 20 to 30 related
public and private documents, including manifestos, speeches, court cases, letters,
memoirs, and much more.
Contributors: Carol Berkin, Baruch College, CUNY · Graham Russell Hodges,
Colgate University · Marion Casey, New York University · Michael
Topp, University of Texas, El Paso o Mae Ngai, University of Chicago ·
Andrew Heinze, University of San Francisco · Thomas Guglielmo, University
of Notre Dame o Earl Lewis, University of Michigan · Timothy Meagher,
Catholic University
About the Author
Ronald H. Bayor is professor of history in the School of History, Technology,
and Society at the Georgia Institute of Technology´s Ivan Allen College
of Liberal Arts and recipient of the Immigration and Ethnic History Society´s
Distinguished Service award. He is the founding editor of the Journal of American
Ethnic History and the author of many books, including Race and the Shaping
of Twentieth-Century Atlanta and Fiorello LaGuardia: Ethnicity and Reform. He
lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
June, 2004 cloth 1104 pages
ISBN: 0-231-11994-1
$95.00
Thomas
D. Hamm
Known
best for their long-standing commitment to social activism, pacificism, fair
treatment for Native Americans, and equality for women, the Quakers have influenced
American thought and society far out of proportion to their relatively small
numbers. Whether in the foreign policy arena (the American Friends Service Committee),
in education (the Friends schools), or in the arts (prominent Quakers profiled
in this book include James Turrell, Bonnie Raitt, and James Michener), Quakers
have left a lasting imprint. This multifaceted book is a concise history of
the Religious Society of Friends; an introduction to its beliefs and practices;
and a vivid picture of the culture and controversies of the Friends today.
The
book opens with lively vignettes of Conservative, Evangelical, Friends General
Conference, and Friends United meetings, reflecting the group's diversity in
the wake of the sectarian splintering of the nineteenth century. Attention to
this diversity highlights a rich world of practice and debate about a number
of questions: Is Quakerism necessarily Christian? Where should religious authority
reside? Is the self sacred? How does one transmit faith to children? How do
gender and sexuality shape religious belief and behavior? Thomas Hamm's vivid
account of these debates portrays a vital religion that prizes both unity and
diversity.
Contents
Meeting for Worship and Meeting for Business
The Origins of American Quakerism, 1640-1800
Their Separate Ways: American Friends since1800
Quaker Faiths and Practices
Contemporary Quaker Debates
Quakers and the World
"A Quarterly Meeting in Herself": Quaker Women, Marriage, and the
Family
About
the Author
Thomas D. Hamm is Archivist, directing the Friends Collection, and professor
of history at Earlham College. He is the author of God's Government Begun: The
Society for Universal Inquiry and Reform, 1842-1846 and The Transformation of
American Quakerism: Orthodox Friends, 1800-1907.
$40.00
November, 2003
cloth
304 pages
30 illus.
ISBN: 0-231-12362-0
Loretta
Fowler
Portrayed in movies
and on television as menacing savages or, more recently, as heroic victims of
a tragic fate, Plains Indians have long occupied a special place in the American
imagination. Here in one volume is an indispensable guide to the extensive ethnohistorical
research that, in recent decades, has recovered the varied and often surprising
history of Apache, Cheyenne, Osage, and Sioux Indians, to name only a few of
the tribal groups included. From the earliest archaeological evidence to the
current experience of Indians living on and off reservations, this guide presents
a wealth of information in a clear and accessible way. Like all volumes in the
series, this comprehensive multiformat guide features: a cultural and historical
overview highlighting important debates; an A-to-Z section of articles on peoples,
places, and events; a chronology of key dates; and a guide to resources for
further study, including tribal resources and addresses, museums, and primary
and secondary sources, both print and digital.
About the Author
Loretta Fowler is professor of anthropology at the University of Oklahoma. She
is the author of Arapahoe Politics, 1851-1978: Symbols in Crises of Authority;
Shared Symbols, Contested Meanings: Gros Ventre Culture and History, 1778-1984;
The Arapaho; and Tribal Sovereignty and the Historical Imagination: Cheyenne-Arapaho
Politics.
ISBN: 0-231-11700-0
$45.00
June, 2003
cloth
304 pages
20 photos, 10 illus., 5 maps