Best of
Americana

1993

Short Cuts: Selected Stories


Raymond Carver - 1993
    Collected altogether in this volume, these stories form a searing and indelible portrait of American innocence and loss. From the collections Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?, Where I’m Calling From, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, and A New Path to the Waterfall; including an introduction by Robert Altman. With deadpan humor and enormous tenderness, this is the work of “one of the true contemporary masters” (The New York Review of Books).  From the eBook edition.

Encyclopedia of Walt Disney's Animated Characters - from Mickey Mouse to Aladdin


Walt Disney Company - 1993
    A reference work of Disney animation spotlights each of the hundreds of Disney characters--including Mickey, Donald, Tinker Bell, and many others--including the full credits for each film.

America's Godly Heritage


Charles D. Barton - 1993
    The beliefs of Founders such as Patrick Henry, John Quincy Adams, John Jay, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, George Mason, and many others are clearly presented. America's Godly Heritage also provides excerpts from court cases showing that for 160 years under the Constitution, Christian principles were officially and legally inseparable from American public life. This book is an excellent primer for those who want to know more about what was intended for America by the Founders and what can be done to return America to its original guiding philosophy. It's ideal to share with home gatherings, church groups, and Sunday school classes, or to use as a history supplement for children or schools.

Scriptural Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith


Joseph Smith Jr. - 1993
    

Hunting Trips of a Ranchman & the Wilderness Hunter


Theodore Roosevelt - 1993
    The narratives provide vivid portraits of the land as well as the people and animals that inhabited it, underscoring Roosevelt's abiding concerns as a naturalist.Originally published in 1885, Hunting Trips of a Ranchman chronicles Roosevelt's adventures tracking a twelve-hundred-pound grizzly bear in the pine forests of the Bighorn Mountains. Yet some of the best sections are those in which Roosevelt muses on the beauty of the Bad Lands and the simple pleasures of ranch life. The British Spectator said the book "could claim an honorable place on the same shelf as Walton's Compleat Angler." The Wilderness Hunter, which came out in 1893, remains perhaps the most detailed account of the grizzly bear ever recorded. Introduction by Stephen E. Ambrose.

Grief Therapy


Karen Katafiasz - 1993
    But the surrounding world often expects survivors to move quickly beyond their loss, to just snap out of it. A wise and sensitive dissenting voice, Grief Therapy demonstrates how the grieving process takes time and deserves attention. With succinct, meaningful guidelines and hope-filled illustrations, it reassures those who grieve that out of their pain can come profound, transforming healing.

Hopping Freight Trains In America


Duffy Littlejohn - 1993
    Learn how to travel safely on a shoestring. How, when and where to catch a train. By Daffy Littlejohn

Bound Away: Virginia and the Westward Movement


David Hackett Fischer - 1993
    After the Turner thesis which celebrated the frontier as the source of American freedom and democracy, and the iconoclasm of the new western historians who dismissed the idea of the frontier as merely a mask for conquest and exploitation, David Hackett Fischer and James C. Kelly take a third approach to the subject. They share with Turner the idea of the westward movement as a creative process of high importance in American history, but they understand it in a different way.Where Turner studied the westward movement in terms of its destination, Fischer and Kelly approach it in terms of its origins. Virginia's long history enables them to provide a rich portrait of migration and expansion as a dynamic process that preserved strong cultural continuities. They suggest that the oxymoron "bound away"--from the folksong Shenandoah--captures a vital truth about American history. As people moved west, they built new societies from old materials, in a double-acting process that made America what is today.Based on an acclaimed exhibition at the Virginia Historical society, the book studies three stages of migration to, within, and from Virginia. Each stage has its own story to tell. All of them together offer an opportunity to study the westward movement through three centuries, as it has rarely been studied before.Fischer and Kelly believe that the westward movement was a broad cultural process, which is best understood not only through the writings of intellectual elites, but also through the physical artifacts and folkways of ordinary people. The wealth of anecdotes and illustrations in this volume offer a new way of looking at John Smith and William Byrd, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Daniel Boone, Dred Scott, and scores of lesser known gentry, yeomen, servants, and slaves who were all "bound away" to an old new world.

Arc d'X


Steve Erickson - 1993
    Thomas Jefferson's love for, and enslavement of, his mistress, Sally Hemings, forms the center of an exploration of the American spirit.

Our Own Snug Fireside: Images of the New England Home, 1760-1860


Jane Nylander - 1993
    Drawing on diaries, letters, wills, newspapers, and other sources, Jane C. Nylander provides intimate details about preparing dinner, spinning and weaving textiles, washing and ironing laundry, planning a social outing, and exchanging food and services. Probing behind the many myths that have grown up about this era, Nylander reveals the complex reality of everyday life in old New England. "Nylander . . . invites her readers to enjoy her copious knowledge of the interiors and domestic management of late-18th-century New England homes. The imaginatively illustrated [book] is dedicated to the notion that the details of everyday life form the core of human experience."—Martha Saxton, The New York Times Book Review A fact-filled, copiously illustrated, revealing survey of Yankee life and households in an earlier time, . . . informative and valuable for its many glimpses of American interiors."—Kirkus Reviews  "A delightfully intimate portrayal of New England home life. . . . Enlivened by 162 period illustrations, [Nylander’s] survey affords a rare glimpse of middle- and upper-class housework, clothing, kitchens, diet, socializing and much else."—Publishers Weekly A century-long portrait of day-to-day activities in a New England home. . . . Nylander’s nitty-gritty approach is absorbing. . . . Photographs from various historical societies along with period sketches and paintings add pizzazz and authenticity."—Booklist  "A  visual and narrative feast."—Robert St. George, University of Pennsylvania

Rimwalkers


Vicki Grove - 1993
    But their rebellious 16-year-old cousin Rennie is there, too, and determined to torment Tory and Elijah. Then a ghostly mystery unites the three, and this time it's Sara who's left out. Her eagerness to be included leads to a tragedy no one could have predicted. Young Adult.

From Sea to Shining Sea: From the War of 1812 to the Mexican War; The Saga of America's Expansion


Robert Leckie - 1993
    This dramatic narrative history--a continuation of the popular American history series by the author of George Washington's War, None Died in Vain and Delivered from Evil--covers the first 50 years following the American Revolution, including the War of 1812, the Mexican War, and American expansion.

The Granta Book of the American Short Story


Richard FordGayl Jones - 1993
    Stories featured here include “A Day in the Open” by Jane Bowles; “Blackberry Winter” by Robert Penn Warren; “O City of Broken Dreams” by John Cheever; “The Magic Barrel” by Bernard Malamud; “In Time Which Made a Monkey of Us All” by Grace Paley; “Sonny’s Blues” by James Baldwin; “Are These Actual Miles?” by Raymond Carver; and “You’re Ugly, Too” by Lorrie Moore. “Ford’s choice of stories is exemplary ... there’s wonderful reading here.” — The Washington Post

Wild Oats


Pamela Morsi - 1993
    After all, she'd been shunned by the citizens of Dead Dog, Oklahoma for so long that she'd given up hope of having any respectable gentleman callers.But the last thing Jed expected was romance. He was looking for a sophisticated woman to help him sow his wild oats. Instead, Cora made him a proposition of her own--one that would cause a fury in the town--and cause her to question her own heart...

Pacific Northwest The Beautiful Cookbook


Kathy Casey - 1993
    

The Allagash Abductions: Undeniable Evidence of Alien Intervention


Raymond E. Fowler - 1993
    Four artists, independently regressed into their suppressed memories, tell the same details of their 1976 abduction. Richly illustrated by the artists who were abducted. Indexed

Plan of Chicago


Daniel H. Burnham - 1993
    It also contains a color plate of the City Hall that was omitted from the 1909 edition. A new introduction by Kristen Schaffer details those parts of Burnham's draft that were excluded from the published book. The most visible document of the City Beautiful movement, this reprint still holds valuable lessons for today's architects and planners.Princeton Architectural Press's Reprint Series was established in 1981 to make rare volumes on architecture available to a wider audience. The books' beautiful reproductions and finest quality printing and binding match those of the originals, while their 9-by-12-inch format makes them accessible and affordable. New introductions bring a modern voice to these classic texts, updating them to become invaluable contemporary resources. These critically acclaimed books are an essential addition to any library.

Irving Berlin: A Daughter's Memoir


Mary Ellin Barrett - 1993
    His tunes created a golden age in American music and influenced every singer, songwriter, and composer of the last century. The Russian-born cantor's son composed more than 1,000 popular songs, including White Christmas, God Bless America, and Puttin' On the Ritz. He lived a full century and died only recently -- still a very private man. What was he like?This charming reminiscence by Berlin's eldest daughter illuminates that private life. Mrs. Barrett describes an idyllic childhood with servants, homes in New York City, California, and the Catskills, and such family friends as the Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin. He was an exciting father to grow up with. Her recollection: candid and affectionate.

The Nancy Drew Scrapbook: Sixty Years of America's Favorite Teenage Sleuth


Karen Plunkett-Powell - 1993
    Discusses the real authors behind the name Carolyn Keene, changes in the series, and screen adaptations of the series.

South of Haunted Dreams: A Memoir


Eddy L. Harris - 1993
    Writing with real emotion and a twist of irony, Eddy L. Harris combines the lively detail of travel writing with a brilliant exploration of race in America.

Dining by Rail: The History and the Recipes of America's Golden Age of Railroad Cuisine


James D. Porterfield - 1993
    Dining by Rail tells how that experience was created, recapturing the lively history of eating on the train and presenting several hundred wonderful recipes that entertained and fortified the hungry traveler from coast to coast. The year 1930 marked the high point of passenger food service as practiced by the great American railroads. Over 1,700 dining cars on 63 railroads served upwards of 80 million meals - nearly a quarter million meals each day - on steel wheels. And what meals they were! Among the award-winning dishes in Dining by Rail: Melon Mint cocktail on the Pennsylvania's Broadway Limited; Roquefort Dressing on the Great Northern's Salads; Fillet of Sole as You Like It from the Southern Pacific; Fresh Asparagus Delmonico on the Rock Island Rockets; Old-Fashioned Raisin Pudding from the Illinois Central; French Toast from the Santa Fe Super Chief. Menus featured consistently unique items made of fresh, natural, native American ingredients available today in stores everywhere. The recipes require only ordinary kitchen tools, and because they were designed to be cooked quickly in a small kitchen, they allow today's cook to turn out a gourmet meal in record time - truly high-speed cuisine. Dining by Rail also serves up the rich and colorful history of "the golden age of American railroading." Discover how railroads went from tolerating vendors hawkingsoot-covered hotcakes, eggs soaked in lime water, and gritty black coffee, to providing meals that won awards in international competition. Learn how chefs on forty-eight railroads prepared such unique and tasty dishes as canteloupe pie, cream of sweet potato soup, and a hot straw

Overland with Kit Carson: A Narrative of the Old Spanish Trail in '48


George Douglas Brewerton - 1993
    Going with him was Lieutenant George Douglas Brewerton, who describes their journey over the Old Spanish Trail. It was a torturous route across deserts and mountains requiring the kind of expert survival skills that made Kit Carson famous. The scout, who was carrying the news that would begin the rush for gold, went as far as Taos, where he was reunited with his wife. From there Brewerton joined a wagon train that labored over the Santa Fe Trail to Independence, Missouri.  Overland with Kit Carson is a colorful and authentic account of encounters with Indians and white adventurers and of the hazards and hardships that accompanied anyone who undertook such a long journey in a sparsely populated country.

Cry Me a River


T.R. Pearson - 1993
    A murder and its consequences in a small Southern town are the backdrop to Pearson's investigations of a fictional world where laugh-out-loud humor is interwoven with some of mankind's darkest impulses.

Lila's Dance


Jill Metcalf - 1993
    The oldest of the seven Briggs children, it's up to Lila to hold her family together after their mother's death. She's got no time for anything as frivolous as love . . . until she meets Dr. Daniel Stone.

The Ghosts of Virginia


L.B. Taylor Jr. - 1993
    

Four Wagons West: The Story of Seattle


Roberta Frye Watt - 1993
    Includes first-hand observation of Indian uprisings and wars, Chief Seattle, the White River massacre, the Mercer girls - and even a bit of romance. 5 1/2 x 8 1/2. Illustrated. Index. 400 pages.

G. B. Vico: The Making of an Anti-Modern


Mark Lilla - 1993
    As such, it raises provocative questions about the subsequent intellectual development of the anti-modern tradition as it relates to the historical and social sciences of our time.

Stasia's Gift


Brian Kelley - 1993
    Telling of their "dark nights of the soul, " as they watched Stasia grow and deteriorate at the same time, the Kelleys relate the several supernatural incidents that showed them God's love and convinced them of His care.