An erudite and entertaining historical biography of a food pioneer with particular interest for gastronomes and agriculture...
The story of an intrepid botanist who exposed America to myriad exotic plants and food crops.
While conducting research for an article, National Geographic staff writer Stone stumbled on a map showing the origins of popular foods that became domesticated in America. This discovery, as well as the author’s lifelong fascination with tropical fruit, spurred a great exploration for perennially curious American botanist David Fairchild (1869-1954), who scoured the planet foraging for new foods and plants with which to enrich and tantalize American palates. Employing dogged research and close scrutiny of his subject’s letters, rough drafts, and “ponderings on the backs of envelopes and napkins,” the author delves into many different aspects of Fairchild’s life. These include his seafaring adventures visiting more than 50 countries, his insatiable hunger to uncover new produce varieties and promote homeland agricultural development, and the harsh criticism his work continually garnered. Fairchild’s assignments as a junior scientist with the then budget-challenged Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., and encouragement from world-traveling philanthropist Barbour Lathrop whetted his wanderlust for far-flung destinations, where he came across such exotic plants as the Hass avocado in Chile, seedless grapes in Padua, cherry blossoms in Japan, and potent hop plant flowers in Bohemia, which pointed to significant beer-crafting potential. Stone also provides details of the political struggle Fairchild faced. While his work enriched the agricultural climate of the country, congressional opponents felt that his methodical importation of new, farm-sourced, organic plant and produce varieties would compromise and even jeopardize native botanical species. Narrated in vividly realized, richly descriptive text with accompanying photographs, Stone’s biography reanimates the legacy of an important contributor to the botanical diversity of America. Indeed, Fairchild’s agricultural discoveries revolutionized the formerly bland eating habits of Americans and helped establish the country’s own culinary identity.
An erudite and entertaining historical biography of a food pioneer with particular interest for gastronomes and agriculture enthusiasts.Pub Date: Feb. 20, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-101-99058-2
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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