HISTORY
Dan Koeppel
BAnAnA
The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World
A gripping biological detective story that uncovers the myth, mystery, and endangered fate of the world’s most humble fruit. “Part
historical narrative and part pop-science adventure, Dan Koeppel’s book makes a compelling case that the banana is not only one
of the world’s most important and complex foods, but also one of
its most mysterious.”—San Francisco Chronicle.
Plume • 304 pp. • 978-0-452-29008-2 • $16.00
Scott Korb
life in yeAr one
What the World Was Like in First-Century Palestine
Culling information from primary sources, scholarly research, and
his own travels and observations, Korb explores the nitty-gritty of
real life in year one—from how people fed, housed, and groomed
themselves to how they kept themselves healthy. He guides the
contemporary reader through the maze of customs and traditions
that dictated life under the numerous groups, tribes, and peoples
in the eastern Mediterranean that Rome governed two thousand
years ago, and he illuminates the intriguing details of marriage,
family life, health, and a host of other aspects of first-century life.
Riverhead • 256 pp. • 978-1-59448-899-3 • $25.95
Riverhead • 256 pp. • 978-1-59448-503-9 • $15.00
Paperback available March 2011
Mark Kurlansky
the food of A younger lAnd
a Portrait of american Food—Before the National highway
System, Before Chain Restaurants, and Before Frozen
Food, When the Nation’s Food was Seasonal, Regional, and
Traditional—From the Lost WPa Files
In the 1930s FDR created the Federal Writers’ Project under the
New Deal as a make-work program for artists and authors. A number of writers, including Zora Neale Hurston, Eudora Welty, and
Nelson Algren, were dispatched all across America to chronicle the
eating habits, traditions, and struggles of local people. Kurlansky
unearths this forgotten literary and historical treasure and brings it
to exuberant life. “A review can only hint at the marvelous variety
and vivacity of the material assembled here.”—Chicago Tribune.
Riverhead • 480 pp. • 978-1-59448-457-5 • $16.00
hISToRY
Craig Nelson
rocKet men
The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon
Through interviews, twenty-three thousand pages of NASA oral
histories, and declassified CIA documents on the space race, Nelson re-creates a vivid and detailed account of the Apollo 11 mission, and restores the mystery and majesty to an event that may
have become too familiar for most people to realize what a stunning achievement it represented in planning, technology, and execution. “Celebrates a bold era when voyaging beyond Earth was
deemed crucial to national security and pride.”—The Wall Street
Journal.
Penguin • 416 pp. • 9780143117162 • $17.00
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