For citizens of the Chesapeake Bay area this book will be particularly interesting, but it has much to offer the rest of us as well. Chappell is an entertaining writer and a cemetary enthusiast. The book is less a tour of local graveyards as it is a tableau of cemetary lore, including ghost stories which are faithfully reproduced from interviews with serveral local people. Most interesting to the family historian will be the chapter on funeral and mourning customs focusing on the late 17th century and the 18th century. The bibliography lists several books and articles that would be well worth examining.
Ralph Brown, a geography professor at the University of Minnesota, spent years researching, compiling and writing this geography. The result is an extensive detailed resource book that family historians will find a valuable tool for envisioning and describing the aspects of their ancestors lives that were affected by geographic locality in Colonial America and the United States. He follows the path and chonology of European exploration and settlement. Though the English holdings occupy the greatest percentage of the colonial segments, he does not neglect the French or the Spanish colonies. This is not a political history of the United States, it is a history of the land, of population movement, agricultural practices, mining and other industries, routes of trade and migration--what the Europeans found when they arrived what they grew and how they changed their environment. The Native American populations are also described and treated with greater objectivity than you would expect to find in an author in 1948. The book includes a number of maps and charts. Among these are: a chart of California Mission Settlements that existed up to 1811 that lists the Indian Populations that were attached to each mission; a series of map charts graphs population expansion in the colonies from 1720 to 1790; and a map of overland mail routes existing between 1860 and 1869. Many of the maps are reproductions of period documents. Brown includes further readings along with his bibliography. Both subject and biography indexes are included.
Tannahill explores human food acqusition, preparation and consumption from prehistory to mid-20th century when the book was published. The author draws from anthropological evidence, period cookbooks, literature, academic works, and other pertinent resources. In addition to describing food and its preparation, the book explores the impact of cultivation on society and environment, the spread of cuisine through migration and trade, and the affect of droughts and other crop failure mechanisms on the course of history. Tannahill notes that the nomadic people of the Eurasian steppes were driven to near starvation by a draught in the first century A.D. The nomads joined with Iranian herdsmen and Mongols and formed the people who became known as Huns. In the fifth century the Huns would follow their leader Attila on his "raid" through Europe. Utensils and table manners in various eras are examined. What foods land and sea travelers carried with them, the role of alcohol, tea, and coffee, changing methods of agriculture and industrial contributions are all discussed in this informative and easy to digest book. Whereas a great many historical texts are concerned only with western civilization this book examines China, India, the Arab world, and the indigenous populations of the Americas as well. Unfortunately, Sub-Saharan Africa is only briefly touched upon and then only as it relates to European visitors. Because most of our family histories do not predate the Renaissance, of particular interest to the family historian is the section entitled The Expanding World 1490 Ð 1800 describing food and its preparation in the centuries since the middle ages. In the epilogue Tannahill notes that "the search for food has helped to shape the development of society. It has dictated population growth and urban expansion, profoundly influenced economic, social and political theory...In the last analysis, of course, food is not only inseparable from the history of mankind but essential to it." Chapter notations, bibliography, index, maps and illustrations.
This is a much abridged version of the original diary of Elizabeth Sandwith Drinker. Crane notes her introduction that the abridgement omits many of the sights and sounds of 18th century Philadelphia as well as some of the "aberrational" behaviors that Drinker commented on. What has been retained does inform the reader about Philadelphia society, particularly Quaker society and draws a vivid picture of the various illnesses and epidemics that appeared with dismaying frequency. The way servants and slaves were regarded and treated, and changing attitudes about slavery which Quakers began to undergo in the late 1700s are revealed. Drinker refers several times to the production of "feedom clothes" for various freed persons, which was mandated by law. It is an informative picture of the life of an upperclass family in 18th century Philadelphia that reflects the mores and the status of a woman like Drinker through both what is said and what is not said. In spite of leaving one yearning for the full text of the original diary, it is certainly well worth reading for the researcher. Crane has annotated the text with explanatory footnotes and additional reference notations. She includes an extensive index of individuals whom Drinker refers to in her entries. The index lists occupation, and dates of birth and death where available. Also included is a subject index.