Book cover of Something from the Oven

Book description

Author of the forthcoming What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories (Summer 2017)

In this captivating blend of culinary history and popular culture, the award-winning author of Perfection Salad shows us what happened when the food industry elbowed its way into the kitchen after…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Something from the Oven as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

It’s so much fun to read about these kitchens and cooks of the 1950s!

I loved all the stories that Shapiro tells about the colorful women who concocted all manner of (gag-inducing) packaged food combos during this Golden Age of Processed Food. It made me think about how gender and food and cooking and maternal love are intertwined, and how food producers and advertisers have taken advantage of those interconnections to sell more products.

The anecdote about the consumer psychologist Ernest Dichter’s role in developing packaged cake mixes will always stay with me! 

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Book cover of Aggressor

Aggressor by FX Holden,

It is April 1st, 2038. Day 60 of China's blockade of the rebel island of Taiwan.

The US government has agreed to provide Taiwan with a weapons system so advanced that it can disrupt the balance of power in the region. But what pilot would be crazy enough to run…

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