Jack the Ripper

Today in history - September 30th, 1888 - Jack the Ripper kills his 3rd & 4th victims, Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes.  Here are ten books on Jack the Ripper and his crimes.

The Complete Jack the Ripper A to Z by Paul Begg, Martin Fido, and Keith Skinner - Hugely respected, extensively quoted and widely regarded as the 'bible' of Ripper studies, The Complete Jack the Ripper A to Z is the ultimate reference for anyone fascinated by the Jack the Ripper mystery. This new, rewritten, up-to-date edition includes sources and well over 100 photographs.The Complete jack the Ripper A-Z has an entry for almost every person involved in the case, from suspects and witnesses to policemen and journalists, plus the ordinary people who became caught up in the unfolding drama.Written by three of the world's leading authorities on the case, it takes a completely objective look at theories old and new, describes all the key Ripper books and gives potted biographies of many of the authors.Whether you are new to the mystery of Jack the Ripper or an experienced 'Ripperologist' The Complete Jack the Ripper A-Z will keep you turning the pages. Fascinating and entertaining reading in its own right, it is the essential reference to have beside you when you venture into the dark alleys of Victorian Whitechapel.

The Complete Jack the Ripper by Donald Rumbelow - Fully updated and revised, Donald Rumbelow's classic work is the ultimate examination of the facts, theories, fictions and fascinations surrounding the greatest whodunit in history.
The Complete Jack the Ripper lays out all the evidence in the most comprehensive summary ever written about the Ripper. Rumbelow, a former London Metropolitan policeman, and an authority on crime, has subjected every theory - including those that have emerged in recent years - to the same deep scrutiny. He also examines the mythology surrounding the case and provides some fascinating insights into the portrayal of the Ripper on stage and screen and on the printed page. More seriously, he also examines the horrifying parallel crimes of the D sseldorf Ripper and the Yorkshire Ripper in an attempt to throw further light on the atrocities of Victorian London.

Deconstructing Jack: The Secret History of the Whitechapel Murders by Simon Daryl Wood - Will Jack the Ripper ever be identified? The answer is an emphatic "No." But not because he was a quasi-supernatural entity able to perform lightning-fast curb-side surgery whilst running split-second rings around two London police forces. Jack the Ripper did not exist - except within the minds of his creators and those who for one reason or another have attempted for over one hundred years to turn the myth into a reality. In 1976 Simon Daryl Wood revealed Stephen Knight's hugely popular Royal Conspiracy to be a farrago of nonsense, and since then has written extensively on the Whitechapel Murders."Deconstructing Jack: The Secret History of the Whitechapel Murders," the result of over twenty years' research, casts a skeptical eye over the continuous stream of lies, invention, misinformation, self-publicity and opportunism which has kept this Victorian bogeyman alive in the darkest reaches of our 21st Century imaginations. Can history ever bring itself to shrug off almost 130 years of dogma and cherished beliefs, and at last smile ruefully at having been suckered in probably the greatest shell game of all time? Or will this heretical challenge to orthodoxy be peremptorily dismissed as revisionist nonsense, thus allowing the time-old parlor game of Pin the Tail on the Ripper to continue ad infinitum? Read the book and judge for yourself.

The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper by Hallie Rubenhold - Polly, Annie, Elisabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden, and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, lived on country estates, they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-traffickers. What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888. The person responsible was never identified, but the character created by the press to fill that gap has become far more famous than any of these five women. For more than a century, newspapers have been keen to tell us that "the Ripper" preyed on prostitutes. Not only is this untrue, as historian Hallie Rubenhold has discovered, it has prevented the real stories of these fascinating women from being told. Now, in this devastating narrative of five lives, Rubenhold finally sets the record straight, revealing a world not just of Dickens and Queen Victoria, but of poverty, homelessness and rampant misogyny. They died because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time--but their greatest misfortune was to be born a woman.

Jack the Ripper and the Case for Scotland Yard's Prime Suspect by Robert House - An investigation into the man Scotland Yard thought (but couldn't prove) was Jack the Ripper. Dozens of theories have attempted to resolve the mystery of the identity of Jack the Ripper, the world's most famous serial killer. Ripperologist Robert House contends that we may have known the answer all along. The head of Scotland Yard's Criminal Investigation Department at the time of the murders thought Aaron Kozminski was guilty, but he lacked the legal proof to convict him. By exploring Kozminski's life, House builds a strong circumstantial case against him, showing not only that he had means, motive, and opportunity, but also that he fit the general profile of a serial killer as defined by the FBI today. The first book to explore the life of Aaron Kozminski, one of Scotland Yard's top suspects in the quest to identify Jack the Ripper; Combines historical research and contemporary criminal profiling techniques to solve one of the most vexing criminal mysteries of all time; Draws on a decade of research by the author, including trips to Poland and England to uncover Kozminski's past and details of the case; Includes a Foreword by Roy Hazelwood, a former FBI profiler and pioneer of profiling sexual predators; Features dozens of photographs and illustrations. Building a thorough and convincing case that completes the work begun by Scotland Yard more than a century ago, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to know who really committed Jack the Ripper's heinous and unforgettable crimes.

The Jack the Ripper Files: The Illustrated History of the Whitechapel Murders by Richard Jones - Jack the Ripper has haunted the world’s imagination since his murderous reign drew to a close in 1888. Exploring the social context of the crimes, this invaluable survey includes police reports, letters purporting to be from the notorious killer, and newspaper clippings from the time. These documents enable readers to become armchair detectives, sifting through the evidence, sorting out the complex and contradictory theories, and assessing all the clues and conclusions gathered through the decades.

Jack the Ripper: Letters from Hell by Stewart Evans and Keith Skinner - Between August and November 1888, 6 prostitutes were found mutilated in Whitechapel in the east end of London. The murders provoked massive interest in the press, and dozens of letters appeared, all of which claimed to have been written by the killer. This is the first publication of the 208 surviving letters, all allegedly from the killer with all the key letters reproduced for the first time in colour.

The Man Who Hunted Jack the Ripper: Edmund Reid - Victorian Detective by Nicholas Connell & Stewart Evans - In 1888 the unknown brought death and terror to the streets of Victorian London's East End. The Man Who Hunted Jack the Ripper is the story of Detective Inspector Edmund Reid who was head of the Whitechapel detective force. Having joined the Metropolitan Police Force, Reid rose through the ranks and was eventually transferred to the notorious East End. It was at this time that he assumed responsibility to lead his men in a relentless pursuit of Jack the Ripper; his pursuit of the Whitechapel murderer spanned the years 1888 to 1891. Reid retired from the police force in 1896 but, in the subsequent years, he often reminisced on his involvement in the hunt for the infamous serial killer; from the comfort of his armchair he carefully considered any new theory that came to light about the identity of Jack the Ripper. The Man Who Hunted Jack the Ripper recounts the full story of a series of murders that shocked the world.

Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert by Patricia Cornwell -  From New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell comes Ripper: The Secret Life of Walter Sickert, a comprehensive and intriguing exposé of one of the world's most chilling cases of serial murder--and the police force that failed to solve it.
Vain and charismatic Walter Sickert made a name for himself as a painter in Victorian London. But the ghoulish nature of his art--as well as extensive evidence--points to another name, one that's left its bloody mark on the pages of history: Jack the Ripper. Cornwell has collected never-before-seen archival material--including a rare mortuary photo, personal correspondence and a will with a mysterious autopsy clause--and applied cutting-edge forensic science to open an old crime to new scrutiny.

They All Love Jack: Busting the Ripper by Bruce Robinson - In a literary high-wire act reminiscent of both Hunter S. Thompson and Errol Morris, Bruce Robinson offers a radical reinterpretation of Jack the Ripper, contending that he was not the madman of common legend, but the vile manifestation of the Victorian Age's moral bankruptcy.
In exploring the case of Jack the Ripper, Robison goes beyond the who that has obsessed countless others and focuses on the why. He asserts that any "gentlemen" that walked above the fetid gutters of London, the nineteenth century's most depraved city, often harbored proclivities both violent and taboo--yearnings that went entirely unpunished, especially if he also bore royal connections. The story of Jack the Ripper hinges on accounts that were printed and distributed throughout history by the same murderous miscreants who frequented the East End of her Majesty's London, wiping the fetid muck from their boots when they once again reached the marble floors of society's finest homes.
Supported by primary sources and illustrated with 75 to 100 black and white photographs, this breathtaking work of cultural history dismisses the theories of previous "Ripperologists." A Robinson persuasively makes clear with his unique brilliance, The Ripper was far from a poor resident of Whitechapel . . . he was a way of life. 

Midwives in Fiction

September 29th through October 5th is National Midwifery Week.  Here are ten novels that feature midwives as characters.

The Amish Midwife by Mindy Starns Clark & Leslie Gould - A dusty carved box containing two locks of hair and a century-old letter regarding property in Switzerland, and a burning desire to learn about her biological family lead nurse-midwife Lexie Jaeger from her home in Oregon to the heart of Pennsylvania Amish country. There she meets Marta Bayer, a mysterious lay-midwife who desperately needs help after an Amish client and her baby die.
Lexie steps in to assume Marta's patient load even as she continues the search for her birth family, and from her patients she learns the true meaning of the Pennsylvania Dutch word demut, which means "to let be" as she changes from a woman who wants to control everything to a woman who depends on God.  Book 1 of 5 in the Women of Lancaster County series

The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison - In the aftermath of a plague that has decimated the world population, the unnamed midwife confronts a new reality in which there may be no place for her. Indeed, there may be no place for any woman except at the end of a chain. A raducak rearrangement is underway. With one woman left for every ten men, the landscape that the midwife travels is fraught with danger. She must reach safety-- but is it safer to go it alone or take a chance on humanity? The friends shw makes along the way force her to choose what's more important. Civilization stirs from the ruins, taking new and experimental forms. The midwife must help a new world come into being, but birth is always dangerous& and what comes of it is beyond anyones control. Book 1 of 3 in the Road to Nowhere series

The German Midwife by Mandy Robotham - Germany, 1944. A prisoner in the camps, Anke Hoff is doing what she can to keep her pregnant campmates and their newborns alive.But when Anke's work is noticed, she is chosen for a task more dangerous than she could ever have imagined. Eva Braun is pregnant with the F hrer's child, and Anke is assigned as her midwife. Before long, Anke is faced with an impossible choice. Does she serve the Reich she loathes and keep the baby alive? Or does she sacrifice an innocent child for the good of a broken world?

The Midwife of Hope River by Patricia Harman - A remarkable new voice in American fiction enchants readers with a moving and uplifting novel that celebrates the miracle of life. In The Midwife of Hope River, first-time novelist Patricia Harmon transports us to poverty stricken Appalachia during the Great Depression years of the 1930s and introduces us to a truly unforgettable heroine. Patience Murphy, a midwife struggling against disease, poverty, and prejudice--and her own haunting past--is a strong and endearing character that fans of the books of Ami McKay and Diane Chamberlain will take into their hearts, as she courageously attempts to bring new light, and life, into an otherwise cruel world. Book 1 of 3 in the Hope River series

The Midwife's Confession by Diane Chamberlain - Dear Anna,
What I have to tell you is difficult to write, but I know it will be far more difficult for you to hear, and I'm so sorry...
The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind their close friend Noelle's suicide. Everything they knew about Noelle--her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family--described a woman who embraced life.
Yet there was so much they didn't know.
With the discovery of the letter and its heartbreaking secret, Noelle's friends begin to uncover the truth about this complex woman who touched each of their lives--and the life of a desperate stranger--with love and betrayal, compassion and deceit.

The Midwife's Revolt by Jodi Daynard - On a dark night in 1775, Lizzie Boylston is awakened by the sound of cannons. From a hill south of Boston, she watches as fires burn in Charlestown, in a battle that she soon discovers has claimed her husband's life.
Alone in a new town, Lizzie grieves privately but takes comfort in her deepening friendship with Abigail Adams. Soon, word spreads of Lizzie's extraordinary midwifery and healing skills, and she begins to channel her grief into caring for those who need her. But when two traveling patriots are poisoned, Lizzie finds herself with far more complicated matters on her hands - she suspects a political plot intended to harm Abigail and her family. Determined to uncover the truth, Lizzie becomes entangled in a conspiracy that could not only destroy her livelihood - and her chance at finding love again - but also lead to the downfall of a new nation. Book 1 of 3 in the Midwife series

The Midwife's Tale by Delia Parr - Martha Cade comes from a long line of midwives who have served the families of Trinity, Pennsylvania, for generations. A widow with two grown children, she's hopeful that her daughter will follow in her footsteps, but when Victoria runs off, Martha's world is shattered. Worse, a new doctor has arrived in town, threatening her job, and she can't remember a time when her faith has been tested more. Still determined to do the work she knows God intended for her, Martha is unprepared for all that waits ahead. Whether it's trying to stop a town scandal, mending broken relationships, or feeling the first whispers of an unexpected romance, she faces every trial and every opportunity with hope and faith. Book 1 of 3 in the At Home in Trinity series

Monsoon Summer by Julia Gregson - An epic love story moving from England to India, about the forbidden love between a young Indian doctor and an English midwife. Oxfordshire, 1947. Kit Smallwood, hiding a painful secret and exhausted from nursing soldiers during the Second World War, escapes to Wickam Farm where her friend is setting up a charity sending midwives to the Moonstone Home in South India. Then Kit meets Anto, an Indian doctor finishing his medical training at Oxford. But Kit's light skinned mother is in fact Anglo-Indian with secrets of her own, and Anto is everything she does not want for her daughter. Despite the threat of estrangement, Kit is excited for the future, hungry for adventure, and deeply in love. She and Anto secretly marry and set off for South India--where Kit plans to run the maternity hospital she's helped from afar. But Kit's life in India does not turn out as she imagined. Anto's large, traditional family wanted him to marry an Indian bride and find it hard to accept Kit. Their relationship under immense strain, Kit's job is also fraught with tension as they both face a newly independent India, where riots have left millions dead and there is deep-rooted suspicion of the English. In a rapidly changing world, Kit's naiveté is to land her in a frightening and dangerous situation.

My Notorious Life by Kate Manning - In vivid prose, Axie recounts how she is forcibly separated from her mother and siblings, apprenticed to a doctor, and how she and her husband parlay the sale of a few bottles of "Lunar Tablets for Female Complaint" into a thriving midwifery business. Flouting convention and defying the law in the name of women's reproductive rights, Axie rises from grim tenement rooms to the splendor of a mansion on Fifth Avenue, amassing wealth while learning over and over never to trust a man who says "trust me."
When her services attract outraged headlines, Axie finds herself on a collision course with a crusading official--Anthony Comstock, founder of the Society for the Suppression of Vice. It will take all of Axie's cunning and power to outwit him in the fight to preserve her freedom and everything she holds dear.
Inspired by the true history of an infamous female physician who was once called "the Wickedest Woman in New York," My Notorious Life is a mystery, a family saga, a love story, and an exquisitely detailed portrait of nineteenth-century America. Axie Muldoon's inimitable voice brings the past alive, and her story haunts and enlightens the present.

Treasured Grace by Tracie Peterson - Grace Martindale has known more than her share of hardship. After her parents died, raising her two younger sisters became her responsibility. A hasty marriage to a minister who is heading to the untamed West seemed like an opportunity for a fresh start, but a cholera outbreak along the wagon trail has left Grace a widow in a very precarious position. Having learned natural remedies and midwifery from her mother, Grace seeks an opportunity to use her skills for the benefit of others. So when she and her sisters arrive at the Whitman mission in "Oregon Country," she decides to stay rather than push on. With the help of Alex Armistead, a French-American fur trapper, Grace begins to provide care for her neighbors, including some of the native populace. But not everyone welcomes her skills--or her presence--and soon Grace finds herself and those she loves in more danger than she imagined possible. Book 1 of 3 in the Heart of the Frontier series 

Beer

Today is Drink Beer Day! So pop open a fresh brew or head your favorite local pub, bar, or brewery and enjoy one while perusing this list of books. 

The Audacity of Hops: The History of America's Craft Beer Revolution by Tom Acitelli - Charting the birth and growth of craft beer across the United States, Tom Acitelli offers an epic, story-driven account of one of the most inspiring and surprising American grassroots movements. In 1975, there was a single craft brewery in the United States; today there are more than 2,000. Now this once-fledgling movement has become ubiquitous nationwide--there's even a honey ale brewed at the White House. This book not only tells the stories of the major figures and businesses within the movement, but it also ties in the movement with larger American culinary developments. It also charts the explosion of the mass-market craft beer culture, including magazines, festivals, home brewing, and more. This entertaining and informative history brims with charming, remarkable stories, which together weave a very American business tale of formidable odds and refreshing success.

Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out: Goose Island, Anheuser-Busch, and How Craft Beer Became Big Business by Josh Noel - Goose Island opened as a family-owned Chicago brewpub in the late 1980s, and it soon became one of the most inventive breweries in the world. In the golden age of light, bland and cheap beers, John Hall and his son Greg brought European flavors to America. With distribution in two dozen states, two brewpubs and status as one of the 20 biggest breweries in the United States, Goose Island became an American success story and was a champion of craft beer. Then, on March 28, 2011, the Halls sold the brewery to Anheuser-Busch InBev, maker of Budweiser, the least craft-like beer imaginable. The sale forced the industry to reckon with craft beer's mainstream appeal and a popularity few envisioned. Josh Noel broke the news of the sale in the Chicago Tribune, and he covered the resulting backlash from Chicagoans and beer fanatics across the country as the discussion escalated into an intellectual craft beer war. Anheuser-Busch has since bought nine other craft breweries, and from among the outcry rises a question that Noel addresses through personal anecdotes from industry leaders: how should a brewery grow?

The Beer Bible by Jeff Alworth - The ultimate reader- and drinker-friendly guide to the world's ales and beers, and the book that approaches the subject in the same way beer lovers do--by style, just like a welcoming pub menu.
Divided into four major families--ales, lagers, wheat beers, and sour and wild ales--The Beer Bible covers everything a beer drinker wants to know about the hundreds of types of beers made, from bitters, sessions, and IPAs to weisses, wits, lambics, and more. Each style is a chapter unto itself, delving into origins, ingredients, description and characteristics, sub-styles, and tasting notes, and ending with a recommended list of the beers to know in each category. Infographic charts throughout make understanding the connection between styles and families immediately understandable.
The book is written for passionate beginners, who will love its "if you like X, try Y" feature; for intermediate beer lovers eager to go deeper; and for true geeks, who will find new information on every page.

Bitter Brew: The Rise and Fall of Anheuser-Busch and America's Kings of Beer by William Knoedelseder - The creators of Budweiser and Michelob beers, the Anheuser-Busch company is one of the wealthiest, most colorful and enduring family dynasties in the history of American commerce. In Bitter Brew, critically acclaimed journalist William Knoedelseder tells the riveting, often scandalous saga of the rise and fall of the dysfunctional Busch family--an epic tale of prosperity, profligacy, hubris, and the dark consequences of success that spans three centuries, from the open salvos of the Civil War to the present day.

The Complete Beer Course: The Boot Camp for Beer Geeks: From Novice to Expert in Twelve Tasting Classes by Joshua M. Bernstein - It's a great time to be a beer drinker, but also the most confusing, thanks to the dizzying array of available draft beers. Expert Joshua Bernstein comes to the rescue with The Complete Beer Course, demystifying the sudsy stuff and breaking down the elements that make a beer's flavor spin into distinctively different and delicious directions. Structured around a series of easy-to-follow classes, his course hops from lagers and pilsners to hazy wheat beers, Belgian-style abbey and Trappist ales, aromatic pale ales and bitter IPAs, roasty stouts, barrel-aged brews, belly-warming barley wines, and mouth-puckering sour ales. There is even a class on international beer styles and another on pairing beer with food and starting your own beer cellar. Through suggested, targeted tastings, you'll learn when to drink down-and when to dump those suds down a drain.

Experimental Homebrewing: Mad Science in the Pursuit of Great Beer by Drew Beechum & Denny Conn - Trial. Error. Better Beer.When most brewers think of an experimental beer, odd creations come to mind. And sure, in this book you can learn how to brew with ingredients like bacon, chanterelle mushrooms, defatted cacao nibs, and peanut butter powder. However, experimental homebrewing is more than that. It's about making good beer--the best beer, in fact. It's about tweaking process, designing solid recipes, and blind evaluations. So put on your goggles, step inside the lab, and learn from two of the craziest scientists around: Drew Beechum and Denny Conn. Get your hands dirty and tackle a money-saving project or try your hand at an off-the-wall technique. Freeze yourself an Eisbeer, make a batch of canned starter wort, fake a cask ale, extract flavors with distillation, or sit down at the microscope and do some yeast cell counting. More than 30 recipes and a full chapter of open-ended experiments will complete your transformation. Before you realize it, you'll be donning a white lab coat and sharing your own delicious results!

Quench Your Own Thirst: Business Lessons Learned Over a Beer or Two by Jim Koch - Founder of The Boston Beer Company, brewer of Samuel Adams Boston Lager, and a key catalyst of the American craft beer revolution, Jim Koch offers his unique perspective when it comes to business, beer, and turning your passion into a successful company or career. In 1984, it looked like an unwinnable David and Goliath struggle: one guy against the mammoth American beer industry. When others scoffed at Jim Koch's plan to leave his consulting job and start a brewery that would challenge American palates, he chose a nineteenth-century family recipe and launched Samuel Adams. Now one of America's leading craft breweries, Samuel Adams has redefined the way Americans think about beer and helped spur a craft beer revolution. In Quench Your Own Thirst, Koch offers unprecedented insights into the whirlwind ride from scrappy start-up to thriving public company. His innovative business model and refreshingly frank stories offer counterintuitive lessons that you can apply to business and to life. Koch covers everything from finding your own Yoda to his theory on how a piece of string can teach you the most important lesson you'll ever learn about business. He also has surprising advice on sales, marketing, hiring, and company culture. Koch's anecdotes, quirky musings, and bits of wisdom go far beyond brewing. A fun, engaging guide for building a career or launching a successful business based on your passions, Quench Your Own Thirst is the key to the ultimate dream: being successful while doing what you love.

Tasting Beer: An Insider's Guide to the World's Greatest Drink by Randy Mosher - Everyone knows how to drink beer, but few know how to really taste it with an understanding of the finer points of brewing, serving, and food pairing. Discover the ingredients and brewing methods that make each variety unique and learn to identify the scents, colors, flavors, and mouthfeel of all the major beer styles. Recommendations for more than 50 types of beer from around the world encourage you to expand your horizons. Uncap the secrets in every bottle of the world's greatest drink!

The United States of Beer: A Freewheeling History of the All-American Drink by Dane Huckelbridge - Equally irreverent and revealing, Dane Huckelbridge's masterful cultural history charts the wild, engrossing, and surprisingly complex story of our favorite alcoholic drink, showing how America has been under the influence of beer at almost every stage. From the earliest Native American corn brew (called chicha) to the waves of immigrants who brought with them their unique brewing traditions, to the seemingly infinite varieties of craft-brewed suds found on tap today, beer has claimed an outsized place in our culture that far transcends its few simple ingredients--water, barley, and hops. And yet despite its ubiquity--Americans consume some six billion gallons of beer each year--the story of beer in the USA is as diverse and fascinating as the country itself, overflowing with all the color and character of America's many peoples and regions.
A brewery was among the first orders of business when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, and George Washington tried (but mostly failed) to produce beer at Mount Vernon. Since 1776, America has operated under the principle of E. Pluribus, Brewdog: out of many regional brews, one nation of beer drinkers. The first "macrobrew" revolution was in the Midwest, where an influx of German immigrants in the 1800s changed American brewing forever. Bavarian newcomers brought their now-universal lager to St. Louis, Milwaukee, and the rest of the heartl∧ Busch, Pabst, and Schlitz soon followed, establishing the first great beer empires and ushering in a golden age of brewing that would last into the twentieth century. Then in 1920, Prohibition threatened the very existence of beer in America. Brewers were forced to diversity into a variety of odd products--among them malted milk, porcelain, and cement--in order to survive.
When the spigot finally reopened in 1933, many breweries were tapped out. By the early 1980s, a country that once boasted more than a thousand breweries was down to a few dozen, with little to distinguish among them. But stirred by the American entrepreneurial spirit, a cadre of daring young trailblazers decided our options shouldn't be limited to watery, flavorless macrobrews. The microbrew movement began on the West Coast, but quickly spread: today there are thousands of craft breweries, scattered across all fifty states.
Drawing upon a wealth of little-known historical sources, explaining the scientific breakthroughs that have shaped beer's evolution, and mixing in more than a splash of dedicated on-the-ground research, The United States of Beer offers a raucous and enlightening toast to the all-American drink.

The World Atlas of Beer by Tim Webb & Stephen Beaumont - Got beer? This comprehensive, fully illustrated volume on beer by two of the world's leading authorities is more than just an in-depth history of this delightful beverage--its origins, brewing methods and technologies, trends, and more--from ancient times until the present day. It is also a detailed overview of more than 500 of the greatest beers from around the world, with sections devoted to major beer-producing countries and regions, including information on craft brewing, emerging markets, extreme beers, future-trend forecasts, and more.

Cheese

September is National Cheese Month!

200 Easy Homemade Cheese Recipes: From Cheddar and Brie to Butter and Yogurt by Debra Amrein-Boyes - This bestselling book has been designed to help you create wonderful cheeses that approximate the flavors and textures of many cheeses from around the world -- at home in the comfort of your own kitchen.
Discover and indulge in the taste of fresh handmade cheeses and experience the joy of creating outstanding food from a simple ingredient: fresh milk. These excellent recipes feature easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions that take the stress and guesswork out of creating artisanal-quality cheeses at home. You will find recipes for everything from fresh unripened cheeses to aged ones with complex rinds.
An enticing new cover, an all-new 32 page troubleshooting section, new step-by-step photos as well as the new inclusion of preparation times with each recipe will be welcomed by both novice and experienced cheese makers.
Rounding out this fantastic book are comprehensive descriptions of basic cheese-making steps and techniques along with information on and illustrations of all the necessary techniques, equipment and tools. It also chronicles the fascinating history of cheese along with serving and presentation instructions.

The Art of Natural Cheesemaking: Using Traditional, Non-Industrial Methods and Raw Ingredients to Make the World's Best Cheeses by David Asher - Including more than 35 step-by-step recipes from the Black Sheep School of Cheesemaking
Most DIY cheesemaking books are hard to follow, complicated, and confusing, and call for the use of packaged freeze-dried cultures, chemical additives, and expensive cheesemaking equipment. For though bread baking has its sourdough, brewing its lambic ales, and pickling its wild fermentation, standard Western cheesemaking practice today is decidedly unnatural. In The Art of Natural Cheesemaking, David Asher practices and preaches a traditional, but increasingly countercultural, way of making cheese--one that is natural and intuitive, grounded in ecological principles and biological science.
This book encourages home and small-scale commercial cheesemakers to take a different approach by showing them:
*    How to source good milk, including raw milk;
*    How to keep their own bacterial starter cultures and fungal ripening cultures;
*    How make their own rennet--and how to make good cheese without it;
*    How to avoid the use of plastic equipment and chemical additives; and
*    How to use appropriate technologies.
Introductory chapters explore and explain the basic elements of cheese: milk, cultures, rennet, salt, tools, and the cheese cave. The fourteen chapters that follow each examine a particular class of cheese, from kefir and paneer to washed-rind and alpine styles, offering specific recipes and handling advice. The techniques presented are direct and thorough, fully illustrated with hand-drawn diagrams and triptych photos that show the transformation of cheeses in a comparative and dynamic fashion.
The Art of Natural Cheesemaking is the first cheesemaking book to take a political stance against Big Dairy and to criticize both standard industrial and artisanal cheesemaking practices. It promotes the use of ethical animal rennet and protests the use of laboratory-grown freeze-dried cultures. It also explores how GMO technology is creeping into our cheese and the steps we can take to stop it.
This book sounds a clarion call to cheesemakers to adopt more natural, sustainable practices. It may well change the way we look at cheese, and how we make it ourselves.

Artisan Cheese Making at Home: Techniques & Recipes for Mastering World-Class Cheeses by Mary Karlin - Just a century ago, cheese was still a relatively regional and European phenomenon, and cheese making techniques were limited by climate, geography, and equipment. But modern technology along with the recent artisanal renaissance has opened up the diverse, time-honored, and dynamic world of cheese to enthusiasts willing to take its humble fundamentals milk, starters, coagulants, and salt and transform them into complex edibles. Artisan Cheese Making at Home is the most ambitious and comprehensive guide to home cheese making, filled with easy-to-follow instructions for making mouthwatering cheese and dairy items. Renowned cooking instructor Mary Karlin has spent years working alongside the country s most passionate artisan cheese producers cooking, creating, and learning the nuances of their trade. She presents her findings in this lavishly illustrated guide, which features more than eighty recipes for a diverse range of cheeses.

Cheese & Beer by Janet Fletcher - Cheese & Beer capitalizes on the rapidly growing audience for craft beer in the U.S. and the enthusiasm these passionate beer fans have for good cheese. Enhanced by the author's reputation as a journalist and cheese authority, the book fills a wide-open niche for consumer guidance in pairing craft beer and cheese.
The beer enthusiast who wants to know which cheeses to pair with an IPA, porter or Trappist ale can easily find a recommendation. Each style entry includes:
Style Notes: a description of that beer style---what defines it from the brewer's perspective, and what to expect from the beverage in the glass.
Beers to Try: Several recommended craft beers in that style, both domestic and imported. Some of the breweries included from across the country are: Boulevard Brewing (Kansas City, MO), Allagash Brewing (Portland, ME), Brooklyn Brewery (Brooklyn, NY), Firestone Walker (Paso Robles CA), Great Divide (Denver, CO), and Rogue Ales (Newport OR).
Cheese Affinities: In general terms, what types of cheeses pair well with that style and why.
Cheeses to Try: Brief profiles of three well-distributed cheeses (domestic and imported) specifically recommended for that style and why
More Cheeses to Try: A list of other cheeses to pair with that beer style--so that every reader should be able to find at least a couple of the recommended cheeses
The introductory chapter includes general advice on pairing cheese and beer; and on selecting, storing and presenting cheese. Six themed platters give readers ideas for entertaining with beer and cheese.

Great Balls of Cheese: More Than 50 Irresistible Cheese Ball Creations for Any Occasion by Michelle Buffardi - Remember the nut-covered, pink-colored cheese balls served at grandma’s house for the holidays? Well, these are not your grandma’s cheese balls. Updated for contemporary tastes, Michelle Buffardi’s cheese balls come in both savory and sweet flavors, like cheddar, blue cheese, and Buffalo wing sauce, or Bing cherry, rum, and pecan. And cheese balls are just part of the story. Many of the recipes, photographed in gorgeous full color, are in adorable shapes for all kinds of occasions, such as an Easter egg, Thanksgiving turkey, Christmas ornament, or a football for a Super Bowl party. Other designs are just plain fun, like the Nacho Cat, a Wise and Cheesy Owl, or one that looks like a pizza fresh from the oven. There is so much interest in bringing old-fashioned foods back into style, and this is no exception. Perfect for food lovers with crafty flair or anyone who loves to entertain, this book, with more than fifty inventive recipes and designs, is sure to be turned to again and again.

Home Cheese Making: From Fresh and Soft to Firm, Blue, Goat's Milk and More: Recipes for 100 Favorite Cheeses by Ricki Carroll - Widely acclaimed as "the Cheese Queen," Ricki Carroll has guided thousands of home cheese makers and inspired the burgeoning popularity of artisanal cheese making with her classic book, Home Cheese Making, first published in 1982, with over 400,000 copies in print.
The completely updated fourth edition features 35 new cheese recipes, color photography of step-by-step techniques, and new profiles of contemporary cheese makers. The additions to this comprehensive volume reflect the broader selection of cheeses available in specialty food stores and groceries, including burrata, stracchino, Brillat-Savarin, D'Affinois, Cambrales, Drunk Gouda, Pecorino Pepato, goat milk's gouda, and more. Companion recipes are included for cheese plate condiments and classic cheese dishes. For cheese lovers wanting to make their own, Ricki Carroll's expert advice is the key to success.

Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking: The Ultimate Guide for the Home-Scale and Market Producer by Gianaclis Caldwell - The key to becoming a successful artisan cheesemaker is to develop the intuition essential for problem solving and developing unique styles of cheeses. There are an increasing number of books on the market about making cheese, but none approaches the intricacies of cheesemaking science alongside considerations for preparing each type of cheese variety in as much detail as Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking.
Indeed, this book fills a big hole in the market. Beginner guides leave you wanting more content and explanation of process, while recipe-based cookbooks often fail to dig deeper into the science, and therefore don’t allow for a truly intuitive cheesemaker to develop. Acclaimed cheesemaker Gianaclis Caldwell has written the book she wishes existed when she was starting out. Every serious home-scale artisan cheesemaker—even those just beginning to experiment—will want this book as their bible to take them from their first quick mozzarella to a French mimolette, and ultimately to designing their own unique cheeses.
This comprehensive and user-friendly guide thoroughly explains the art and science that allow milk to be transformed into epicurean masterpieces. Caldwell offers a deep look at the history, science, culture, and art of making artisan cheese on a small scale, and includes detailed information on equipment and setting up a home-scale operation. A large part of the book includes extensive process-based recipes dictating not only the hard numbers, but also the concepts behind each style of cheese and everything you want to know about affinage (aging) and using oils, brushes, waxes, infusions, and other creative aging and flavoring techniques. Also included are beautiful photographs, profiles of other cheesemakers, and in-depth appendices for quick reference in the preparation and aging room. Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking will also prove an invaluable resource for those with, or thinking of starting, a small-scale creamery.
Let Gianaclis Caldwell be your mentor, guide, and cheering section as you follow the pathway to a mastery of cheesemaking. For the avid home hobbyist to the serious commercial artisan, Mastering Artisan Cheesemaking is an irreplaceable resource.

Reinventing the Wheel: Milk, Microbes, and the Fight for Real Cheese by Bronwen & Francis Percival - In little more than a century, industrial practices have altered every aspect of the cheesemaking process, from the bodies of the animals that provide the milk to the microbial strains that ferment it. Reinventing the Wheel  explores what has been lost as raw-milk, single-farm cheeses have given way to the juggernaut of factory production. In the process, distinctiveness and healthy rural landscapes have been exchanged for higher yields and monoculture. However, Bronwen and Francis Percival find reason for optimism. Around the world--not just in France, but also in the United States, England, and Australia--enterprising cheesemakers are exploring the techniques of their great-grandparents. At the same time, using sophisticated molecular methods, scientists are upending conventional wisdom about the role of microbes in every part of the world. Their research reveals the resilience and complexity of the indigenous microbial communities that contribute to the flavor and safety of cheese. One experiment at a time, these dynamic scientists, cheesemakers, and dairy farmers are reinventing the wheel.

This Cheese is Nuts!: Delicious Vegan Cheese at Home by Julie Piatt - This Cheese Is Nuts is a stunning collection of flavorful nut-based cheeses. Julie has always been known for her dairy-free cheeses, and here she shares seventy-five recipes using almonds, cashews, and other nuts to create cheeses anyone can make right at home. Nut-based cheeses are on the cutting edge in the world of vegan cuisine. They're remarkably simple to prepare (all you need are a few ingredients and a basic dehydrator), and in as little as twenty minutes, you can have an assortment of tasty fresh cheeses fit for any occasion.

World Cheese Book edited by Juliet Harbutt - The book is about cheese in all its many glorious varieties. What it looks like, what it tastes like, where it comes from, what you should do with it and why, how to choose a cheese you'll like and how best to enjoy it. It gives you an in-depth understanding of the world of cheese - the science, the smells, the succulence.
The core of the book is formed by the Directory Spreads, packed with clear and expert information about each cheese and illustrated with excellent photography. The cheeses are arranged by country, each section written by an expert "cheesie" from that country. For the novice, the intermediate and expert cheese eater, it will become the undisputed best guide to the world's cheeses.

Top Challenged Books of 2018

Happy Banned Books Week!  These are the top 11 most challenged books of 2018.

George by Alex Gino - When people look at George, they think they see a boy. But she knows she's not a boy. She knows she's a girl. George thinks she'll have to keep this a secret forever. Then her teacher announces that their class play is going to be Charlotte's Web. George really, really, REALLY wants to play Charlotte. But the teacher says she can't even try out for the part . . . because she's a boy. With the help of her best friend, Kelly, George comes up with a plan. Not just so she can be Charlotte -- but so everyone can know who she is, once and for all.

A Day in the Life of Marlon Bundo by Jill Twiss, illustrated by EG Keller - Meet Marlon Bundo, a lonely bunny who lives with his Grampa, Mike Pence - the Vice President of the United States. But on this Very Special Day, Marlon's life is about to change forever...
With its message of tolerance and advocacy, this charming children's book explores issues of same sex marriage and democracy. Sweet, funny, and beautifully illustrated, this book is dedicated to every bunny who has ever felt different.

The Captain Underpants series by Dav Pilkey - When Dav Pilkey began drawing pictures of an underwear-clad, wedgie-giving superhero as a second grader, his teacher said, "You'd better start taking life more seriously, because you can't spend the rest of your days making silly books!" Luckily for us, Dav didn't listen, and Captain Underpants was born. 12 books in the series

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.
Soon afterward, his death is a national headline. Some are calling him a thug, maybe even a drug dealer and a gangbanger. Protesters are taking to the streets in Khalil’s name. Some cops and the local drug lord try to intimidate Starr and her family. What everyone wants to know is: what really went down that night? And the only person alive who can answer that is Starr.
But what Starr does—or does not—say could upend her community. It could also endanger her life.

Drama by Raina Telgemeier - Callie loves theater. And while she would totally try out for her middle school's production of Moon Over Mississippi, she's a terrible singer. Instead she's the set designer for the stage crew, and this year she's determined to create a set worthy of Broadway on a middle-school budget. But how can she, when she doesn't know much about carpentry, ticket sales are down, and the crew members are having trouble working together? Not to mention the onstage AND offstage drama that comes once the actors are chosen, and when two cute brothers enter the picture, things get even crazier!

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher - When high school student Clay Jenkins receives a box in the mail containing thirteen cassette tapes recorded by his classmate Hannah, who committed suicide, he spends a bewildering and heartbreaking night crisscrossing their town, listening to Hannah's voice recounting the events leading up to her death.

This One Summer by Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki - Rose and her parents have been going to Awago Beach since she was a little girl. It's her summer getaway, her refuge. Her friend Windy is always there, too, like the little sister she never had, completing her summer family. But this summer is different. Rose's mom and dad won't stop fighting, and Rose and Windy have gotten tangled up in a tragedy-in-the-making in the small town of Awago Beach. It's a summer of secrets and heartache, and it's a good thing Rose and Windy have each other.

The Skippyjon Jones series by Judy Schachner - A mischievous Siamese kitten named Skippyjon Jones transforms himself into the legendary Spanish sword fighter Skippito when he is banished to his room. This hilarious picture book celebrates the power of imagination.

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie - Bestselling author Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend an all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.
Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the author's own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings by Ellen Forney that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he was destined to live.

This Day in June by Gayle E. Pitman, illustrated by Kristyna Litten - This day in June...
Parade starts soon...
Rainbow arches...
Joyful marches!
In a wildly whimsical, validating, and exuberant reflection of the LGBT community, This Day In June welcomes readers to experience a pride celebration and share in a day when we are all united.
Also included is a Reading Guide chock-full of facts about LGBT history and culture, as well as a Note to Parents and Caregivers with information on how to talk to children about sexual orientation and gender identity in age-appropriate ways.
This Day In June is an excellent tool for teaching respect, acceptance, and understanding of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan - Based on true events--and narrated by a Greek Chorus of the generation of gay men lost to AIDS--Two Boys Kissing follows Harry and Craig, two seventeen-year-olds who are about to take part in a 32-hour marathon of kissing to set a new Guinness World Record. While the two increasingly dehydrated and sleep-deprived boys are locking lips, they become a focal point in the lives of other teens dealing with universal questions of love, identity, and belonging.