Books-to-Note

Summary

(1) Pauline Adema draws us into her world of culinary superlatives, localism, and celebrations...By means of a comprehensive case study of Gilroy, California—the self-proclaimed garlic capital of the world—the author skillfully guides the reader to consideration of competing perspectives: resident/tourist, exotic/classic, commodification/production, personal/communal, global/local, dynamic/ stable, self/other, everyday/special, contemporary/traditional. (2) Although it is well known that Kurt Schwitters (1887–1948) created collages, poems, and artistic installations in the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, his darkly satirical fairy tales have been less accessible to scholars and general readers. Lucky Hans and Other Merz Fairy Tales not only gives us the tales, but also provides a wonderful selection of illustrations and helpful notes. (3) Sightings of large, elusive, hair-covered bipeds in remote parts of the Northeast go back to colonial times. Bigfoot: Encounters in New York and New England is a useful and well-researched collection of reports, from both written and oral sources, of those sightings.