Review by New York Times Review
THE DEATH OF TRUTH: Notes on Falsehood in the Age of Trump, by Michiko Kakutani. (Tim Duggan Books, $22.) The former Times book critic draws on her extensive reading to portray an America that is creeping toward authoritarianism by way of the current administration's distortions and manipulations. EARLY WORK, by Andrew Martin. (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $26.) This marvelous debut novel, about a male writer's romantic entanglements, is like one of those restaurant dishes that present multiple preparations of a vegetable on the same plate - "beets, three ways" - to capture its essence. "Early Work" is books, three ways. MILK! A 10,000-Year Food Fracas, by Mark Kurlansky. (Bloomsbury, $29.) Kurlansky, chronicler of food and its history, from "Salt" to "Cod," now turns to milk and how it has wended its way through many civilizations and cultures, exploring everything from breast-feeding to the qualities of camel milk. CONFESSIONS OF THE FOX, by Jordy Rosenberg. (One World, $27.) A mind-bending romp through a gender-fluid, 18th-century London, Rosenberg's debut novel is a joyous mash-up of literary genres shot through with queer theory and awash in sex, crime and revolution. POGROM: Kishinev and the Tilt of History, by Steven J. Zipperstein. (Liveright, $27.95.) Before the Holocaust, POGROM Jewish suffering was synonymous with the name of the city, Kishinev, where in 1903,49 Jews were killed in a paroxysm of violence. Zipperstein examines not just the event but also its far-reaching repercussions. FRUIT OF THE DRUNKEN TREE, by Ingrid Rojas Contreras. (Doubleday, $26.95.) This beautifully rendered novel, rich in specific detail inspired by the author's experience, explores the responsibility of those with choices to those without, against the backdrop of a terrifying subject - coming of age amid the uncontrolled violence of the Colombian civil war. YOUR BLACK FRIEND AND OTHER STRANGERS, by Ben Passmore. (Silver Sprocket, $20.) Passmore, a young artist who cut his teeth in the anarchist punk scene of New Orleans, draws on the daily stress of his encounters with white people in this graphic novel collecting his recent strips. LOULOU AND YVES: The Untold Story of Loulou de La Falaise and the House of Saint Laurent, by Christopher Petkanas. (St. Martin's, $45.) This flashy, gossip-packed oral history details how de La Falaise changed fashion as muse to Yves Saint Laurent. THE FOREST, by Ricardo Bozzi. Translated by Debbie Bibo. Illustrated by Violeta Lopiz and Valerio Vidali. (Enchanted Lion, $25.95; ages 4 and up.) This oversize picture book, with beautiful die-cut pages, follows explorers through a forest at once literal and existential. The full reviews of these and other recent books are on the web: nytimes.com/books .
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [September 16, 2018]
Review by Booklist Review
The author of Salt (2002) and Cod (1997) tackles another staple food in this chatty history of milk and some of the many products made from it. He makes a convincing case that milk, both that produced by human mothers and that supplied by a surprising array of other mammals, is one of the most controversial foodstuffs around. On the human front, he discusses thousands of years of debate as to whether breastfeeding or formula is preferable, sidetracking into the role of wet nurses over the ages. In the animal kingdom, he explores why cows have become the preferred source of milk and ventures into more recent controversies, such as whether organic milk is superior. Cheese, yogurt, and ice cream receive rapt attention, and Kurlansky indulges in dozens of recipes, both palatable (Jamaican banana ice cream) and less so (pudding in wine and guts and Richard Nixon's infamous recipe for cottage cheese mixed with ketchup). Kurlansky's wide-ranging curiosity makes a familiar topic seem exotic.--Quamme, Margaret Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Kurlansky's entertaining, fast-paced history of milk exhibits his usual knack for plumbing the depths of a single subject (Cod, Salt). He shares a series of anecdotes on the evolution of milk's production and consumption, as well as on its roles in various cultures, such as in ancient Greece-according to Greek mythology, the goddess Hera formed the Milky Way galaxy when she spilled milk while breastfeeding Heracles, and each drop became a star. Many Sumerian stories involve the search for a reliable milking animal, and Hindu creation myths tell of the god Vishnu creating the universe by churning a sea of milk. Kurlansky points out that every milk-drinking culture searched for the animals that provided the best source of milk-mares, pigs, reindeer, donkeys, camels-but that the most important issue for each culture was finding which milk-producing animals could be domesticated easiest. By the 16th century, the Netherlands had become the dairying center of Europe; the Dutch and others brought cows with them to America, and by 1629 cows outnumbered people in the Virginia colony. He ranges over the history of making milk safe, the ongoing debate between the benefits of raw milk versus pasteurized milk, and the growth of large, industrialized dairy farms. Kurlansky's charming history of milk brims with excellent stories and great details. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by Library Journal Review
Kurlansky (Salt: A World History), a James Beard Award-winning writer, continues his exploration of food with a thorough study of milk, "the most argued-over food in human history." Covering numerous civilizations and geographic locations over thousands of years, Kurlansky shows how various cultures produced, cooked, consumed, and thought about milk and the significant role it has played in history. Readers will uncover the reasons behind the constant rise and fall of the beverage's popularity (the Romans thought consumption was barbaric), the plethora of animals that humans have utilized to produce milk (from camels to cows), and the numerous foods made using milk. The author also ties in subjects such as religion, breastfeeding and wet nursing, and socioeconomics and gender roles. While this work's primary focus is history, Kurlansky does touch on current topics, including milk safety regulations, production, and even lactose intolerance. Also included is a mixture of 126 historical and contemporary recipes. VERDICT A fascinating and comprehensive book that will keep readers engaged and entertained. The recipes, especially those on the historical side, are a unique and complimentary addition. Will appeal to both foodies and readers of world history. Highly recommended.-David Miller, Farmville P.L., NC © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A wide-ranging history of a surprisingly controversial form of nourishment.Milk, from humans and a variety of animals, is the subject of the latest enthusiastic investigation by the prolific Kurlansky (Paper: Paging Through History, 2016, etc.), winner of the James Beard Award and Bon Appetit's Food Writer of the Year Award, among other accolades. For 10,000 years, milk has been "the most argued-over food in human history," the author asserts, with experts opining about whether milk was fit for human consumption, whether babies should be breast-fed (and by whom--their own mothers or wet nurses), which mammal produced the best milk, whether milk should be pasteurized and homogenized, how cows should be raised and milked, and what effects such interventions as hormones, antibiotics, and genetically modified crops have on the milk we consume. Although many cultures feature milk-based creation myths, breast-feeding has long been a source of contention. Excavations of ancient Roman gravesites have turned up baby milk bottles, indicating that some babies were artificially fed. In the Middle Ages, artificial feeding was common, with numerous recipes for baby formulas; in 1816, one writer advised that babies should be suckled on goats, setting off a trend throughout Europe. Also popular was the employment of wet nurses, who often became live-in domestics. The choice of wet nurse was not simple: Many believed that the baby would inherit the nurse's disposition and traits; one doctor recommended that "a brunette with her first child, which should be a boy" made the ideal wet nurse. Especially in cities, spoilage, unclean udders, and unsanitary dairies caused illness and a great number of infant deaths. Pasteurization was a solution, but consumers complained about the taste. Debate about the safety of raw milk, much prized by cheese makers and organic farmers, still rages. Kurlansky looks at the production of milk and its uses in liquid and solid form (yogurt, butter, cheese, ice cream, pudding) around the world throughout history and into the present.Chock-full of fascinating details and more than 100 recipes.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
