Hear the crack of gunfire and the boom of cannons at the Lake County Forest Preserves’ 23rd annual Civil War Days. Visitors of all ages are invited to explore the military and civilian camps to learn about life in the 1860s. Continue reading
The Last Supper: Final Meals of U.S. Death Row Inmates
An art installation by Julie Green, Professor at Oregon State University
(Julie Green will not be present at our tour.)
For 15 years, Julie Green has painted images of death row inmates’ last meal requests in cobalt blue mineral paint onto second-hand ceramic plates. She intends to continue making 50 plates per year until capital punishment is abolished. Continue reading
Starving the South: How the North Won the Civil War
From the first shot fired at Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861, to the last shot fired at Appomattox, food played a crucial role in the Civil War. The North mobilized its agricultural resources; the South did not. As a result, the North fed its civilians and military, and still had massive amounts of food to export toEurope, while the South starved, morale tanked, and desertions increased. The Confederacy collapsed because it couldn’t feed its armies.
Andrew F. Smith, is the author or editor of twenty-six books, including his latest Sugar: A Global History (Reaktion, April 2015). Mr. Smith was also the editor of The Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America. He has written more than five hundred articles in academic journals, popular magazines and newspapers, and has served as a consultant to several television series, including the recent six-episode series, “Eat: The Story of Food,” that aired on the National Geographic Channel in the fall of 2014. For more about him, visit his website: www.andrewfsmith.com
Recorded live at the Highland Park Library on June 20, 2015.
The Not Always Sweet History of Sugar
Presented by Andrew F. Smith, Author/Editor
Sugar has been on our minds for millennia. First cultivated in New Guinea around ten thousand years ago, and extremely expensive until the Industrial Revolution, this addictive sweetener has come to dominate our appetites—whether in candy, desserts, soft drinks, processed food, or even pasta sauces. Continue reading
Hot Dog Chicago: Circa 1983 and Thereafter
Presented by Richard Bowen, PhD, writer, psychologist
The hot dog is undoubtedly more American than apple pie and Chicago has for many years been the hot dog capital of the United States. Dr. Rich Bowen is author of Hot Dog Chicago (1983) a book that offered reviews of 150 hot dog stands. Continue reading