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Memoir

Searching for meaning, loaf by loaf

Review by Samuel Putnam

In 52 Loaves, William Alexander, an IT manager and amateur baker, recounts a year spent trying to bake the “perfect“ loaf of bread. Alexander, author of The $64 Tomato, takes the reader on a quest that involves growing his own wheat, building a brick oven in his backyard and traveling to a yeast factory in Canada, a commercial wheat mill, a communal oven in Morocco and, ultimately, a French monastery, where he teaches the monks to make their own bread.

Alexander, who is a funny and likable writer, tells us a great deal about the history of bread, the process of making commercial yeast, and one courageous doctor’s fight against a disease called pellagra, which killed hundreds of thousands of people during the Great Depression and has now been vanquished by the simple addition of niacin to bread. But while 52 Loaves is in one sense a book about bread, it is really the story of a middle-aged man discovering a need for spiritual meaning in his life—a need that is entwined with, and perhaps even supersedes, his quest for the ultimate loaf. Though the sections of the book are named after the seven daily services of the monastic ritual, Alexander does not return to the Christian faith of his grandparents. He does, however, come away with a renewed appreciation for the value of a spiritual life, and he learns that “the only thing more unsettling than having your faith shaken is having your lack of faith shaken.”

If you are looking for a book that will teach you how to make a great loaf of bread, 52 Loaves is probably not the place to start; Alexander does include some detailed recipes at the end of the book, but it is not meant to be manual for bakers. Instead, it is a very engaging and well-written book about the lessons that a smart and sensitive person learned from trying to do something as well as possible—and that is a story always worth reading.

In 52 Loaves, William Alexander, an IT manager and amateur baker, recounts a year spent trying to bake the “perfect“ loaf of bread. Alexander, author of The $64 Tomato, takes the reader on a quest that involves growing his own wheat, building a brick oven in his backyard and traveling to a yeast factory in […]
LifestylesCrafts, Hobbies & Home

Living off the grid teaches valuable lessons

Review by Heather Seggel

William Powers spent a decade doing international aid work in Latin America and Africa among people who live at the very edge of subsistence. When he came back to the U.S. he was depressed and overwhelmed by the disposable excesses of American culture, and uncertain how to adapt. In the midst of this crisis he heard about a physician, Dr. Jackie Benton, who took herself off the grid, moving into a 12-foot-by-12-foot cabin in rural North Carolina and giving up electricity, running water and all but $11,000 of her six-figure salary. Intrigued by this voluntary austerity, Powers finagles an invitation to the property, then an offer to stay there solo through the springtime while Dr. Benton is traveling.

The 12 x 12 itself is a fascinating space, situated in the midst of the doctor’s permaculture garden near the shore of No Name Creek. With its raincatchers, composting toilet, sleep loft and little shelf of books, it’s an eco-fantasy come true. There are other people living off the land on nearby parcels, and their stories overlap as Powers finds his way around. From the homeschooling family who escaped a drug-laden trailer park to try their hand at organic farming to an undocumented Latino furniture maker, cultures rub up against one another, sometimes uncomfortably, among these people who want to “get away from it all,” but each for different reasons.

Twelve by Twelve is a fascinating look at a subculture making positive changes in the world, but the book is not without faults. The decision to organize it in two sections of 12 chapters each feels gimmicky and adds little to the reader’s experience. Powers also changed facts about Dr. Benton’s identity to protect her privacy, but it’s unclear how much of the information about her neighbors has been altered, which becomes worrisome when they occasionally hew to stereotype. Hardest of all, Powers refers endlessly to the 12 x 12, and what it taught him to “live 12 x 12,” and what “Jackie’s wisdom” imparted to him, but he doesn’t give us enough firsthand access to those insights to be able to judge them for ourselves. His lectures feel a little disingenuous when he’s biking into town for lattes or shopping at the expensive co-op. Still, for those unfamiliar with the permaculture lifestyle, this is a lovely introduction to its philosophies and principles, and a hopeful story as well.

Heather Seggel reads and writes in Ukiah, California.

 

William Powers spent a decade doing international aid work in Latin America and Africa among people who live at the very edge of subsistence. When he came back to the U.S. he was depressed and overwhelmed by the disposable excesses of American culture, and uncertain how to adapt. In the midst of this crisis he […]
HistoryBlack History

A moving account of one pivotal summer

Review by Ron Wynn

While the history of America’s civil rights movement contains many glittering tales of triumph, there were also several episodes filled with tragedy and sacrifice. Bruce Watson’s fine, valuable new volume Freedom Summer: The Savage Season That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy focuses on one key period in 1964. This was a time when progress had been slowed and there were serious doubts about whether the effort to eradicate legal segregation in the South and secure genuine citizenship for its black residents could be won. Against that backdrop, Watson’s book eschews romanticism and outlines in exacting detail the opposition and hatred civil rights workers faced in Mississippi, the state that historically had both the largest black population and the ugliest record of oppression.

Freedom Summer focuses on the contributions of the 700 college students who came from the North, the West and the Midwest over that key three-month period to assist in voter registration and education. They were idealistic, committed to progressive ideals of social justice and freedom, and determined to make a difference. Yet on the first night they arrived, three of their members—Michael Schwerner, Andrew Goodman and James Chaney—disappeared and were later found murdered. Their deaths brought international attention to the state, finally got the FBI seriously involved in fighting the campaign of violence and terror that had been waged against both black and white civil rights workers for years, and steeled the resolve of such famous types as Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Bob Moses and Fannie Lou Hamer.

But the book also depicts the contributions of lesser-known names—courageous figures such as newspaper publisher and editorial writer Hazel Brannon Smith of the Lexington Advertiser, whose anti-lynching and pro-civil rights commentary made her the first woman to win a Pulitzer for editorial writing, and eager volunteers like Amherst student Chris Williams, who would have preferred to spend his summer surfing, but instead risked his life alerting black Mississippians about their rights to vote.

Watson’s work documents the Freedom Summer structure from the registration stations and Freedom Schools established in sharecropper shacks to the tactical debates, political struggles and the eventual victory the students and workers helped achieve. It was a period when citizens of good will put aside differences in color and background and came together on a quest for justice. But the civil rights victory, and its impact on every other human rights movement of the late 20th century, did not come easily. Freedom Summer reveals the costs and losses as well as the inspirational wins, and it offers a moving and unforgettable testament to human courage and conviction.

While the history of America’s civil rights movement contains many glittering tales of triumph, there were also several episodes filled with tragedy and sacrifice. Bruce Watson’s fine, valuable new volume Freedom Summer: The Savage Season That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America a Democracy focuses on one key period in 1964. This was a time when progress […]
Travel

The Dead Travel Fast

Review by bookpagedev

Eric Nuzum drank his own blood as part of his research for The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula that’s all you need to know. Nuzum feeds our vampire obsession pointing out, for example, that there are 605 vampire movies in existence with his first-hand impressions of Romanian tours, Vegas reviews and the truth of Dracula’s origins.

Eric Nuzum drank his own blood as part of his research for The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula that’s all you need to know. Nuzum feeds our vampire obsession pointing out, for example, that there are 605 vampire movies in existence with his first-hand impressions of Romanian tours, Vegas reviews […]
Religion & Spirituality

When Ghosts Speak

Review by bookpagedev

Mary Ann Winkowski, consultant to CBS’s Ghost Whisperer, sees dead people and willingly talks with them. She helps disruptive spirits move on from their earthbound states. In the intriguing When Ghosts Speak, Winkowski looks into humanity, the afterlife and the relationship between the two. One part spooky, one part inspirational and all-around fascinating, it makes for a spine-tingling read.

Mary Ann Winkowski, consultant to CBS’s Ghost Whisperer, sees dead people and willingly talks with them. She helps disruptive spirits move on from their earthbound states. In the intriguing When Ghosts Speak, Winkowski looks into humanity, the afterlife and the relationship between the two. One part spooky, one part inspirational and all-around fascinating, it makes […]
Nature

Everything under the sun and stars

Review by bookpagedev

They say a great painting shows you an ordinary scene a pasture you pass on your way to work every day, for instance and suddenly makes you see it as if for the first time. Michael Sims’ Apollo’s Fire: A Day on Earth in Nature and Imagination shows us something we’ve seen thousands of times: one day in the life of planet Earth. Starting at dawn and proceeding through morning, afternoon, twilight and the witching hours of night, Sims writes in often poetic detail about the natural phenomena that shape our days: the sun, the Moon, atmospheric particles that absorb and reflect light, and so on.

Sims’ inquiries into the alternating dance of light and dark that plays upon our heavens reflects his wide range of interests and formidable reading schedule, as previously demonstrated in Adam’s Navel and Darwin’s Orchestra. One moment, he’s quoting Charles Darwin, then next Vladimir Nabokov. While teaching his readers about the sun, clouds, contrails, rainbows, the rotation of the Earth and Moon, Sims veers freely from science to mythology, from the discoveries of cavemen to the speculations of science fiction. The myth he loves most is that of Phaethon, the teenage son of sun god Apollo. Phaethon is famous as the boy whose outsized ambitions far outstripped his abilities. Anxious to prove himself Apollo’s true heir, he insists on driving the horse-powered sun chariot despite Apollo’s strong misgivings. When the immortal wild horses prove far too unruly for Phaethon’s limited charioting skills, he endangers not only himself but also the entire planet. Sims’ beautiful retelling of the Phaethon story forms a bass note which ties the various themes of Apollo’s Fire together. The story of Phaethon usefully binds a modern scientific understanding of our days to the intuited poetic understanding of ancient writers. Although hydrogen and helium do exist and Apollo and his chariot do not, Sims writes, it is beginning to look as if mythology has not overstated the sun’s importance neither its generosity nor its tantrums. The scientific evidence indicates that the sun’s royal position in the mythological hierarchy makes perfect sense.

They say a great painting shows you an ordinary scene a pasture you pass on your way to work every day, for instance and suddenly makes you see it as if for the first time. Michael Sims’ Apollo’s Fire: A Day on Earth in Nature and Imagination shows us something we’ve seen thousands of times: […]

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