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Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | 633.15 FUS | Searching... Unknown |
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Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Fussell ( Food in Good Season ) documents the history of corn on many levels in this well-researched book. As food, fertility symbol, genetic marvel, and subject of ancient myths, corn is one of the oldest food staples and a truly American food source. And because the author covers so much material, it's best to approach The Story of Corn bit by bit to avoid being overwhelmed. While it's fun to read about the history of popcorn (popcorn poppers dating back to A.D. 100 have been found in Peru), it's downright fascinating to read about what corn meant to native North and South Americans. Apparently corn was used in everything from funerals to birth rituals; corn images are embedded in the Hopi language. Fussell even tracked down a retired moonshiner to find out how corn was used to make corn whiskey and its more socially acceptable cousins, bourbon and Peruvian chicha . The author, descended from Nebraska farmers for whom corn was a mainstay, weaves her family's history into the larger saga. And along the way, she unfortunately consorts with some rather highfalutinok language (``The migration of my ancestors was across continents, up and away from the earth navel of fallen man. My own journey had been down . . . into the darkness of seeds and roots to find my dead mother and her mothers . . . in the womb not of Eden but of Mother Earth''). But the volume is otherwise so absorbing and well written that she's easily forgiven. Photos not seen by PW. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
Fussell (Food in Good Season, 1988, etc.) has steeped herself in corn lore and emerged with this encyclopedic entry on that sustaining American grain in myth, ritual, history, science and technology, breeding and cultivation, industry, processing, and cookery (not recipes, just a survey)--with a chapter on corn whiskey thrown in and an interweaving of personal root-claiming by way of a Nebraska grandfather. Fussell has clearly done a good deal of research and a lot of traveling--peering over a precipice at Machu Picchu, descending into a restored ceremonial kiva of the Anasazi people in New Mexico, visiting the sole surviving corn palace from the Midwest boosters' glory days of a century ago--but her prose fails to vivify the scenes she's visited, and, without any argument or added insights, her research reports have a secondhand, summarizing quality. Still, the labor and immersion are evident, and libraries should find uses for Fussell's odd compilation. (Photographs- -150--and line drawings--100--not seen.)
Booklist Review
Fussell has written several books about American cuisine, including Home Plates [BKL Je 15 90] and I Hear America Cooking [BKL S 1 86], but her latest goes much further back in time and deeper into the heart of America's indigenous food culture. Corn has been sustaining native Americans for at least 7,000 years; indeed, "the life cycle of maize was the great metaphor of Mayan life." Fussell draws upon the annals of botany, anthropology, archaeology, and agriculture to illuminate the profound spiritual and essential nutritional roles corn played in the lives of the Pueblo Indians, Incas, Maya, and Aztecs, and later, the white settlers in North America's corn belt. Creation myths and the connections between corn, cannibalism, and civilization are all lucidly explained, as are various ancient and modern methods of planting, harvesting, and preparation. Fussell celebrates the marvelous versatility of corn and its growers' infinite inventiveness over the centuries in descriptions of dozens of dishes from piki--the original cornflakes--to tamales, grits, and fermented drinks such as chicha and moonshine, on up to the "Great Corn Conversion Chain," which has found "hidden" uses for corn in the production of meat, starch, and countless synthetics. Fussell's creative, fact-filled, and enthusiastic study of corn does nothing less than illuminate the entire cultural spectrum of the Americas. ~--Donna Seaman
Library Journal Review
Like a modern variety of Zea mays , this book is a sophisticated hybrid, a skillful blend of history, science, art, and anthropology. Written in a lively and nontechnical style, with 150 photographs and 100 line drawings, it is an accessible, handsome volume. Fussell, food journalist, historian of foodways, and author of cookbooks, including the highly recommended Food in Good Season ( LJ 9/15/88), is known as a likeable and knowledgeable writer. These qualities are evident in this tour de force about corn, covering every aspect of this important commodity and offering an extensive bibliography. Anyone reading all or a substantial portion of this book will never pass a cornfield again in quite the same way. Recommended.-- Richard Shotwell, Hancock Shaker Village, Pittsfield, Mass. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| A Babel of Corn |
| Seeds of Life |
| The Daily Round |
| Flesh and Blood |
| The Sacred Round |
| Closing the Circle |
| Index |
