United States Books - Page 5

Red, White, and Brew: An American Beer Odyssey

Brian Yaeger

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Subjects -> Travel -> United States -> Regions -> General AAS

Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Inspiring, but definitely not a tasting guide! 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 1 people found this review helpful.

As I make my way through Red, White and Brew I'm struck by how many fascinating stories there are to be told by those who make the beer we all love to drink. The strength of this book is in the history and perspectives of those personalities that Yaeger interviews along his journey through my neighbouring country to the south. (Yes, I am a Canadian who loves a good American microbrew.)

It's important to realize you won't learn much from this book about which beer you should be bringing home from the corner store; you will, however, uncover a ton of history about the brewery that made that beer, the people behind it, the business ups and downs, the process, and the blood sweat and tears that go into every bottle... uh, figuratively that is.

But the main takeaway for me was a new appreciation for how democratic beer can be. The Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors of the world might prefer you to believe that beer must come from large breweries, but the people in Red White and Brew all started down their various paths with a very different idea in mind. Beer is what you make of it, and for someone with a passion, putting *good* beer in the fridge is something you can always do for yourself. It just takes one trip down to the local homebrew store, and you're on your way.

As I've already warned my girlfriend, the day may arrive where I come home with a few bags of malt and hops, and start putting into practice the ideas I now have percolating in my mind thanks to Red, White and Brew.

Editorial Review:

Red, White, and Brew is the ultimate beer run across the United States, during which Brian Yaeger visits fourteen breweries of various sizes and talks to founders, owners, brewmasters, consumers, and anyone else he meets on his odyssey and who enjoys the making, tasting, and appreciating of brews.

Red, White, and Brew pursues the roots of brewers who brought their craft with them from their homeland and investigates how the tradition is faring today and where it may head in the future. Covering everything from fifth-generation family-run brewing companies to first-wave microbreweries, this book is a travelogue, guide, and genealogical study of beer families and homebrewers from Portland, Maine, to Portland, Oregon. It is filled with eclectic characters and shrewd businesspeople who populate an industry as old as the New World, and who produce liquid philanthropy, one keg at a time.

Hamburger America: One Man's Cross-Country Odyssey to Find the Best Burgers in the Nation [DVD]

George M. Motz

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 6 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

George Motz is an American Hero! 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

I love this book! I've been obsessed with Hamburger America since I saw the documentary on the Sundance Channel. The documentary makes most of the content tackling similar subjects on the Travel Channel, Food Network, History Channel, etc., seem like insipid, dumbed-down crap. It is beautiful to watch the small-time, low-key purveyors of American tradition talk about the simplicity of what they do. The book is a great read, with beautiful photographs and loving tributes to a vanishing America that's rapidly becoming standardized, corporate-ized,bland-ized, Wal-Martized, Starbucksized, Bush-ized, and stupid-ized. I keep it on my bedside.

I am tempted to take off a star because this sampling of American tradition was actually printed IN CHINA! Nothing against the Chinese, but this seems sad, in a way.

Reading the book and watching the video makes me hungry, but if you eat enough of this stuff, it will probably kill you.

Editorial Review:

Whether you're an armchair traveler, a serious hamburger connoisseur, or a curious adventurer up for a road trip, Hamburger America will be your guide to reclaiming this precious slice of Americana.

No other food says "America" like the hamburger, and documentary filmmaker George Motz has made it his personal mission to save our nation's unique burger identity. He has traveled across the country in search of the best burger joints - those that have survived outside the fast-food mainstream - and has documented their rich histories and one-of-a-kind taste experiences.

This edition of the book includes George Motz's 1 hour documentary "Hamburger America" that profiles 8 burger joints across the USA.

Road Trip USA: Cross-Country Adventures on America's Two-Lane Highways.

Jamie Jensen

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 46 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

An Indispensable Guide 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

I recently completed a series of road trips around the U.S. with one of my children. We found Road Trip USA to be an indispensable guide to each section of the country we visited. The book was full of accurate recommendations and suggestions of what to see and what to avoid.

Editorial Review:

Now in its expanded fourth edition, the best-selling Road Trip USA is better than ever. Inside you’ll find cross-country routes and road-tested advice for adventurers who want to see part of America that the interstates have left behind. Mile-by-mile highlights celebrate major cities, obscure towns, popular attractions, roadside curiosities (if you’re looking for the world’s largest jackalope, you’re in luck), local lore, and oddball trivia. Exit the interstates and create your own driving adventures on America's two-land scenic highways. Features include a flexible network of route combinations, extensively cross-referenced to allow for hundreds of possible itineraries; essential tips for the road: call letters of lively radio stations, Survival Guides for two dozen cities, and details on where to eat and sleep; and more than 140 meticulously detailed maps.

The Best Things to Do in New York City: 1001 Ideas

Caitlin Leffel, Jacob Lehman

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

What are 1001 things you should treat yourself and your guests to in New York City? Be serenaded by Cole Porter's piano at the Waldorf, or hear Woody Allen play clarinet at the Carlyle. Drink champagne on the roof of the Metropolitan Museum, or discover the abandoned subway station at City Hall. Eat at America's very first pizzeria, or enjoy the most expensive cocktail in the country at the World Bar. Ride the Staten Island Ferry, or ride a bike through Central Park. Go surfing out at Rockaway Beach, or relax in a Russian bath in the East Village . . . . Organized by theme—including Eating and Drinking, 24-hour New York, Shopping and Spending, Arts and Culture, Views and Sites, the Great Outdoors, and Classic New York—and packed with detailed, helpful indexes organized by neighborhood and by category, this is simply the most fun and comprehensive guidebook to New York City ever. New York Unlimited crosses genres and boroughs to explore every aspect of the most diverse and exciting city in the world. Written from experience by two people who love the city, and featuring priceless tips from expert contributors—from authors on their favorite bookstores to architects on the city's best buildings—New York Unlimited is much more than just a guide.

Travels with Charley in Search of America: (Centennial Edition)

John Steinbeck

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 188 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

State of the Nation 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

In Travels with Charley, Steinbeck is on a journey to discover if he still knows the country he memorializes in almost all of his other works. Steinbeck manages to express in this memoir of his journey through America a whole host of emotions that many of us still feel today, a conflicting love for our country and disgust with our countrymen, appreciation for our past and worries about what we have become. Like all of his best works, the writing is natural, warm, and often funny. This is a beautiful book that captures America, both the good and the bad, in it's pages.

can't get much better than a Steinbeck 4 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Steinbeck's Travels with Charley was his last book I believe. This is a memoir of John Steinbeck's drive from Long Island, New York to the tip of Maine to California and back to Long Island. Of course it's well written, as you'd expect from any Nobel Prize winner in Literature, but it also captures that turbulent time in the early 1960s when Martin Luther King Jr. was trying to achieve Civil Rights and Khrushchev was banging his shoe in the United Nations.

Editorial Review:

With his dog Charley, John Steinbeck set out in his truck to explore and experience America in the 1960s. As he talked with all kinds of people, he sadly noted the passing of region speech, fell in love with Montana, and was appalled by racism in New Orleans.

Not For Tourists Guide 2009 to New York City (Not for Tourists: New York City)

Jane Pirone

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

NYC A&E Recommends 5 out of 5 stars.
5 of 5 people found this review helpful.

From nycartsandentertainment.com
What attracted me first to the Not For Tourists Guide to New York City (2009 now on-sale) was, frankly, protecting my status as a New Yorker. OK, so I'm a transplant and maybe on permanently shaky ground, but nonetheless here 20 years and I still want to know everything I can about the city I love. Other guidebooks may help you know the city by suggesting "Walk north up Fifth Avenue from Rock Center and pass big-name stores like Saks Fifth Avenue, Henri Bendel, the NBA Store, Tiffany & Co., Cartier, Bergdorf Goodman, FAO Schwarz, and The Apple Store. You'll also see Trump Tower from the popular Apprentice TV series" (Frommer's), but I've already got the 101 material under my belt. I understand such guides serve an essential purpose (and I've used more than my fair share in other locales), but here my interest was piqued by the "sightseers verboten" selling point of the NFT Guide. It seemed to promise that I wouldn't have to hear about The Apprentice.

What was also on my mind before I dipped into the handbook was the question of whether the ancient technology of a book (instead of the internet via my pda, laptop, or desktop) was still the way to go. I love books as much as ever, but this kind of reference material was supposed to be the first casualty in the book's alleged decline.

So, I got started, took it with me as I walked to work, on the weekend when I went out with the wife & kids, kept it at the ready on my bedside table. Let me first say, regarding the "Tourists Need Not Apply" aspect, it's wonderful for any kind of user, whether you take pride of ownership over the City or not. On my second question, it simply is richer and more helpful than information you could try to cobble together in an hour at your computer, plus it can answer the unexpected questions that arise when you're on the town. Its size makes it almost as portable as my Treo and it is made with durable covers and an elastic band (to bookmark or keep it neatly compact). The interior contains full color maps and charts.

There are detailed street maps for all Manhattan, parts of Queens and Brooklyn, and Hoboken and Jersey City. All other areas (including the Bronx and Staten Island) are covered more quickly and with broader maps. The thorough maps cover the city in a grid format, with (for example) Map 14 detailing the Upper West side from West 59th to West 86th, Central Park to the Hudson. Accompanying Map 14 (and every other map) are lists of essentials in the neighborhood, be it coffee stops, banks, farmer's markets (with schedule), 24-hour pharmacies, hardware stores, etc. This aspect of including "points of interest" that relate to daily life is what especially makes this a city dweller's guide.

After the neighborhood break-down, there are themed sections on Parks, Sports, Transit, "General Information" (again, with resident-friendly information, such as locations for post offices, hospitals, libraries, FedEx, and Wi-Fi hotspots), and Arts & Entertainment (restaurants, shopping essentials, and museums, among others).

OK, so it's comprehensive and user friendly, which is reason enough to recommend it for you and your out-of-towner guests. But one particular reason I really like this guide is that it's a great source of information about what I'm looking at, walking by, and living near. On my shelf at home I have a copy of The Encyclopedia of New York City by Kenneth T. Jackson which I frequently consult at random or on a particular question. Though it's obviously not the case that the NFT Guide could supplant that kind of resource, it helped me experience the city with a similar spirit of discovery. It gives basic information about the city's history. It made me realize that I could go by the Old Police Headquarters while easily making a stop at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory, and helped me figure out the names (and other details) of buildings I walk by several times a week. The information is necessarily brief, but the Not For Tourists NYC Guide for 2009 really opens up so much of the city that may have been hidden to you, whether it is of a practical, intellectual, cultural, or entertaining nature. Who would have thought that such brevity could unlock such richness? --Thomas Murphy, News Director
www.nycartsandentertainment.com

Editorial Review:

Not for Tourists guidebooks are map-based, neighbourhood by neighbourhood guides designed to lighten the load of already street-savvy residents, commuters, business travellers, and yes, tourists too. Each map is marked with user-friendly icons identifying the services and entertainment centres that you look for as you make your way through town: everything from post offices, car parks, restaurants, bars, DIY stores and gyms to information on hotels, airports, public transport and parks. Whether you're a seasoned resident, a returning visitor, relocating, or someone who is completely new in town, Not for Tourists guidebooks help you make the most of your time in the city, while you're in it.

Route 66: The Mother Road 75th Anniversary Edition

Michael Wallis

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 28 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Take the trip! 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Everything you would like to know about Route 66. This book and it's author served as the main source of infromation & inspiration for the Disney/Pixar classic animated movie "Cars". A must have for the motoring history buff.

Makes Route 66 come alive 5 out of 5 stars.
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As a child my family traveled between Tucson and NW Missouri over a number of years to visit relatives. I vividly remember neon signs, interesting signs, gas stations and diners along the way. This book made those memories come alive. The author brings in the history behind place names and the stories of the colorful and interesting people who created the various attractions along Route 66. I don't know when I have enjoyed reading a book more than this one. Michael Wallis, thank you.

Editorial Review:

America's Main Street is celebration, Michael Wallis hit the road again, revisiting people and
places that made the Mother Road on American icon, and uncovering new treasures. A love
letter and a tribute, Route 66: The Mother Road takes us on an unforgettable journey through
the secret corners and hidden towns of America's most famous and beloved highway.

Over the Edge: Death in Grand Canyon

Michael P. Ghiglieri, Thomas M. Myers

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 93 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Should be Required Reading 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

Although it sounds a bit morbid, this book is a very good read. There is a good mix of entertaining anecdotes and statistical analysis. The authors delve into the root causes and chains of events that have led to the hundreds of deaths in the canyon and really drive home the point that people make the same mistakes over and over and over again. If you are thinking about hiking, backpacking, or rafting in the canyon, I highly reccomend reading this book first - it will help you make the right decisions about your time in the canyon.

Editorial Review:

Gripping accounts of all known fatal mishaps in the most famous of the World's Seven Natural Wonders.

Two veterans of decades of adventuring in Grand Canyon chronicle the first complete and comprehensive history of Canyon misadventures. These episodes span the entire era of visitation from the time of the first river exploration by John Wesley Powell and his crew of 1869 to that of tourists falling off its rims in Y2K.

These accounts of the 550 people who have met untimely deaths in the Canyon set a new high water mark for offering the most astounding array of adventures, misadventures, and life saving lessons published between any two covers. Over the Edge promises to be the most intense yet informative book on Grand Canyon ever written.

The Lincoln Highway: Coast to Coast from Times Square to the Golden Gate

Michael Wallis

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

The best-selling author of Route 66 and a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer celebrate America's first transcontinental highway in all its neon glory.

It began in 1913 with a glorious new highway—stretching across 3,389 miles and 13 states—that connected the bright lights of Broadway with the foggy shores of San Francisco. It was a magnificent and meandering road that enticed millions of newly motoring Americans to hop into their Model Ts and explore the fading frontier. The Lincoln Highway. It was the road of Gettysburg, Pretty Boy Floyd, Notre Dame, the Great Salt Lake, and the Gold Rush Trail. Once a symbol of limitless potential, it is now undergoing (as Route 66 did twenty years ago) a miraculous revival. With hundreds of new and rare photographs provided by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Michael S. Williamson, this ode to a bygone era guides us across the true spine of the country, exploring vintage diners, Art Deco buildings, and funky roadside attractions, all waiting to be discovered. 300 color illustrations.

Tales of the Road: Highway 61

Cathy Wurzer

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Editorial Review:

Highway 61 traces approximately 440 miles through Minnesota, from Pigeon Falls at the Canadian border south to La Crescent. Along the way, the road hugs the North Shore, zips through St. Paul, and navigates bluffs along the Mississippi River. While places such as Split Rock Lighthouse or Sugar Loaf Mountain offer well-documented stopping-off points, observant travelers may wonder about historic buildings , abandoned sites, and decaying structures they see along the way.

In this companion book to a new Twin Cities Public Television documentary also called Tales of the Road (airing in November 2008), Cathy Wurzer unearths stories about these places and more as she travels down the road and into the past, spotlighting famous and fascinating locations, many of them little remembered today. Learn about bootleggers crossing the St. Croix by ferry or importing hooch from Canada onboard vessels designed in White Bear Lake. Visualize--or maybe even visit--the quaint tourist cabins, supper clubs, and lodges that served tourists who began motoring up the road in the 1920s. Take stock of historic and current industries: Russ Kendall's Smokehouse in Knife River, a rutabaga plant in Willow River, the pottery factory in Red Wing. Each tale is illustrated with historic and current views to show how much-or how little-Highway 61 has changed. Here's one road trip you won't want to miss!

Cathy Wurzer is host of Morning Edition on Minnesota Public Radio and cohost of Almanac on Twin Cities Public Television. She has been honored with four Emmys for her work on Almanac.