Depicts artifacts and objects from the collections of the various museums of the Smithsonian Institution that honor the human impulses of discovery, imagination, and memory

A classic text about the social study of food, this is the first English language edition of Jean-Pierre Poulain's seminal work. Tracing the history of food scholarship, The Sociology of Food provides an overview of sociological theory and its relevance to the field of food. Divided into two parts, Poulain begins by exploring the continuities and changes in the modern diet. From the effect of globalization on food production and supply, to evolving cultural responses to food – including cooking and eating practices, the management of consumer anxieties, and concerns over obesity and the medicalization of food – the first part examines how changing food practices have shaped and are shaped by wider social trends. The second part provides an overview of the emergence of food as an academic focus for sociologists and anthropologists. Revealing the obstacles that lay in the way of this new field of study, Poulain shows how the discipline was first established and explains its development over the last forty years. Destined to become a key text for students and scholars, The Sociology of Food makes a major contribution to food studies and sociology. This edition features a brand new chapter focusing on the development of food studies in the English-speaking world and a preface, specifically written for the edition.

Preserving New York is the largely unknown inspiring story of the origins of New York City’s nationally acclaimed landmarks law. The decades of struggle behind the law, its intellectual origins, the men and women who fought for it, the forces that shaped it, and the buildings lost and saved on the way to its ultimate passage, span from 1913 to 1965. Intended for the interested public as well as students of New York City history, architecture, and preservation itself, over 100 illustrations help reveal a history richer and more complex than the accepted myth that the landmarks law sprang from the wreckage of the great Pennsylvania Station. Images include those by noted historic photographers as well as those from newspaper accounts of the time. Forgotten civic leaders such as Albert S. Bard and lost buildings including the Brokaw Mansions, are unveiled in an extensively researched narrative bringing this essential episode in New York’s history to future generations tasked with protecting the city’s landmarks. For the first time, the story of how New York won the right to protect its treasured buildings, neighborhoods and special places is brought together to enjoy, inform, and inspire all who love New York.

Drawing on a wealth of new evidence from all sides, Triumph Forsaken, first published in 2007, overturns most of the historical orthodoxy on the Vietnam War. Through the analysis of international perceptions and power, it shows that South Vietnam was a vital interest of the United States. The book provides many insights into the overthrow of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in 1963 and demonstrates that the coup negated the South Vietnamese government's tremendous, and hitherto unappreciated, military and political gains between 1954 and 1963. After Diem's assassination, President Lyndon Johnson had at his disposal several aggressive policy options that could have enabled South Vietnam to continue the war without a massive US troop infusion, but he ruled out these options because of faulty assumptions and inadequate intelligence, making such an infusion the only means of saving the country.