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Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cooking for the year 2002. The subject is The Fat of the Land.

William Stimpson was at the forefront of the American natural history community in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Stimpson displayed an early affinity for the sea and natural history, and after completing an apprenticeship with famed naturalist Louis Agassiz, he became one of the first professionally trained naturalists in the United States. In 1852, twenty-year-old Stimpson was appointed naturalist of the United States North Pacific Exploring Expedition, where he collected and classified hundreds of marine animals. Upon his return, he joined renowned naturalist Spencer F. Baird at the Smithsonian Institution to create its department of invertebrate zoology. He also founded and led the irreverent and fun-loving Megatherium Club, which included many notable naturalists. In 1865, Stimpson focused on turning the Chicago Academy of Sciences into one of the largest and most important museums in the country. Tragically, the museum was destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, and Stimpson died of tuberculosis soon after, before he could restore his scientific legacy. This first-ever biography of William Stimpson situates his work in the context of his time. As one of few to collaborate with both Agassiz and Baird, Stimpson's life provides insight into the men who shaped a generation of naturalists—the last before intense specialization caused naturalists to give way to biologists. Historians of science and general readers interested in biographies, science, and history will enjoy this compelling biography.

“A wonderfully readable account of Chicago’s early history” and the inspiration behind PBS’s American Experience (Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times). Depicting its turbulent beginnings to its current status as one of the world’s most dynamic cities, City of the Century tells the story of Chicago—and the story of America, writ small. From its many natural disasters, including the Great Fire of 1871 and several cholera epidemics, to its winner-take-all politics, dynamic business empires, breathtaking architecture, its diverse cultures, and its multitude of writers, journalists, and artists, Chicago’s story is violent, inspiring, passionate, and fascinating from the first page to the last. The winner of the prestigious Great Lakes Book Award, given to the year’s most outstanding books highlighting the American heartland, City of the Century has received consistent rave reviews since its publication in 1996, and was made into a six-hour film airing on PBS’s American Experience series. Written with energetic prose and exacting detail, it brings Chicago’s history to vivid life. “With City of the Century, Miller has written what will be judged as the great Chicago history.” —John Barron, Chicago Sun-Times “Brims with life, with people, surprise, and with stories.” —David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of John Adams and Truman “An invaluable companion in my journey through Old Chicago.” —Erik Larson, New York Times–bestselling author of The Devil in the White City

From the two-time winner of the prestigious Lincoln Prize, a stirring and surprising account of the debates that made Lincoln a national figure and defined the slavery issue that would bring the country to war. In 1858, Abraham Lincoln was known as a successful Illinois lawyer who had achieved some prominence in state politics as a leader in the new Republican Party. Two years later, he was elected president and was on his way to becoming the greatest chief executive in American history. What carried this one-term congressman from obscurity to fame was the campaign he mounted for the United States Senate against the country’s most formidable politician, Stephen A. Douglas, in the summer and fall of 1858. As this brilliant narrative by the prize-winning Lincoln scholar Allen Guelzo dramatizes, Lincoln would emerge a predominant national figure, the leader of his party, the man who would bear the burden of the national confrontation. Lincoln lost that Senate race to Douglas, though he came close to toppling the “Little Giant,” whom almost everyone thought was unbeatable. Guelzo’s Lincoln and Douglas brings alive their debates and this whole year of campaigns and underscores their centrality in the greatest conflict in American history. The encounters between Lincoln and Douglas engage a key question in American political life: What is democracy's purpose? Is it to satisfy the desires of the majority? Or is it to achieve a just and moral public order? These were the real questions in 1858 that led to the Civil War. They remain questions for Americans today.

The first major history of Chicago ever written, A History of Chicago covers the city’s great history over two centuries, from 1673 to 1893. Originally conceived as a centennial history of Chicago, the project became, under the guidance of renowned historian Bessie Louise Pierce, a definitive, three-volume set describing the city’s growth—from its humble frontier beginnings to the horrors of the Great Fire, the construction of some of the world’s first skyscrapers, and the opulence of the 1893 World’s Fair. Pierce and her assistants spent over forty years transforming historical records into an inspiring human story of growth and survival. Rich with anecdotal evidence and interviews with the men and women who made Chicago great, all three volumes will now be available for the first time in years. A History of Chicago will be essential reading for anyone who wants to know this great city and its place in America. “With this rescue of its history from the bright, impressionable newspapermen and from the subscription-volumes, Chicago builds another impressive memorial to its coming of age, the closing of its first ‘century of progress.’”—E. D. Branch, New York Times (1937)