Here is the book that answers the age-old question: What should I bring? Foodies Rae Katherine Eighmey and Debbie Miller combed through hundreds of folksy cookbooks--often spiral-bound or homemade --compiled by groups around the Midwest. Then they tested hundreds of the most popular recipes before winnowing the list to 125 of the tastiest crowd-pleasing dishes: treats such as Swedish Tea Ring, Oven Barbecue Spareribs, Blueberry Buckle, and Party Punch. Recipes are organized by course, so it's as easy as pie for the reader to find the perfect dish for the long community table. Seven 1950s menus-with-recipes for gatherings such as a Card Party and a Ladies Club Luncheon will help today's savvy host create memorable retro gatherings for friends and family. Food and entertaining lore gleaned from the cookbooks and the authors' recollections of growing up in the Fabulous Fifties transport readers back to a time when shared food and hospitality reigned supreme. Rae Katherine Eighmey is a food historian who has written several books of recipes and lore, including Hearts and Homes and A Prairie Kitchen (MHS Press). Debbie Miller is a historian and aficionado of community cookbooks who works as a reference specialist at the Minnesota Historical Society. Dave Wood is the author of numerous books about midwestern culture.

Allegra Goodman has delighted readers with her critically acclaimed collections Total Immersion and The Family Markowitz, and her celebrated first novel, Kaaterskill Falls, which was a national bestseller and a National Book Award finalist. Abandoned by her folk-dancing partner, Gary, in a Honolulu hotel room, Sharon realizes she could return to Boston—and her estranged family—or listen to that little voice inside herself. The voice that asks: “How come Gary got to pursue his causes, while all I got to pursue was him?” Thus, with an open heart, a soul on fire, and her meager possessions (a guitar, two Indian gauze skirts, a macramé bikini, and her grandfather’s silver watch) Sharon begins her own spiritual quest. Ever the optimist, she is sure at each stage that she has struck it rich “spiritually speaking”—until she comes up empty. Then, in a karmic convergence of events, Sharon starts on the path home to Judaism. Still, even as she embraces her tradition, Sharon’s irrepressible self tugs at her sleeve. Especially when she meets Mikhail, falls truly in love at last, and discovers what even she could not imagine—her destiny.

Newly widowed Charlotte Figg purchases a double-wide trailer sight unseen and moves to the Paradise Trailer Park with her dog, Lucky. Unfortunately, both her trailer and the park are far from paradise, and Charlotte finds herself plotting to save the park manager's wife from an abusive marriage.

The Reckoning started with the lava flow, threatening to trap Andrew in Puna. Then the hurricane hit. From seeing the hidden fractals within the trees, to meditating in silence for 10 days, to falling in love and seeing that love crumble, the Big Island gives Andrew unparalleled opportunities to grow. Buoyed by a new project, Andrew starts off the new year with a fresh energy and is guided to the biweekly talks of a Hawaiian elder. The elder reminds him of truths that he’d forgotten, and he leads the group through the healing techniques of laulima and ho‘oponopono, giving Andrew a new energy to release the last shred of attachment to a person who simply doesn’t want to be with him. Now that he has created more space and clarity, his social circle expands, and Andrew meets someone who becomes one of the strongest catalysts for joy and growth in his life. But she is leaving the island in just six months. Andrew faces a forking path. All the while, lava is heading toward Pahoa, threatening to isolate all of Puna. The elder taught him that love prevails all trauma, but will that be enough? Ten Thousand Hours in Paradise is a 3-volume true story about the consciousness shift that happens when you embrace Hawaii. Volume 3: Reckoning takes flight with earthshaking changes, powerful healing, a new lava flow, and a hurricane, resulting in a reckoning that changes Andrew forever.

Alexandra Nottingham is caught up in the power politics of the financial world in Raleigh, North Carolina. Her stellar investing acumen rapidly shoots her to the top of her prestigious company, and she dines daily on the NASDAQ, S&P, and Dow Jones financial indicators as though they were licorice sticks from the candy store. Alexandra's name becomes synonymous with prosperity, and she has a prominent client list. Having achieved mammoth professional heights, she bathes in the glory of career success and social prestige. But darkness soon invades her soul, and Alexandra discovers that she is ignoring her true self. It's the wake-up call she needs to make some life-changing decisions. Ironically, in what could possibly be the biggest and best trade of her career, she discovers her twin-flame in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. This sometimes tragic, erotic, and often gentle tale is a story of faith and a walk through The Forest Of Life...

Meatless Mondays, Wheatless Wednesdays, vegetable gardens and chickens in every empty lot. When the United States entered World War I, Minnesotans responded to appeals for personal sacrifice and changed the way they cooked and ate in order to conserve food for the boys "over there." Baking with corn and rye, eating simple meals based on locally grown food, consuming fewer calories, and wasting nothing in the kitchen became civic acts. High-energy foods and calories unconsumed on the American home front could help the food-starved, war-torn American Allies eat another day and fight another battle. Food historian Rae Katherine Eighmey engages readers with wide research and recipes drawn from rarely viewed letters, diaries, recipe books, newspaper accounts, government pamphlets, and public service fliers. She brings alive the unknown but unparalleled efforts to win the war made by ordinary "Citizen Soldiers"--farmers and city dwellers, lumberjacks and homemakers--who rolled up their sleeves to apply "can-do" ingenuity coupled with "must-do" drive. Their remarkable efforts transformed everyday life and set the stage for the United States' postwar economic and political ascendance. Rae Katherine Eighmey is a food historian who has written several historical recipe books and coauthored Potluck Paradise: Favorite Fare from Church and Community Cookbooks. An avid foodie, she tested all the recipes in this book for modern kitchens.

On the occasion of Minnesota's 150th anniversary of statehood, more than a hundred historians and other writers assembled to discuss the subjects they had been studying, thinking, and writing about. This book presents the best of that work, including nineteen essays on topics as varied as baseball at Native American boarding schools, nineteenth-century predictions for Minnesota's future, Native American tourist goods, the Kensington rune stone, and a memoir of growing up in Marshall. Bringing together some of the most recent and best thinking about Minnesota's past and its people, The State We're In demonstrates the history of this place, in all its rich complexity, before and after statehood. Contributors include Melodie Andrews, Annette Atkins, Marge Barrett, Matt Callahan, Emily Ganzel, Linda LeGarde Grover, Louis Jenkins, David J. Laliberte, James Madison, J. Thomas Murphy, Nora Murphy, Traci M. Nathans-Kelly, Paula Nelson, Patrick Nunnally, Linda Schloff, Gregory Schroeder, Hamp Smith, Barbara W. Sommer, Tangi Villerbu, Howard J. Vogel, Steven Werle, Bill Wittenbreer, and Michael Zalar. Annette Atkins, author of Creating Minnesota, Harvest of Grief, and We Grew Up Together, teaches at Saint John's University/College of Saint Benedict. Deborah L. Miller, reference specialist at the Minnesota Historical Society and coauthor of Potluck Paradise, is an expert on Minnesota ethnicity and community cookbooks.