"In a town famous for its politics, one local favorite moves unchallenged across party lines. Open-faced, piled high with fries and slathered in cheese sauce, the Horseshoe Sandwich has represented Springfield cuisine since 1928, when it first came out of the Leland Hotel kitchen. Tour the restaurants that have kept the tradition alive for almost a century, including bygone eateries like The Mill and contemporary stalwarts like Darcy's Pint. Sample secret recipes while following the horseshoe trail through Central Illinois and across the country. From the "Clydesdale Challenge" to the biggest and strangest incarnations of the shoe, Carolyn Harmon and Tony Leone provide a comprehensive history of this delicious dish."--

From its designation in 1926 to the rise of the interstates nearly sixty years later, Route 66 was, in John Steinbeck’s words, America’s Mother Road, carrying countless travelers the 2,400 miles between Chicago and Los Angeles. Whoever they were—adventurous motorists or Dustbowl migrants, troops on military transports or passengers on buses, vacationing families or a new breed of tourists—these travelers had to eat. The story of where they stopped and what they found, and of how these roadside offerings changed over time, reveals twentieth-century America on the move, transforming the nation’s cuisine, culture, and landscape along the way. Author T. Lindsay Baker, a glutton for authenticity, drove the historic route—or at least the 85 percent that remains intact—in a four-cylinder 1930 Ford station wagon. Sparing us the dust and bumps, he takes us for a spin along Route 66, stopping to sample the fare at diners, supper clubs, and roadside stands and to describe how such venues came and went—even offering kitchen-tested recipes from historic eateries en route. Start-ups that became such American fast-food icons as McDonald’s, Dairy Queen, Steak ’n Shake, and Taco Bell feature alongside mom-and-pop diners with flocks of chickens out back and sit-down restaurants with heirloom menus. Food-and-drink establishments from speakeasies to drive-ins share the right-of-way with other attractions, accommodations, and challenges, from the Whoopee Auto Coaster in Lyons, Illinois, to the piles of “chat” (mining waste) in the Tri-State District of Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma, to the perils of driving old automobiles over the Jericho Gap in the Texas Panhandle or Sitgreaves Pass in western Arizona. Describing options for the wealthy and the not-so-well-heeled, from hotel dining rooms to ice cream stands, Baker also notes the particular travails African Americans faced at every turn, traveling Route 66 across the decades of segregation, legal and illegal. So grab your hat and your wallet (you’ll probably need cash) and come along for an enlightening trip down America’s memory lane—a westward tour through the nation’s heartland and history, with all the trimmings, via Route 66.

“Irish, southern, or pub fare, all of the recipes in McGuire’s Irish Pub Cookbook will have mouthwatering effects on readers and diners alike.” —The Mount Airy News For more than thirty-five years, McGuire’s Irish Pub has been serving authentic fare to its customers in Pensacola, Florida. Now, fans of McGuire’s fun-loving food and drinks can try all their best dishes at home. This mouth-watering volume covers McGuire’s signature recipes for everything from bread and brunch to fish and fowl to meat and desserts. Also included in the foreword are thirty-two color photographs of McGuire’s itself to give readers a sense of the quirky pub that is home to such terrific meals. One evening’s menu might begin with Potato Goat-Cheese Napoleons with Olive Pesto, followed by Mean Gene’s Mulligatawny with freshly baked Barmbrack, a traditional Irish loaf. For the main course, you might choose Stuffed Quail with Pilsner Sauce. But why stop there? No dinner is complete without dessert, and who could resist Apple Brown Betty Cheesecake, paired with a warm mug of Hot Limerick Toddy? For breakfast the next morning, treat yourself to Gingerbread Waffles with Irish Coffee Syrup and Ginger Sugar! McGuire’s creative appetizers, entrées, and desserts are impossible to resist. Regardless of what is on the menu, enjoy McGuire’s food with a “bain taitneamh as do bheile”—a hearty appetite. Chapters feature such delicacies as breads, party picks, sandwiches, savory pies and tarts, pasta and crepes, and heavenly desserts. “You might not have bagpipers, a moose head, and dollar bills tacked to your ceiling . . . but McGuire’s Irish Pub Cookbook will help you recreate the restaurant’s magic.” —Pensacola News Journal

This book describes the living-room artifacts, clothing styles, and intellectual proclivities of American classes from top to bottom.

The Mogao Grottoes, a World Heritage Site in northwestern China, are located along the ancient caravan routes—collectively known as the Silk Road—that once linked China with the West. Founded by a Buddhist monk in the late fourth century, Mogao flourished over the following millennium, as monks, local rulers, and travelers commissioned hundreds of cave temples cut into a mile-long rock cliff and adorned them with vibrant murals. More than 490 decorated grottoes remain, containing thousands of sculptures and some 45,000 square meters of wall paintings, making Mogao one of the world’s most significant sites of Buddhist art. In 1997 the Getty Conservation Institute, which had been working with the Dunhuang Academy since 1989, began a case study using the Late–Tang dynasty Cave 85 to develop a methodology that would stabilize the deteriorating wall paintings. This abundantly illustrated volume is the definitive report on the project, which was completed in 2010.

"Time travel, UFOs, mysterious planets, stigmata, rock-throwing poltergeists, huge footprints, bizarre rains of fish and frogs-nearly a century after Charles Fort's Book of the Damned was originally published, the strange phenomenon presented in this book remains largely unexplained by modern science. Through painstaking research and a witty, sarcastic style, Fort captures the imagination while exposing the flaws of popular scientific explanations. Virtually all of his material was compiled and documented from reports published in reputable journals, newspapers and periodicals because he was an avid collector. Charles Fort was somewhat of a recluse who spent most of his spare time researching these strange events and collected these reports from publications sent to him from around the globe. This was the first of a series of books he created on unusual and unexplained events and to this day it remains the most popular. If you agree that truth is often stranger than fiction, then this book is for you"--Taken from Good Reads website.