front cover of Made in Chicago
Made in Chicago
Stories Behind 30 Great Hometown Bites
Monica Eng and David Hammond
University of Illinois Press, 2023

A BookRiot Most Anticipated Travel Book of 2023

Italian beef and hot dogs get the headlines. Cutting-edge cuisine and big-name chefs get the Michelin stars. But Chicago food shows its true depth in classic dishes conceived in the kitchens of immigrant innovators, neighborhood entrepreneurs, and mom-and-pop visionaries.

Monica Eng and David Hammond draw on decades of exploring the city’s food landscape to serve up thirty can’t-miss eats found in all corners of Chicago. From Mild Sauce to the Jibarito and from Taffy Grapes to Steak and Lemonade, Eng and Hammond present stories of the people and places behind each dish while illuminating how these local favorites reflect the multifaceted history of the city and the people who live there. Each entry provides all the information you need to track down whatever sounds good and selected recipes even let you prepare your own Flaming Saganaki or Akutagawa.

Generously illustrated with full-color photos, Made in Chicago provides locals and visitors alike with loving profiles of a great food city’s defining dishes.

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front cover of Mammals, Amphibians, and Reptiles of Costa Rica
Mammals, Amphibians, and Reptiles of Costa Rica
A Field Guide
By Carrol L. Henderson
University of Texas Press, 2010

To help visitors, as well as local residents, identify and enjoy the wildlife of Costa Rica, Carrol L. Henderson published Field Guide to the Wildlife of Costa Rica in 2002, and it instantly became the indispensable guide. Now Henderson has created a field guide dedicated to the monkeys, sloths, treefrogs, lizards, crocodiles, and other animals that travelers are most likely to see while exploring the wild lands of Costa Rica. He includes fascinating information on their natural history, ecology, identification, and behavior gleaned from his forty years of travels, studies, and wildlife viewing in Costa Rica, as well as details on where to see these remarkable and beautiful creatures. The mammals, amphibians, and reptiles are illustrated by stunning and colorful photographs—most of which were taken in the wild by Henderson. A detailed and invaluable appendix that identifies many of Costa Rica's best wildlife-watching destinations, lodges, and contact information for trip-planning purposes completes the volume.

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Marsh Meadow Mountain
edited by John J. Harding, illustrated by Carol Decker
Temple University Press, 1986

Stretching from the craggy reaches of the Pocono Mountains to the rolling farmlands of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, sprawling east across the Delaware River basin and New Jersey’s coastal plain Atlantic beaches—here is a land of rich historical, cultural, and environmental diversity. Few other locales in the United States have as many varied habitats, each with its own distinctive vegetation and wildlife. The nature lover in the Delaware Valley can travel from ocean, across barrier-beaches, salt-water and fresh-water marshes, pine barrens, deciduous woodlands and fields, to mountains, all in a few hours.

Marsh, Meadow, Mountain, a combination tour guide and ecological primer, is written for the thousands of people in the area with an interest in natural history or for those seeking alternative recreational activities. Each chapter, written by an experienced naturalist intimately familiar with one of the seven major ecosystems, introduces the reader to the dynamic interrelationships in nature, the interactions between a particular habitat and its inhabitants, and its plants and wildlife. Over 135 locations are described including the Pocono Mountains, the Pine Barrens, Stone Harbor, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Ridley Creek State Park, Tyler Arboretum, and Tinicum National Environmental Center, which in any season can provide fascinating viewing opportunities depending upon your interests. Each site also includes addresses, directions, trail maps, artistic drawings, and a suggested reading list.

Marsh, Meadow, Mountain conveys both a sense of fun and learning and, ultimately, will instill in the reader a special intimacy with the Delaware Valley’s precious wild places.

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Massachusetts Treasures
A Guide to Marvelous, Must-See Museums
Chuck D'Imperio
University of Massachusetts Press, 2018
Well known for its world-renowned art museums—from the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston—Massachusetts is also home to numerous institutions with more eclectic collections and, oftentimes, lower profiles. These include Mansfield's National Black Doll Museum of History and Culture, Watertown's Plumbing Museum, and Granville's Noble and Cooley Center for Historic Preservation.

In Massachusetts Treasures, Chuck D'Imperio explores more than forty museums scattered throughout the Bay State, from Cape Cod to the Berkshires. Many—but not all—might be considered "offbeat," and each and every one is enchanting. Through personal visits and interviews with founders and directors, D'Imperio offers an inside glimpse into some of the Commonwealth's most unique museums, providing a valuable guide for road warriors and history buffs discovering Massachusetts either for the first or the tenth time.
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Memories of Buenos Aires
Signs of State Terrorism in Argentina
Max Memoria Abierta
University of Massachusetts Press, 2013
In the 1970s, Argentina was the leader in the "Dirty War," a violent campaign by authoritarian South American regimes to repress left-wing groups and any others who were deemed subversive. Over the course of a decade, Argentina's military rulers tortured and murdered upwards of 30,000 citizens. Even today, after thirty years of democratic rule, the horror of that time continues to roil Argentine society.

Argentina has also been in the vanguard in determining how to preserve sites of torture, how to remember the "disappeared," and how to reflect on the causes of the Dirty War. Across the capital city of Buenos Aires are hundreds of grassroots memorials to the victims, documenting the scope of the state's reign of terror. Although many books have been written about this era in Argentina's history, the original Spanish-language edition of Memories of Buenos Aires was the first to identify and interpret all of these sites. It was published by the human rights organization Memoria Abierta, which used interviews with survivors to help unearth that painful history.

This translation brings this important work to an English-speaking audience, offering a comprehensive guidebook to clandestine sites of horror as well as innovative sites of memory. The book divides the 48 districts of the city into 9 sectors, and then proceeds neighborhood-by-neighborhood to offer descriptions of 202 known "sites of state terrorism" and 38 additional places where people were illegally detained, tortured, and killed by the government.
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The Michigan Eco-Traveler
A Guide to Sustainable Adventures in the Great Lakes State
Sally Barber
University of Michigan Press, 2014

Michigan offers some of the most wonderfully diverse recreation opportunities in the country. The Michigan Eco-Traveler is for a new and growing breed of leisure traveler and adventurer—the individual seeking to experience the pleasant peninsulas responsibly by minimizing his or her eco-footprint. The book introduces readers to the importance of eco-friendly travel and highlights some of the best eco-conscience venues across the state that offer activities from golfing to skiing to sailing and much more. The book also examines environmental pressures on the state’s recreational resources, revealing the critical need for joining together in conservation practices, and offers travelers helpful tips for evaluating the sustainability of their own favorite recreational spots.

Whether you’re a weekend traveler, extreme adventurer, or family on vacation, The Michigan Eco-Traveler lights the way to a greener getaway. Naturalists, conservationists, and hospitality experts will find the book equally helpful in responding to the ever rising demand for sustainable recreation.

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Michigan Free
Your Comprehensive Guide to Free Travel, Recreation, and Entertainment Opportunities
Eric Freedman
University of Michigan Press, 1993
Whether your preference is for indoor or outdoor activities, whether you live in-state or are just planning to visit, whether you are traveling with children, as a couple, or singly, Michigan Free lists an abundance of cost-free or inexpensive activities from Detroit to the remote reaches of the Upper Peninsula, for all seasons. Michigan Free provides detailed information about free or inexpensive concerts, plays, museums, wildlife preserves, national parks and forests, live theater and dance, musical performances, nature centers, festivals, walking tours, and more. Also provided is an in-depth look at a variety of free attractions such as the annual Labor Day walk across the Mackinac Bridge. Each listing includes a description of the attraction, its location, and its hours of operation.
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front cover of The Michigan Roadside Naturalist
The Michigan Roadside Naturalist
J. Alan Holman and Margaret B. Holman
University of Michigan Press, 2003

Did you know . . . ?

  • Michigan is seventeenth in oil production in the United States.
  • The Great Lakes are said to be the only glacially produced structures that can be seen from the moon.
  • Michigan was once part of a coral reef.
  • The wood frog is one of the commonest true frogs of moist woodland floors in Michigan today and is able to freeze solid during the winter without harmful effects.

These and many more amazing facts await the curious traveler in The Michigan Roadside Naturalist, J. Alan and Margaret B. Holman's captivating guide to the natural treasures of Michigan. A perfect accompaniment to the classic Michigan Trees and The Forests of Michigan, this user-friendly guide offers a Who's Who of the geology, biology, and archaeology of the Great Lakes State, as well as highway adventures along the state's major routes.

The book begins with an educational yet accessible tour of important points in Michigan's natural and archaeological history, followed by seven road trips based on commonly traveled state routes, moving from south to north in the Lower Peninsula and east to west in the Upper Peninsula. Readers can proceed directly to the road trips or familiarize themselves with the state's treasure trove of fascinating features before embarking. Either way, an informative and fun odyssey awaits the passionate naturalist, amateur or otherwise.

J. Alan Holman is Curator Emeritus of Vertebrate Paleontology at the Michigan State University Museum and Emeritus Professor of Geology and Zoology at Michigan State University. Margaret B. Holman is Research Associate at Michigan State University Museum and Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University.

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front cover of Michigan's Town and Country Inns, 5th Edition
Michigan's Town and Country Inns, 5th Edition
Susan Newhof
University of Michigan Press, 2013

The fifth edition of Michigan’s Town & Country Inns is a guide to more than 50 inns, bed-and-breakfast homes, and historic lodgings in the Upper and Lower Peninsulas of Michigan.

Choose from lighthouses anchored to the rugged shores of Lake Superior, Victorian mansions built by lumber and mining barons, rustic log lodges, and romantic small town hideaways. Meet the innkeepers themselves, who range from retired military officers and corporate heads to artists and poets. You’ll find detailed descriptions of the accommodations along with information about rates, suitability for children, and policies on smoking and pets. Get a sense of the flavor and mood of each and learn about fun things to do in the surrounding areas. Numerous photos enhance the descriptions and provide a visitor’s-eye view of some of the most unusual and delightful places to stay in Michigan.

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front cover of Milwaukee in the 1930s
Milwaukee in the 1930s
A Federal Writers Project City Guide
John D. Buenker
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2016

What would it be like to take an intensive tour of Milwaukee as it was during the late 1930s—at the confluence of the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the run-up to World War II? That is precisely what the participants in the Federal Writers Project did while researching their Guide to Milwaukee. The fruits of their labors were ready for publication by 1940, but for a number of reasons the finished product never saw the light of day—until now.

Fortunately, the manuscript has been carefully preserved in the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives

. Seventy-five years after the work’s completion, the Wisconsin Historical Society Press and historian John D. Buenker present this guide—now serving as a time machine, ready to transport readers back to the Milwaukee of the 1930s, neighborhood by neighborhood, building by building. Much more than a nostalgic snapshot, the book examines Milwaukee’s history from its earliest days to 1940.

Buenker’s thoughtful introduction provides historical context, detailing the FWP’s development of this guide, as well as Milwaukee’s political climate leading up to, and during, the 1930s. Next, essays on thirteen "areas," ranging from Civic Center to Bay View, delve deeper into the geography, economy, and culture of old Milwaukee’s neighborhoods, and simulated auto tours take readers to locales still familiar today, exploring the city’s most celebrated landmarks and institutions. With a calendar of annual events and a list of public services and institutions, plus dozens of photographs from the era, Milwaukee in the 1930s provides a unique record of a pre–World War II American city.

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front cover of Miniature Forests of Cape Horn
Miniature Forests of Cape Horn
Ecotourism with a Hand Lens
Bernard Goffinet
University of North Texas Press, 2012

front cover of Minnesota Marvels
Minnesota Marvels
Roadside Attractions in the Land of Lakes
Eric Dregni
University of Minnesota Press, 2001

Only in Minnesota can you snap a Polaroid of a fifty-five-foot-tall grinning green man with a size seventy-eight shoe or marvel at the spunk of a Swede who dedicated his life to spinning a gigantic ball of twine. The world’s largest hockey stick, as well as the biggest pelican, prairie chicken, turkey, fish, otter, fox, and loon also make Minnesota their home. Where else can you ponder the mysterious "miracle meat" of Spam in a museum dedicated to pork products or have your head examined by the phrenology machines at the Museum of Questionable Medical Devices? 

Minnesota Marvels is a tour of the inspired, bizarre, brilliant, scandalous, and funny sites around the state. Look up in wonder at the several Paul Bunyan statues, including the original (Bemidji), the tallest (Akeley), and the largest talking version (Brainerd). Ease on down the road to visit the first home of the heel-tapping native of Grand Rapids, Judy Garland, or walk the "main street" of Sauk Centre immortalized by native son Sinclair Lewis. See the birthplaces of Charles Lindbergh, the Mayo brothers, the Greyhound bus, the snowmobile, and the ice-cream sandwich. 

Minnesota is also the home of such attractions as the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden and the world’s largest aerial lift bridge in Duluth, and architectural wonders such as Frank Lloyd Wright’s modernist gas station in Cloquet and Frank Gehry’s arresting Weisman Art Museum. Stunning mansions with histories of ghost sightings, the hangouts and lairs of infamous gangsters, and old-fashioned breweries dot the state.

Conveniently organized by town name and illustrated throughout, Minnesota Marvels is the perfect light-hearted guide for entertaining road trips all over the state. 

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front cover of Minnesota’s Best Breweries and Brewpubs
Minnesota’s Best Breweries and Brewpubs
Searching for the Perfect Pint
Robin Shepard
University of Wisconsin Press, 2011

Based on four years of travel and research, Minnesota’s Best Breweries and Brewpubs is a welcome addition to Robin Shepard’s series of guides to the best of the Midwest’s beer industries. From large-scale breweries such as Cold Spring, to chains like Granite City, to individual brewpubs like Fitger’s Brewhouse, Shepard provides commentary for more than thirty beer makers and three-hundred Minnesota beers. Accessible enough for people at all stages in their journeys to discover great-tasting beer, the information-packed guidebook also features a list of helpful books and websites, as well as information on Minnesota’s beer tastings and festivals.
    For each brewery and brewpub site you’ll find:
    • a description and brief history, plus many “don’t miss” features
    • a description of beers on tap and a list of seasonal and specialty beers
    • a space for the brewmaster’s autograph
    • notes on the pub food, with recommendations
    • suggestions of nearby sights and activities
    • general directions to the location
    • Shepard’s personal ratings of the experience, plus room to add your own.

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front cover of Motorcycling Alabama
Motorcycling Alabama
50 Ride Loops through the Heart of Dixie
David Haynes
University of Alabama Press, 2011
A much-needed guidebook for one of the most beautiful states to explore on two wheels
 
David Haynes offers fifty ride loops of between 75 and 150 miles in length throughout every region of the state. The start and stop points for each ride are identical and easy to locate. This handy guide, which is designed to fit in a tank bag, features both streetbike and dual-sport rides. Also included are detailed, color-coded maps of the routes and turn-by-turn directions. Stunning full-color photographs accompany each ride description, highlighting scenes and points of interest along the way. There are introductory chapters on motorcycle safety, gear, and the use of global positioning devices, as well as pointers on motorcycle camping. The companion website, motorcyclingalabama.info, offers sample rides and downloadable GPS codes for all fifty rides, and hosts an author blog.
 
Motorcycle touring is one of the fastest-growing outdoor recreational pursuits in the country. For both the in-state and out-of-state motorcycle enthusiast, Motorcycling Alabama is a valuable and complete guide to a state rich in diverse types of scenery and with many unsung treasures yet to be discovered.

Published in cooperation with the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum, Birmingham.

 
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front cover of MSU Campus—Buildings, Places, Spaces
MSU Campus—Buildings, Places, Spaces
Architecture and the Campus Park of Michigan State University
Linda O. Stanford
Michigan State University Press, 2002

Since its founding in 1855, Michigan State University has emerged from its modest “oak opening” in the wilderness to become a large campus park. This story reflects the commitment of campus leaders since the nineteenth century to develop MSU as a beautiful and educational public resource, as well as a demonstration model, befitting the premier land-grant institution in the United States.
    From early landscape gardeners influenced by Ossian Simonds and the nationally known Olmsted Brothers, to the vision of President John Hannah, the consistent intent has been to interrelate architecture and the campus park. The result is a campus whose development reflects major trends in American architecture and whose contributors include local, regional, and nationally known architectural firms. In MSU Campus—Buildings, Places, Spaces, two Michigan State University professors provide a history and way of seeing the campus by offering eight areas to explore.
     Each area includes selected historical sites or markers, public art, and natural locations that complement more than one hundred extant buildings, complete with individual stylistic and historical descriptions and photographs. Historical facts about Michigan State University, suggestions for further reading, and an ample glossary of architectural terms make this book a resource for anyone who is interested in Michigan State University, art and architectural history, Michigan history, and visual culture.
     The book will continue to serve as a documentary reminder of MSU’s heritage and vital institutional future long after the 2005 sesquicentennial.

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