The Food of a Younger Land:

I was so excited to have just received a notice of this new book by Mark Kurlansky being released by Amazon on July 1, 2009: The Food of a Younger Land: The WPA's Portrait of Food in Pre-World War II America that I needed to share it!

As someone who truly appreciated the previous efforts of Mark Kurlansky's Salt: A World History, and Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World, and who just finished The Forgotten Man, and who is currently reading Weston A. Price's Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, I was ready to be in line for this one. But with a reported cover price of $69.99, the book was relegated to my library queue.

Then after a moment of digging around, I discovered this which has the same title, exact same description, but a different subtitle and a whole lot smaller price tag.


Hmmm.

Well, I suppose I could be angry that I might have tried to pay $70 for a $19 book that Amazon basically repackaged and readvertised, or I can be happy that the $70 price tag and lack of cover art made me look harder for more information and I found a book that I can get at my local library (16th in the queue, but there are plenty of copies) and most likely really enjoy and learn from.

Overall, I'm glad they sent me the notice (even one fraught with fraudulent information as it was).

---ten minutes later---

Nevermind about the "fraud" part - it was for the "playaway" version, which, clearly, I am not tech-savvy enough to have caught the first time around, but at least understand that it is not a physical book.

I'm very glad about the notice, excited to read the book, and happy that I can still buy my books through Amazon!

Comments

Amy said…
I heard about this book on NPR and it sounded fascinating! I thought it was a brand new book, though. I'll have to add it to my library list too. I like the part about the NY luncheonette slang.
June 19, 2009 at 9:03 AM
Lynne said…
It came out in May, so it is relatively new, but the playaway version, whatever that is, is coming out July 1.

I think diner slang is fun, too!

We'll have to compare notes at some point.
June 19, 2009 at 12:08 PM
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