Potato
by Rebecca Earle
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Pub Date 21 Mar 2019 | Archive Date 21 Mar 2019
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Description
Object Lessons is a series of short, beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things.
Baked potatoes, Bombay potatoes, pommes frites . . . everyone eats potatoes, but what do they mean? To the United Nations they mean global food security (potatoes are the world's fourth most important food crop). To 18th-century philosophers they promised happiness. Nutritionists warn that too many increase your risk of hypertension. For the poet Seamus Heaney they conjured up both his mother and the 19th-century Irish famine.
What stories lie behind the ordinary potato? The potato is entangled with the birth of the liberal state and the idea that individuals, rather than communities, should form the building blocks of society. Potatoes also speak about family, and our quest for communion with the universe. Thinking about potatoes turns out to be a good way of thinking about some of the important tensions in our world.
Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in The Atlantic.
Available Editions
| EDITION | Paperback |
| ISBN | 9781501344312 |
| PRICE | US$14.95 (USD) |
Links
Featured Reviews
Meghan S, Librarian
This book was received as an ARC from Bloomsbury Academic in exchange for an honest review. Opinions and thoughts expressed in this review are completely my own.
What really attracted me to this book was the simplicity of the cover just being the humble potato. The brilliant mind of Rebecca Earle described the potato like it was the meaning of life and she expressed how just a simple vegetable has many meanings to many people and is not just for eating. I also was really curious when I found out that this was a series and can't wait to see what concepts Earle describes throughout the series on my favorite vegetable. Brilliantly written and beautifully executed.
We will definitely consider adding this title to our Non-Fiction collection at our library. That is why we give this book 5 stars.
Kelly R, Media/Journalist
My favorite kind of history book—and it doesn't hurt that I'm a sucker for food history. Delves into poetry, art, politics, labor, and philosophy, all connected by the potato. I learned several fascinating and provoking things. I'll be looking for more books in this series (Object Lessons).
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