This book is about a way of life that no longer exists. It disappeared from the American landscape about the time of the Great War and yet it has left a permanent imprint on our national character. Using historical photographs, this book looks back to small-town America and what it was like to live at the turn of the 20th century.

Presents a collection of recipes gathered from picnics, church gatherings, and state and county fairs around the United States.

Brown and Holley are interested in place and what makes people who they are. With particular interest in how people take the hand they’ve been dealt—fate, family, circumstance, luck—and craft a life for themselves, the authors celebrate the grit and gumption of these Texas originals. Introducing quirky characters and tenacious spirits, Holley’s stories seek out the personality of the small town while Brown’s photographs capture the essence of a changing landscape. Hometown Texas aims not to be nostalgic or sentimental but rather to show readers an unknown Texas—one that, while not vanishing, is certainly on the wane. Organized into five topographical, geographic, and cultural sections—East, West, North, South, and Central—three dozen stories and more than eighty complementary images work to create a parallel narrative to reveal what Brown has described as the “collective, various, remarkably complex soul that makes Texas unique.” Hometown Texas is an exploration across miles and cultures, of well-traveled roads and forgotten byways, deep into the heart of Texas.

"An ancient spiritual practice for 21st century Grand Rapids" For thousands of years, the Church has gathered during the day to praise God, confess sin, and pray for others and themselves, both in community and individually. Recently, though, commitment to ancient spiritual practices has waned and prayer is considered a waste of time. PRAYERS FOR MY CITY sets out to recapture the power of fixed-hour prayer for 21st century Grand Rapids by helping the Church reconnect to this ancient spiritual practice. Through this highly accessible and simple prayer format, you can engage in this historic Church practice while also praying for Grand Rapids. This prayer book isn't just any prayer book-it's Grand Rapids' prayer book. It's a guide to help you pray for your city with others in one voice, while helping you stay connected to you Creator and Redeemer throughout your day. Pray for your city while finding an oasis in the middle of the chaos of life. Prayer Book Includes: *Three 15-minute daily prayer sessions *Twenty-one unique prayers for Grand Rapids *Prayers from "The Book of Common Prayer" *Historic hymn meditations *Two one-year Bible reading plans

"A great novel that is American to its core...so gently memorable, so bursting with life, that those who abandon themselves to its pages will find it claiming a permanent place close to their hearts." --New York Daily News "A warm, evocative, often hilarious picture of society, culture, politics and family life." --Atlanta Constitution "A warmly human story...never flags from first page to last." --Publishers Weekly A groundbreaking bestseller with two and a half million copies in print, "...And Ladies of the Club" centers on the members of a book club and their struggles to understand themselves, each other, and the tumultuous world they live in. A true classic, it is sure to enchant, enthrall, and intrigue readers for years to come. "It is hard to think of a better place to spend the summer than in AHelen Hooven Santmyer's? world." --Cosmopolitan

In this splendid book, one of America's masters of nonfiction takes us home--into Hometown, U.S.A., the town of Northampton, Massachusetts, and into the extraordinary, and the ordinary, lives that people live there. As Tracy Kidder reveals how, beneath its amiable surface, a small town is a place of startling complexity, he also explores what it takes to make a modern small city a success story. Weaving together compelling stories of individual lives, delving into a rich and varied past, moving among all the levels of Northampton's social hierarchy, Kidder reveals the sheer abundance of life contained within a town's narrow boundaries. Does the kind of small town that many Americans came from, and long for, still exist? Kidder says yes, although not quite in the form we may imagine. A book about civilization in microcosm, Home Town makes us marvel afresh at the wonder of individuality, creativity, and civic order--how a disparate group of individuals can find common cause and a code of values that transforms a place into a home. And this book makes you feel you live there.

“With the twinned calamities of climate change and mass extinction weighing heavier and heavier on my nature-besotted soul, here were concrete, affordable actions that I could take, that anyone could take, to help our wild neighbors thrive in the built human environment. And it all starts with nothing more than a seed. Bringing Nature Home is a miracle: a book that summons butterflies." —Margaret Renkl, The Washington Post As development and habitat destruction accelerate, there are increasing pressures on wildlife populations. In his groundbreaking book Bringing Nature Home, Douglas W. Tallamy reveals the unbreakable link between native plant species and native wildlife—native insects cannot, or will not, eat alien plants. When native plants disappear, the insects disappear, impoverishing the food source for birds and other animals. Luckily, there is an important and simple step we can all take to help reverse this alarming trend: everyone with access to a patch of earth can make a significant contribution toward sustaining biodiversity by simply choosing native plants. By acting on Douglas Tallamy's practical and achievable recommendations, we can all make a difference.