In this crisply written, thoroughly accessible book designed for the home chef, author William D. Setzekorn has adapted a full repertoire of recipes handed down through the generations. Representatives of the cuisine brought to the United States by German immigrants in the mid-nineteenth century, this treasure trove of family favorites has been adapted to suit the contemporary American kitchen. All ingredients are readily available in any market and many convenience products have been integrated without compromising the authenticity of the dishes.

A full range of courses is offered here: appetizers like chicken liver pâté and stuffed mushrooms; potato, asparagus and chicken soups; a surprising array of seafood choices. There is an assortment of interesting preparations for game birds - pheasant in orange sauerkraut and duckling braised in red cabbage; roast goose with fruit stuffing.

For the heartiest appetites there are plenty of savory roast, schnitzels and stews, creamed vegetables and many variations on the ubiquitous cabbage. Still hungry for something sweet...try German pancakes or one of the strudel, kuchen or cookie recipes. This is an ethnic cookbook, but one so full of homey comfort foods of any American kitchen that the German-American Cookbook will be a popular addition to any home culinary library.

I had never heard of Francis Grierson's "The Valley of Shadows" until I read Edmund Wilson's enthusiastic praise of it in "Patriotic Gore." Still, I was unprepared for the book's enormous effect. I have never read anything like "The Valley of Shadows." It has some of the most evocative writing I have ever encountered, and, in this edition, ranks as one of the best short novels of 19th century America. (Prof. Bray has wisely excised the latter chapters of Francis Grierson's "memoir," and what remains is a compelling and very memorable work.) Grierson's descriptions of pre-Civil-War-Sangamon County, Illinois, the omens of war and suffering preceding Lincoln's election in 1860, and the religious hysteria of the times are unforgettable. His prose style is, to put it mildly, lyrical, but it is not in the least mannered or fussy. I think this book, more than any other except "Huckleberry Finn," shows what the American Midwest was like in mid-19th century. Like "Huck Finn," "The Valley of Shadows" is told from a child's point of view, and the feeling of wonder and confusion that comes from this choice of narrator is central to the book's charm. Perhaps best of all, the novel's characters, all beautifully differentiated and running a huge range from the comic to the deeply spiritual, are as unforgettable as any characters I have encountered. New readers of "The Valley of Shadows" are in for a big treat.

This book tells the story of the outlaws of the early West (western Kentucky, southeastern Illinois, and Tennessee from around 1795 to 1820). These men were not the gun-toting, bank-robbing criminals of the Wild West but were highway robbers and river pirates who most often wielded knives and axes. They preyed on pioneers living in isolated cabins in the wilderness and on traders coming down the Ohio River on flatboats or traveling inland along wilderness trails.

Most of these criminals at one time or another used Cave-in-Rock as their headquarters. This huge cave, on the Illinois side of the lower Ohio River, is about 85 miles below Evansville, Indiana.

The most notorious of all the criminals of this time and place were the two Harpe brothers, who were said to kill men, women, and children simply to gratify a lust for cruelty. One story epitomizes the brutality of their exploits: Traveling through western Kentucky, the Harpes came to a cabin, where they found only a mother and her baby, the husband being off hunting. They asked to spend the night, and the next morning they asked the woman to prepare breakfast for them. She consented to do so but said that it would take her some time because her child was not well and she had no one to nurse it. The men then said that she should put the baby in its cradle and they would rock it while she cooked. After the woman had served their breakfast, she went to the cradle to see if the child was asleep, expressing some astonishment that her child should remain quiet for so long a time. She found the infant lying breathless, its throat cut from ear to ear.

"Outlaws of Cave-in-Rock" was first published in 1923 and was recently reprinted by Southern Illinois University Press. Historians, amateur and professional, will value this book interesting for the light it sheds on a period of the nation's history that has received too little attention.

I really enjoy Midwestern History, and I like to read as much as I can about the topic. Sugar Creek in my opinion, was rather difficult to believe - I'm not sure what it was, but as I read through it, I found myself questioning the credibility.

John Faragher brings the fascinating story about the rural American community to life with the story of "Sugar Creek." Personally, I enjoyed reading the book on rural history, but sometimes I had to simply skip a couples pages (once and a while) that covered on the Genealogy of the settlers. The book takes place in Sangamon County, IL and is a great book on local history. Faragher tries to stay true to this introduction and writes an elegant masterpiece on local history with the little resources he can find. A changeling book to write and a nice change from reading history of urban America. It is nicely organized with chapters and I felt very comfortable reading it (with a large size font and easy to high-lighted).

John Mack Faragher has brought the central Illinois frontier prairie to life in his "Sugar Creek". In the style of Michener, he begins by offering an early picture of the landscape and its earliest inhabitants. His grasp on historical happenings will stay with me forever especially with regard to how these earliest European settlers of Sangamon County, IL, moved right into the Native American's maple sugar manufacturing operation, soon after they had been killed or moved out. So much for our preconceived ideas of "Virgin Land and Untouched Prairies".

I've lived near that area all my life and can claim some of these old timers who settled the Sugar Creek area as my ancestors. So through his excellent writing I can now appreciate a little more what life was like long ago for those who came before. It is with gratitude that I thank Mr. Faragher for this well written work and am recommending it to anyone I come across with ties to the area or just an interest in frontier life in general. Julie Clark Close