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Distinguished Historian Reveals Truths About A Forgotten America In New Critically-Acclaimed Novel

Austin Tang — Thu, 10 Jun 2021 20:12:17 +0000

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Gilbert’s prose style is detailed, voice-driven, and refined. The author quickly establishes a sense of place that becomes increasingly vivid as Gilbert introduces its many distinctive residents. [He] excels in creating memorable characters whose individual stories coalesce to tell a broader literary and historical narrative. In the tradition of Winesburg, Ohio, Gilbert’s Tales of Little Egypt brings small-town America to full life.
–Publishers Weekly Book Life Review
“From the very beginning TALES OF LITTLE EGYPT prepares us for an emotional journey. From a battle-side death bed to the truths of small-town America, this collection of historical short fiction weaves between tales that are at times endearing, at times tragic, but always insightful… A rich collection of short stories offering insight into the collective American past and present.”
— Independent Book Review
A Fulbright Scholar and historian-turned-master-storyteller is at it again in his 15th book, Tales From Little Egypt, a fictional account of life that spans from the Civil War of the 1860s to the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and World War I. Once a distinguished professor and Fulbright Scholar, James, who also had one of his history books make a New York Times Notable List, takes a historical approach to examining 13 imaginary lives that touched some of the most significant eras of American history.
“Little Egypt was the destination of my childhood summer,” reveals Gilbert. “Those gatherings where family stories were shared would serve as inspiration for the colorful tales I have penned.” Indeed, three generations of his family lived there, and some family members fought on opposite sides of the Civil War.
More About The Book:
Tales of Little Egypt is a fictional account of small-town America and the peculiar, ordinary, eccentric, sturdy, cunning, and contented characters who created it. Set in the years between the Civil War and the great Influenza Plague of 1918, this is a pageant of imaginary people–the narratives of a score of men, women, and children whose lives illustrate the immense changes and challenges of that turbulent era. This was a period of great events and outsized personalities: splendid World’s Fairs attended by millions, radical new inventions, devastating wars and violent revolutions; leaders like Theodore Roosevelt. But underneath were the people whose stories are as fascinating, troubled, compelling and triumphant as anything that has occupied the attention of historians. There was the town doctor, the local sheriff, the jeweler, the self-appointed matron of morality, a young black girl and her mother, a boy who ran off to the circus and many others: lovers, criminals, teachers, ministers, and odd characters. As a community, their lives and ambitions, their failures and tragedies–sometimes at their own making–and their small successes intersected and become a part of each other.
Marion, Illinois is both a real place and the imaginary location for these stories. Set in the center of Little Egypt, Marion is a county seat in the middle of this unique area, a river delta wedged between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. These two great highways of American immigration and trade sent millions of settlers North and South, East and West and back. The few who stopped off to make it their home created something distinctive. Theirs was a society that reflected the crossroads it occupied and the mix of cultures and sections that it represented. It was both nowhere and everywhere. Therefore, their struggles to make sense of this world exemplify the tale and the memory of modern America in the making.
For Zona Romantica:
“An entertaining mystery with a vibrant setting.”
–Kirkus Reviews
“The dash of romance added to the intrigue and historical references keeps Zona Romantica a thoroughly inviting read, juxtaposing personal and political observations right up to an unexpected conclusion.
Midwest Book Reviews

About The Author: Over the course of his career as a historian, he published 11 history texts, one of which (Perfect Cities) was named a New York Times notable book of the year in 1986. Throughout his career, he has often succumbed to a love of travel made possible by teaching at the University of Paris and Warwick University in England, and with Fulbright Awards, at the University of Sydney, the University of Amsterdam, Erfurt and Tubingen Universities in Germany, and Uppsala University in Sweden, where he was given an honorary Doctoral Degree. Until 2020, he was the Faculty Fulbright Adviser at the University of Maryland. Born in Chicago, Gilbert attended Carleton College and then the University of Wisconsin, earning a doctoral degree in American Intellectual and Cultural History. In 1966, he was hired by the University of Maryland. He was appointed Distinguished University Professor in 1999. While American history has been his profession, literature has been his passion, and since retirement, he has written three novels and a book of short stories. He is also a (very) amateur cellist. For more information, please consult: www.JamesBGilbertAuthor.com

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Passover or Pesach (/ˈpɛsɑːx, ˈpeɪsɑːx/; from Hebrew פֶּסַח Pesah, Pesakh),

admin — Fri, 03 Apr 2015 15:29:59 +0000

is an importantbiblically derived Jewish festival.

The Jewish people celebrate Passover as a commemoration of their liberation by God from slavery in Egypt and their freedom as a nation under the leadership of Moses. It commemorates the story of the Exodus as described in the Hebrew Bible especially in the Book of Exodus, in which the Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt. According to standard biblical chronology, this event would have taken at about 1300 BCE (AM 2450).
Passover commences on the 15th of the Hebrew month of Nisan and lasts for either seven days (inIsrael) or eight days (in the diaspora). In Judaism, a day commences at dusk and lasts until the following dusk, thus the first day of Passover only begins after dusk of the 14th of Nisan and ends at dusk of the 15th day of the month of Nisan. The rituals unique to the Passover celebrations commence with the Passover Seder when the 15th of Nisan has begun. In the Northern Hemisphere Passover takes place in spring as the Torah prescribes it: “in the month of [the] spring” (בחדש האביב Exodus 23:15). It is one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays.
In the narrative of the Exodus, the Bible tells that God helped the Children of Israel escape from their slavery in Egypt by inflicting ten plagues upon the ancient Egyptians before the Pharaoh would release his Israelite slaves; the tenth and worst of the plagues was the death of the Egyptian first-born.
The Israelites were instructed to mark the doorposts of their homes with the blood of a slaughtered spring lamb and, upon seeing this, the spirit of the Lord knew to pass over the first-born in these homes, hence the English name of the holiday.
When the Pharaoh freed the Israelites, it is said that they left in such a hurry that they could not wait for bread dough to rise (leaven). In commemoration, for the duration of Passover no leavened bread is eaten, for which reason Passover was called the feast of unleavened bread in the Torah or Old Testament. Thus Matzo (flat unleavened bread) is eaten during Passover and it is a tradition of the holiday.
Historically, together with Shavuot (“Pentecost”) and Sukkot (“Tabernacles”), Passover is one of the three pilgrimage festivals (Shalosh Regalim) during which the entire population of the kingdom of Judah made a pilgrimage to the Temple in Jerusalem Samaritans still make this pilgrimage to Mount Gerizim, but only men participate in public worship.

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Manischewitz Today

admin — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 16:15:34 +0000

In September 2008, the company changed it’s name from the R.A.B. Food Group to the Manischewitz Company, under which it operates today.

It all started with Rabbi Dov Behr

The B. Manischewitz Company, LLC traces its beginnings back to the spring of 1888, when Rabbi Dov Behr Manischewitz opened a small Matzo bakery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

A humble beginning

It was largely from his spiritual concerns that he set out to make matzo or unleavened bread for Passover, first for his family and a few friends, but soon for many of the devout Jews of the city. His bakery soon evolved into a successful business, innovative and prosperous––though never inattentive to the spiritual needs of its customers.

From small bakery to booming business

By the end of the century, demand for his matzo had become so great that Rabbi Manischewitz turned to the use of gas-fired ovens, replacing the older coal stoves being used by other Jewish bakers. The newer ovens allowed for much more careful control of the baking speed, insuring a consistent and standard quality to the matzos.
He also introduced portable traveling-tunnel ovens, and was the first to package his matzos for shipment to places beyond the immediate neighborhood of his bakery. He even began shipping his matzos overseas, to such diverse places as England, Japan, France, Hungary, Egypt and New Zealand. His bright, clean bakery would become a model for future kosher bakeries, both in America and abroad.

Matzo on the move

In 1932, the company built a second factory. Located in Jersey City, New Jersey, the plant quickly became the model for all new machine-made matzo bakeries worldwide. Closer to a much larger Jewish population than that of Cincinnati, the new factory also made distribution of the company’s product more efficient and quickly enlarged its customer base. The Manischewitz label was soon dominant in ethnic grocery stores and delicatessens in the larger East Coast cities. Thanks to the technology and efficiency of the New Jersey factory, Manischewitz was able to close down the Cincinnati facility altogether.

Same quality, more quantity

In 1940, Manischewitz produced its first Tam Tam cracker. It signaled the initial departure from its line of matzo products. About the same time, in a licensing arrangement, Manischewitz wines began to be sold throughout the country.
In 1954, the company purchased a processing plant located in Vineland, New Jersey. The Vineland facility, which has now ceased operations, manufactured all of the company’s canned and jarred products, including old familiar favorites like gefilte fish, chicken soup and borscht. The plant was primarily a hand-pack processing operation stressing careful attention to quality and flexibility. Workers there packed about 2,000,000 lbs. of fish and 1,000,000 lbs. of beets each year.

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