About This Guide
Welcome to this resource guide about Travel developed in conjunction with our recurring Armchair Travel program. Each month, we travel to a new travel destination virtually via Facebook. September’s destination is Puerto Rico. Click here for the event page on Facebook.
Every guide includes resources for you to further explore each destination that we visit. If you have any questions about these guides, Contact Us or call the Information Desk at Kennedy (765-747-8209) or Maring-Hunt (765-747-8204) daily from 1-5pm.
Muncie Travel Agencies
If you are looking to take a trip, the following travel agencies are highlighted by the Muncie, Indiana Chamber of Commerce.
| AAA Travel Insurance 4351 W. Clara Dr. Muncie, IN 47304 |
Affordable Tailored Travel, Inc. |
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Storybook World Travel |
Travel Information
Muncie Public Library has a wealth of travel guides available in the collection. Simply go to our catalog, click on Advanced Search at the top right, and change the author and title search functions both to subject.
Then, type in travel guides for the first search and in the second, type in your destination. For example, perhaps I want to take a trip to Mexico. I would do an advanced search for Travel Guides and Mexico each separately as a subject search.
Online Resources
You can also utilize online resources to plan your trip to other locales. Here are some common sites used to plan a whole trip from booking a flight to lodging and renting a car. It’s a one stop shopping trip.
If you would like to shop around for discounts, try these sites for lodging, airfare, and experience packages.
Flights
Lodging
Experiences
Fast Facts
Official Name: Hellenic Republic
Capital: Athens
Population: 11 million
National Language: Greek
Currency: Euro
Flight from Indianapolis to Athens: 13 hours
The climate in Greece is mostly Mediterranean, with hot, dry summers and cool, rainy winters. The capital, Athens, has an average temperature of around 90 degrees in August, and about 50 degrees in January. The mountains have a colder, harsher climate than most of the rest of Greece, and often heavy snowfalls.
Plan Your Trip
Lonely Planet Greece is your most up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Stand in the shadow of the Acropolis, compare sunsets and beaches as you hop from island to island, or sample the freshest flavours and most succulent seafood; all with your trusted travel companion. Title available through Hoopla.
With user-friendly accommodation and eating reviews, crystal-clear maps, detailed background and a journalistic eye for detail, this guide is suitable for all your Greece travel needs. It also includes top 5 lists and itineraries that will help you plan your route, with insider tips on the best beaches to escape the crowds.
Active travelers trust National Geographic to deliver what they want in a guidebook: expert advice, insider tips, and the cultural feel of each destination not easily found online. These guides are pitch-perfect for today's experiential travel enthusiasts who want an authentic, enriching immersion. Explore the best sites in Greece--from the Acropolis and ancient Delphi to Athens's newest neighborhoods and Santorini sunsets--with this gorgeous guide, replete with updated information and travel tips, cut-away illustrations of some of the country's famous structures, an array of detailed maps, and sumptuous photographs.
This guide has all the inside knowledge and advice for a trouble-free holiday full of fabulous memories for all the family. Discover a destination with stunning beaches with azure waters and bustling harbour towns, fascinating historical sites and fortresses to explore, pretty white-washed villages and breathtaking views, friendly and welcoming child-friendly restaurants, dramatic landscapes to discover together. Title available through Overdrive.
Online Resources
Visit Greece is the official website for tourism in the country of Greece. It includes topics on a variety of things related to travel in Greece including places to go, where to stay, what you need to know before visiting the country, the best places to eat, etc.
Places To Visit
Online Resources
Greece from Home is a website devoted to bringing Greece to you at home during the pandemic. Visitors can discover Greece through its food, fashion, destinations, and culture.
The Peloponnese is the peninsula in southern Greece connected by the Isthmus of Corinth, and some of its major cities are Patras, Kalamata, Argos, and Tripoli. Sparta, renowned in the ancient world for its warriors, is also a city in this region, and the site of the Olympic Games was also in this area in a place called Olympia. Other sites of note are Mani, Kardamyli, Nafplio, and Nemea, site of one of the 12 Labors of Herakles where the hero slew the Nemean Lion.
If you are highly interested in exploring the ancient world in the Peloponnese, also try Mycenae, where you can take a virtual tour of the archaeological site that was once home to Agamemnon, one of the heroes of the Trojan War! If you are more interested in medieval Greece, try Mystras through YouGoCulture!
Ionian Beaches are some of the most beautiful seaside areas in the world with their clear blue waters surrounded by green cliffs. If you like the beach, try these destinations: Myrtos, Voutoumi Beach, Porto Katsiki, and Navagio, or Shipwreck, Beach on Zakynthos.
Athens, the capital of Greece and its largest city, is a popular tourist destination with the Acropolis as its most recognizable landmark. In Ancient Greece, Athens was the first state to introduce democracy as a concept, and it boasted a strong naval force. Its main port is Piraeus where you can hop on a boat to travel to Hydra and other island destinations.
The site of Delphi was once a holy place in Ancient Greece as the seat of Pythia, the ancient oracle that Greeks consulted in order to make important decisions. Located on the southwestern slope of Mount Parnassus, Delphi was once considered the center of the world by the Greeks and is known as the omphalos, or naval, of the world.
Meteora is a unique site in Greece. It is a rock formation that has large complexes of Eastern Orthodox monasteries built into it. The area is a UNESCO World Heritage located near the town of Kalambaka.
Thessaloniki is the second largest city in Greece and serves as the capital of Macedonia, which is famous thanks to Alexander the Great. It was also the co-capital of the Byzantine Empire alongside Constantinople in modern day Turkey. It is a popular tourist destination and has numerous sites for people to visit.
Teen Resources
For more book suggestions and to learn more about Greece, check out this 
fun newsletter!
In a companion to his award-winning adaptation of "The Odyssey, " incomparable graphic novelist Hinds masterfully adapts Homer's classic wartime epic, capturing all of its grim glory. Includes notes, maps, a cast of characters, and other tools to help readers understand all the action and drama of Homer's epic.
This title explores the many heroes and heroines of the Greek and Roman civilizations.
Muncie Public Library has many titles about Greek Mythology for kids. If you would like to explore this more, simply go to our catalog, type in “Greek Mythology” in the search box, click search, and then limit the audience to Juvenile at the left in order to see what titles we have for youth in our collection.
Architecture
An architectural investigation beginning with Greece, the empire that gave rise to Western civilization and produced some of antiquity's greatest treasures. Next discover how Alexander saved the Greek Empire from its period of civil unrest, then voyage to Central America to unlock the mysterious and magical world of the ancient Aztecs.
As originally screened on PBS's NOVA series, the documentary special Secrets of the Parthenon carries viewers on a detailed exploration of the titular landmark - one of Ancient Greece's most renowned architectural wonders. As the program points out, the Parthenon has fallen prey, over the centuries, to every type of conceivable destruction - from earthquakes to extensive vandalism to looting and arson. Yet it somehow survived intact through the early years of the 21st century. This documentary examines methods used by the Ancient Greeks to achieve such remarkable architectural precision, the techniques that enabled the Greeks to erect the structure so quickly, and the late 20th-early 21st century restorative efforts of the Acropolis Restoration Project. It also concludes with an incredible historical secret unveiled when a shaft of light discloses a hidden carving.
Western Architecture is an original and far-reaching survey of the history of architecture in Europe and North America, from ancient Greece to the present.
Culture
An informative, smart, and very amusing narrative about the enormous influence Greeks and Greek culture have had on the rest of the world, from art to architecture to literature to politics to love.
Born around 630BC on the Greek island of Lesbos, Sappho is now regarded as the greatest lyrical poet of ancient Greece, ironic and passionate, capturing the troubled depths of love. Her work survives only in fragments, yet her influence extends throughout Western literature, fuelled by the speculations and romances which have gathered around her name, her story and her sexuality.This remarkable anthology brilliantly displays the way different periods have taken up Sappho's haunting story bringing together many different kinds of work.
Chronicles the exploits and adventures of the warrior Odysseus as he struggles to return home to Ithaca and his beloved wife, Penelope, after the fall of Troy.
Also check out The Illiad by Homer which chronicles the end of the long Trojan War.
Available in multiple formats
Love and loyalty, hatred and revenge, fear, deprivation, and political ambition: these are the motives which thrust the characters portrayed in these three Sophoclean masterpieces on to their collision course with catastrophe. Recognized in his own day as perhaps the greatest of the Greek tragedians, Sophocles's reputation has remained undimmed for two and a half thousand years. His greatest innovation in the tragic medium was his development of a central tragic figure, faced with a test of will and character, risking obloquy and death rather than compromise his or her principles: it is striking that Antigone and Electra both have a woman as their intransigent `hero'. Antigone dies rather thanneglect her duty to her family, Oedipus's determination to save his city results in the horrific discovery that he has committed both incest and parricide, and Electra's unremitting anger at her mother and her lover keeps her in servitude and despair.
"What is at stake is far from insignificant: it is how one should live one's life." Plato's The Republic is widely acknowledged as the cornerstone of Western philosophy. Presented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different interlocutors, it is an inquiry into the notion of a perfect community and the ideal individual within it. During the conversation, other questions are raised: What is goodness? What is reality? What is knowledge? The Republic also addresses the purpose of education and the roles of both women and men as "guardians" of the people. With remarkable lucidity and deft use of allegory, Plato arrives at a depiction of a state bound by harmony and ruled by "philosopher kings."
Also, check out other Greek philosophers like Socrates, Aristotle, Democritus, and many others! Just do a Google search on Greek philosophers to see who comes up.
Online Resources
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, located in New York City, New York, has a wide-ranging collection of Greek art that includes sculpture, jewelry, coins, pottery, etc. If you would like to see some of the collection virtually, watch this video from Art and Travel by Dave available on YouTube.
Google Arts and Culture is a non-profit initiative that preserves and brings the world’s art and culture to anyone, anywhere. Many different organizations contribute to this initiative including those from Greece. Click here to find resources related to the art and culture of Greece and explore!
YouGoCulture is a virtual platform designed to allow you the visitor to explore Greece from the comfort of home. Visitors can sample what the country has to offer through a variety of topics including destinations, arts and crafts, gastronomy, experience, and myth.
Did you know that the Olympic Games originated in Greece? Learn more about the history, spectators and events by going to the Olympic Games website.
Food
Rosemary Barron, the founder of Greece's premier cooking school, presents a collection of uncomplicated and flavorful Grecian-inspired recipes.
Inspired by her travels and family gatherings, the recipes and stories Diane Kochilas shares in My Greek Table celebrate the variety of food and the culture of Greece. Her Mediterranean meals, crafted from natural ingredients and prepared in the region's traditional styles--as well as innovative updates to classic favorites--cover a diverse range of appetizers, main courses, and desserts to create raucously happy feasts, just like the ones Diane enjoys with her family when they sit down at her table.
This new book of mine is all about fun, escapist recipes. It's an adventurous cookbook that embraces the big hitters from the incredible countries I've visited recently, as well as completely new things I've made up by taking cues from the influences around me. I've taken some of the most famous and exciting dishes from these beautiful places and tweaked them so you can recreate the paellas of Spain, the tagines of Morocco and the risottos of Italy easily, and authentically, in your own kitchen. Every now and then, being brave, escaping the daily routine and filling up on other cultures is a great thing to do. Just get out there and discover the fantastic flavors, people, and places that exist just a flight away. So, if you've been talking about going somewhere in particular but haven't gotten around to booking your ticket, I urge you to go for it. You'll come back feeling optimistic about life, with a head full of beautiful memories--not to mention ideas for incredible dishes. In the meantime, let this book introduce you to some of the fantastic new recipes and flavors I've discovered, and maybe even reintroduce you to recipes you've loved and enjoyed on your own holidays, but just never knew how to make.
Online Resources
Try searching online as well for traditional Greek foods and recipes to see what’s out there! Here’s what we found:
History
An illustrated comprehensive and accessible history of Ancient Greece explores the rise and fall of the Greek empire, its powerful legacy for the modern world, and new discoveries shedding light on ancient Greek civilization.
Byzantium linked the ancient and modern worlds, shaping traditions and handing down to both Eastern and Western civilization a vibrant legacy. The Oxford History of Byzantium is the only history to provide in concise form detailed historical coverage from the Roman beginnings to the fall of Constantinople and assimilation into the Turkish Empire. Against a backdrop of stories of emperors, intrigues, battles, and bishops the contributors to this beautifullyillustrated volume explore everyday life in cities and villages, manufacture and trade, machinery of government, the church as an instrument of state, minorities, education, literary activity, beliefs and superstitions, monasticism, iconoclasm, the rise of Islam, and the fusion with Western, or Latin,culture.
The achievements of Athens have left a profound impact on Western culture. The Athenians invented the first real democracy (albeit one that included only adult males) and, in doing so, transformed the very notion of government. They established the concept of philosophy, raising issues with which today's thinkers still wrestle, and shaped the arts of tragedy and comedy, architecture and sculpture, as well as the study of history.
For other titles related to Greek History and Civilization, check out our catalog. Try subject searches within the catalog’s advanced search function for Greece and Civilization for best results.
Online Resources
To learn more about Greek History, especially during the Ottoman and Modern era, check out Hellenism.net, a site devoted to all things Greece. This is also a good resource for learning more about Greek culture currently. You can also read about Greek History in Encyclopedia Brittanica.
Religion
Monsters, mortals, gods, and warriors: For over sixty years readers have chosen this book above all others to discover the thrilling, enchanting, and fascinating world of Western mythology. From Odysseus's adventure-filled journey to the Norse god Odin's effort to postpone the final day of doom, Edith Hamilton's classic collection not only retells these stories with brilliant clarity but shows us how the ancients saw their own place in the world and how their themes echo in our consciousness today. An essential part of every home library, Mythology is the definitive volume for anyone who wants to know the key dramas, the primary characters, the triumphs, failures, fears, and hopes first narrated thousands of years ago-and still spellbinding to this day.
First published in three separate volumes from 1855 to 1863, Bulfinch's Mythology quickly became the standard source of classic tales from ancient Greece and Rome, the Norse tradition, and beyond. This edition contains the full text of The Age of Fable, or Stories of Gods and Heroes, the first volume of Bulfinch's seminal work. From stories of the Greek gods of Mt. Olympus to retellings of the Iliad and the Odyssey, from descriptions of mythological monsters to tales of Hindu and Egyptian deities, Bulfinch's versions of these classic stories bring their characters to life. Throughout the text, Bulfinch includes examples of literary interpretations of and allusions to the various stories and points out proverbial expressions that have their origins in the mythology he relates, making this a vital reference for students of literature as well as a delightfully vibrant collection of the stories that form our cultural heritage.
Muncie Public Library has many titles about Greek Mythology. If you would like to explore this more, simply go to our catalog and type in “Greek Mythology” in the search box to see what titles we have in our collection.
The Philokalia is a collection of texts written by spiritual masters within the Eastern Orthodox Church between the 4th and 15th centuries. They were originally written to guide monks in the spiritual life, and the texts were compiled by Nicodemus the Hagiorite and Macarius of Corinth in the 18th century and became more widely read as a result. Today, it serves as the principal spiritual text within the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Online Resources
To read more about the Ancient Greek religion and their practices, read this article written by staff within the Greek and Roman Art Department from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Today, many Greeks practice what is known as Eastern Orthodoxy, which is very similar to Roman Catholicism. To learn more about the Eastern Orthodox Religion, read this article.
Fast Facts
Official Name: Commonwealth of Puerto Rico
Capital: San Juan
Population: about 3 million
National Language: Spanish and English
Currency: US Dollar
Flight from Indianapolis to San Juan: 6 hours
The climate in Puerto Rico is classified as tropical rainforest with temperatures ranging from warm to hot year round and a rainy season that spans from April to November. The average island temperature is 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit. Because of its location, the island does experience a hurricane season. The most recent major hurricane to hit it was Maria, which caused tremendous destruction to the island.
Plan Your Trip
Aside from its 430 kilometers of golden sand coasts, Puerto Rico hides a colonial treasure of untold wealth. In the capital city of San Juan, signs of its sixteenth-century origins remain as well as colossal fortresses, earning it a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation. Nestled in the Caribbean Sea, this island is a water-sports paradise, renowned for diving, sailing, and deep-sea fishing. It is also home to one of the rarest bioluminescent bays on the planet, not to mention a massive rainforest and spectacular caves. Even if it is an American territory, Puerto Rico has a thriving artistic, musical, and culinary scene, and its culture and traditions are unique, rich, and colorful. Available through Hoopla.
Explore the rich history and culture of the colonial ports of Ponce and Old San Juan where Nathan and Seamus find adventure playing pirates in the old colonial fort of El Morro. Then it's off to find frogs in El Yunque, the Caribbean National Forest, and to explore the underground caves of Rio Camuy. Finally, the Simmons family finds time to relax on the beaches of Vieques Island, a small enclave that exudes the ambiance of a bygone era in the Caribbean. Available through Hoopla.
Take in the dizzying views from the top of Jamaica's Blue Mountains, stroll the cobbled colonial plazas of Habana Vieja, or marvel at the majesty of St. Lucia's volcanic spires. Covers Cuba, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands, Anguilla, St. Martin/Sint Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Barthelemy, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Grenada, Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire.
Online Resources
Discover Puerto Rico is the country’s official travel and tourism page. Come here to find great destinations based on your interests, good food, and the latest news on traveling to and from the country. Check out the organization’s Facebook page and YouTube channel for curated content to enjoy including virtual vacations!
This Puerto Rico Travel Guide was curated by U.S. News Travel. It includes topics on what to do, where to stay, what to eat, how to dress, what to expect in terms of the culture, and how to get around the island.
Places to Visit
Mosquito Bay, located on the beautiful island of Vieques, is described as magical due to the organisms (Pyrodinium bahamense, Dinoflagellates) that live within its waters. These “dinos” produce a burst of blue light when they come into contact with other organisms creating a bioluminescent bay. In 2008, the Guinness Book of World Records declared it the brightest in the world.
Speaking of water, Puerto Rico has many beautiful beaches. If you enjoy being near the ocean, check out this article from The Travel Channel to see what beaches you might want to visit while in Puerto Rico. On the other hand, if you want adventure and more nature in your vacation, go to El Yunque National Forest, hike the underground caverns at Camuy River Cave Park, or zipline from the heights of the Orocovis Mountains at Toroverde!
For history lovers, San Juan is the place for you! It is the capital of Puerto Rico and the third oldest European-established capital in the Americas (founded 1521). While there, you can visit the Cathedral of San Juan Bautista, which is the grandest religious building in Puerto Rico and the seat of its Archdiocese. The current church dates to 1540, but it is not the original. Last, no visit to San Juan would be complete without a trip to its two castle fortifications, Castillo San Felipe del Morro and Castillo San Cristóbal.
If you want to experience salsa, the dance not the food, visit Santurce and Hato Rey, two barrios of San Juan, and see if anyone is willing to teach you. Santurce especially has a thriving arts scene where you can tour the street art while Hato Rey is reminiscent of downtown areas in the states where people can catch all sorts of events like baseball games and concerts. In Santurce, you also will find a hopping nightlife scene at Calle Loiza, which is a foodie’s dream! Make sure to head to a coffee shop for your caffeine fix either in the morning or before enjoying the evening’s activities. Puerto Rico is very well-known for its coffee, so even if you are not a coffee drinker, be sure to experience it just this one time.
Obsessed with Hamilton and Lin-Manuel Miranda? Visit his family’s hometown of Vega Alta where you can visit La Placita de Güisin and see the mural of Miranda and his grandfather!
Want to experience Carnivale which is equivalent to our Mardi Gras here in the states? Go to Ponce and check out the Carnivale de Ponce that happens every year in the days leading up to Ash Wednesday. It is an explosion of color, dance, and fun! Ponce also happens to be the second largest city in Puerto Rico and much like San Juan is filled with culture and history.
Travel Memoirs
Try these travel memoirs to read about some visitor experiences within Puerto Rico.
The Not-Quite States of America by Doug Mack
This book traces the author's explorations of U.S. territories including American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Northern Mariana Islands to juxtapose their blends of culture against the expansionist views of the Founding Fathers.
Phenomenal: A Hesitant Adventurer’s Search for Wonder in the Natural World by Leigh Ann Henion
Children have the ability to marvel over simple things in nature--leaves, pebbles, twigs. When she becomes a mother, Leigh Ann Henion starts to question: Could experiencing earth's most dazzling natural phenomena make the world similarly new again? Phenomenal is the improbable story of how she chases eclipses, auroras, and other natural phenomena around the globe to reawaken her sense of wonder. Whether standing on the still-burning volcanoes of Hawai'i or in the fearsome lightning storms of Venezuela, amid the vast wildebeest migration in Tanzania, or the millions of swirling butterflies that roost on a mountaintop in Mexico, Henion discovers the visceral awe that her child experiences every day. Her spiritual wanderlust puts her in the path of modern-day shamans, reindeer herders, and astrophysicists. These seekers trust their instincts, follow their passions, shape their days into the lives they most want to lead. And, somewhere along the way, Leigh Ann Henion becomes one of them.
Relief Efforts
In September 2017, Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria, one of the worst storms that the country has seen in the last 80 years. In fact, the country is still recovering. To learn more about relief efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in September 2017, visit the American Red Cross or Mercy Corps.
To read more about the situation in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria, try this title.
The Battle for Paradise: Puerto Rico Takes on the Disaster Capitalists by Naomi Klein
In the rubble of Hurricane Maria, Puerto Ricans and ultrarich "Puertopians" are locked in a pitched struggle over how to remake the island. In this vital and startling investigation, bestselling author and activist Naomi Klein uncovers how the forces of shock politics and disaster capitalism seek to undermine the nation's radical, resilient vision for a "just recovery.” Available through Hoopla.
Culture
Puerto Rico Strong: A Comics Anthology Supporting Disaster Relief and Recovery by Vita Ayala
Puerto Rico Strong is a comics anthology that explores what it means to be Puerto Rican and the diversity that exists within that concept, from today's most exciting Puerto Rican comics creators. Despite being a US territory, Puerto Rico is often thought of as a foreign land, if it's even a thought in the mind of the average American at all. Its people exist in all corners of America; some of them have parents who immigrated from the home island, others are a part of families that have been on the mainland for generations. Then there are those who have come to the states in search of a dream but struggle to integrate into an unfamiliar culture, while there are those who have lived in the United States all of their lives but still have the same struggle because of the color of their skin or their sexual identity. These stories follow individuals from diverse walks of life but are all part of the culture that is Puerto Rico.
Conquistadora by Esmeralda Santiago
As a young girl growing up in Spain, Ana Larragoity Cubillas is powerfully drawn to Puerto Rico by the diaries of an ancestor who traveled there. And twin brothers Ramón and Inocente -- both in love with Ana -- will get her there. She marries Ramón, and in 1844, at eighteen, travels to a remote sugar plantation the brothers have inherited. Ana relishes the challenge of running Hacienda los Gemelos, until Civil War breaks out in the United States… Available through Overdrive
Online Resources
The arts are very much alive on the island of Puerto Rico, and you can learn more about the arts and crafts culture through Welcome to Puerto Rico. The two most well-known art museums on the island are the Museo de Arte de Ponce Leon and the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico. Check out their online collections!
Google Arts and Culture is a non-profit initiative that preserves and brings the world’s art and culture to anyone, anywhere. Many different organizations contribute to this initiative including those from Puerto Rico. Click here to find resources related to the art and culture of Puerto Rico and explore!
To find more Puerto Rican literature, try a Google search for “Puerto Rican authors” or “Puerto Rican literature”.
Food
A Taste of Latin America: Culinary Traditions and Classic Recipes from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela by Patricia Cartin
You may not realize it but you probably already enjoy many of the ingredients found in Latin American cooking. Sweet potatoes, squash, corn, chocolate, chili peppers ... all of these originated in Latin America. But A Taste of Latin America expands your expectations of these fundamental food elements. The recipes in this cookbook provide a private peek inside the home kitchens of ten southern nations. Here you'll learn authentic methods of preparing Latin American meals. And while you enjoy these new savory and sweet dishes, you'll also learn about the history and culture of our neighbors to the south.
Latin American Street Food: The Best Flavors of Markets, Beaches, & Roadside Stands from Mexico to Argentina by Sandra A. Gutierrez
From tamales to tacos, food on a stick to ceviches, and empanadas to desserts, Sandra A. Gutierrez's Latin American Street Food takes cooks on a tasting tour of the most popular and delicious culinary finds of twenty Latin American countries, including Mexico, Cuba, Peru, and Brazil, translating them into 150 easy recipes for the home kitchen. These exciting, delectable, and accessible foods are sure to satisfy everyone.
Gran Cocina Latina: The Food of Latin America by Maricel E. Presilla
The co-owner of two Latin restaurants in Hoboken, New Jersey, presents 500 recipes from the Latin world ranging from Mexico to Argentina and all the Spanish-speaking countries of the Caribbean including adobos, sofritos, empanadas, tamales, ceviches, moles and flan.
Online Resources
Try searching online as well for traditional Puerto Rican foods and recipes to see what’s out there! Here’s what we found:
History
War Against All Puerto Ricans by Nelson A. Denis
In 1950, after over fifty years of military occupation and colonial rule, the Nationalist Party of Puerto Rico staged an unsuccessful armed insurrection against the United States. Violence swept through the island: assassins were sent to kill President Harry Truman, gunfights roared in eight towns, police stations and post offices were burned down. In order to suppress this uprising, the U.S. Army deployed thousands of troops and bombarded two towns, marking the first time in history that the U.S. government bombed its own citizens. Nelson A. Denis tells this powerful story through the controversial life of Pedro Albizu Campos, who served as the president of the Nationalist Party. A lawyer, chemical engineer, and the first Puerto Rican to graduate from Harvard Law School, Albizu Campos was imprisoned for twenty-five years and died under mysterious circumstances. By tracing his life and death, Denis shows how the journey of Albizu Campos is part of a larger story of Puerto Rico and U.S. colonialism. Through oral histories, personal interviews, eyewitness accounts, congressional testimony, and recently declassified FBI files, War Against All Puerto Ricans tells the story of a forgotten revolution and its context in Puerto Rico's history, from the U.S. invasion in 1898 to the modern-day struggle for self-determination. Denis provides an unflinching account of the gunfights, prison riots, political intrigue, FBI and CIA covert activity, and mass hysteria that accompanied this tumultuous period in Puerto Rican history. Available through Hoopla.
The Statesman and the Storyteller by Mark Zwonitzer
John Hay, Lincoln's private secretary and later secretary of state under presidents McKinley and Roosevelt, and Samuel Langhorne Clemens, famous as "Mark Twain," grew up fifty miles apart on the banks of the Mississippi River in the same rural antebellum stew of race, class, and want. This shared history drew them together in the late 1860s, and their mutual admiration never waned in spite of sharp differences. In The Statesman and the Storyteller, the last decade of their lives play out against the tumultuous events of the day, as the United States government begins to aggressively pursue a policy of imperialism, overthrowing the duly elected queen of Hawaii; violently wresting Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines away from Spain; and finally supporting a revolution to clear a path for the building of the U.S.-controlled Panama Canal. Stunning in its relevance, The Statesman and the Storyteller explores the tactics of America's earliest global policies and their influence on U.S. actions for years to follow. Ultimately, it is the very human rendering of Clemens and Hay that distinguishes Zwonitzer's work, providing profound insights into the lives of two men who helped define their era. Available through Hoopla.
Colonel Roosevelt is an exciting and thoroughly captivating portrait of a man and a country at a crossroads. The Spanish-American War of 1897-1898 was the shortest conflict in American history. Yet it played a pivotal role in propelling the United States onto the twentieth-century world stage - along with the man whose nationalistic and military ideals were most responsible for bringing it about. With his keen eye for characterization and rich period detail, Jeffers captures the spirit of a newly industrialized nation with dreams of the spoils of empire hitherto reserved for her European rivals, a country flexing her newfound muscles." "No man more clearly exemplified late nineteenth-century notions of manifest destiny than Theodore Roosevelt. And no man was more willing to wage war to fulfill them. As Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Roosevelt dreamed of a massive two-ocean navy capable of exerting American influence around the world. Going to war against an aging Spain, with Cuba as the prize, seemed the perfect way to make his dream come true.The events and colorful personalities of this crucial period come to vivid life in Colonel Roosevelt, from William Randolph Hearst and Henry Cabot Lodge, to Richard Harding Davis and Stephen Crane. Here, too, is the personal side of Theodore Roosevelt, much of it revealed in his own words. It is a candid glimpse of the blunt man behind the historic figure, relishing the swirl of international tensions he so vigorously helped to stir.
In 1895 Cuba began its struggle for independence from Spain-a struggle that resulted in a demand for US involvement. This demand gained intensity when the USS Maine inexplicably sank in a Havana harbor in 1898. Tensions between the two nations rose as the United States continued to insist that Spain grant Cuba its independence and withdraw forces from the island. On April 24, 1898, Spain declared war on the United States. Due to an utter lack of preparedness on Spain's part, the war was decidedly one-sided. The conflict lasted less than a year. In the resulting treaty, Spain renounced its claim to Cuba, and the United States acquired colonies in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, including Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines. The United States at War series is a collection of presentations that review the political, economic, and social tensions that have erupted in military conflict and examine how the conflict resolved, or failed to resolve, those tensions. Available through Hoopla.
Online Resources
Puerto Rico has a rich heritage. In order to learn more about its history and other topics about the country, read about it here via Encyclopedia Britannica. Smithsonian Magazine also has a brief article about the history of Puerto Rico, and the Library of Congress focuses on Puerto Rico during the 19th and early 20 centuries here.
If you would like to do more research on Puerto Rico and its heritage, please check out INSPIRE! INSPIRE is Indiana's Virtual Online Library, a collection of academic databases and other information resources that can be accessed by Indiana residents using any computer equipped with Internet access in Indiana. INSPIRE is a service of the Indiana State Library, supported by the Indiana General Assembly through Build Indiana Funds, The Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act and in partnership with the Academic Libraries of Indiana.
Language
Barron’s E-Z Spanish by Ruth J. Silverstein
Spanish becomes easy when you approach it the E-Z way! Open this book for clear, concise, skill-building instruction in vocabulary, verbs in seven tenses, parts of speech, sentence structure, vocabulary and grammar rules demonstrated in charming stories, oral proficiency with help from book's pronunciation guide and much more.
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Spanish, Levels 1-4
A team of memory and linguistic experts have designed this world class foreign language self-study course. International travelers, students, and business people can now learn to converse in a new language in less than half the time they expect. Instant Language is guaranteed to work for beginners, as a refresher course, and even for people who have been frustrated in other attempts to learn a new language.
The Story of Spanish by Jean-Benoît Nadeau
Just how did a dialect spoken by a handful of shepherds in Northern Spain become the world's second most spoken language, the official language of twenty-one countries on two continents, and the unofficial second language of the United States? Jean-Benoît Nadeau and Julie Barlow, the husband-and-wife team who chronicled the history of the French language in The Story of French, now look at the roots and spread of modern Spanish. Full of surprises and honed in Nadeau and Barlow's trademark style, combining personal anecdote, reflections, and deep research, The Story of Spanish is the first full biography of a language that shaped the world we know, and the only global language with two names--Spanish and Castilian.
For other titles related to learning the Spanish language, check out our catalog. Try a subject search within the catalog’s advanced search function for “Spanish language”.
Music
Opus by Marc Anthony
Opus finds the great salsero working again with longtime producer and pianist Sergio George. It is not only a worthy successor to 3.0 but ultimately surpasses it. Anthony and George have crafted a 21st century salsa that is at once elegant and passionate. Their exposition of salsa is reliant on great songs and innovative charts. While percussion remains the genre's cornerstone, their reliance on the lead role of the piano -- with vibrant montunos, colorful chord voicings and melodic flair -- is the album's aesthetic guidepost. Wrapped tightly inside the mix are exquisitely layered and textured horns and transcendent strings that are never overbearing. Together, these elements elevate the songs into a unique sphere, without ever forsaking salsa's root lineage.
MAS: Musico, Alma, Sexo by Ricky Martin
The last time Ricky Martin released a record -- way back in 2005, a good six years before Musica + Alma + Sexo -- the Puerto Rican singer was half a decade removed from his last blast of crossover success and still closeted. In 2011, he’s one year removed from coming out and even further removed from the place he used to occupy in pop culture, that of a handsome, dexterous crossover artist with a flair for frivolous club/dance cuts and adult contemporary crossovers. Theoretically, this loosening of expectations would give him some freedom to roam on Musica + Alma + Sexo, and it does to the extent that he does not feel compelled to devote the record to the English language. His two English cuts, the Joss Stone duet “The Best Thing About Me Is You” and “Shine,” are buried at the end of the record, the rest of the album sung in Spanish -- but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Musica has a distinctly Latin lilt in its rhythms. This is clean, gleaming dance and lite-pop, all shepherded by Desmond Child, the old studio pro responsible for co-writing hits for Kiss, Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, and Cher, not to mention Ricky’s own “Livin’ la Vida Loca.” Child helps steer Musica + Alma + Sexo toward a high thread-count upscale pop that knows no borders. It’s all pleasant enough and Martin has enough effortless charm to keep things light and sometimes even engaging.
Online Resources
YouTube is a great site for listening to music of all types. Type in “Puerto Rican music” to see what users have uploaded. Bomba y plena came from Puerto Rico, and to learn more about it, watch this video from Discover Puerto Rico or read the Smithsonian’s Folkways article about bomba y plena.
Salsa was developed by the Puerto Ricans of New York City during the 1960s with a heavy influence from Cuba and the Caribbean. The site Welcome to Puerto Rico describes Salsa and other musical styles from Puerto Rico.
The national instrument of Puerto Rico is the cuatro. It's played like a guitar, but shaped like a violin. The original cuatro had four strings - hence the name - but modern cuatros have 10 strings arranged in 5 pairs. It's most commonly found in jibaro orchestras, which play Puerto Rican folk music. If you would like to learn more, read this article from the Cuatro Project or listen to some samples on YouTube!
People
Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero by David Maraniss
From the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "When Pride Still Mattered" comes a book destined to become a modern classic--a full-scale biography of great baseball player and humanitarian Roberto Clemente, who lived, played, and died with enduring passion and grace.
Ordinary Girls: A Memoir by Jaquira Díaz
Jaquira Díaz writes an unflinching account of growing up as a queer biracial girl searching for home as her family splits apart and her mother struggles with mental illness and addiction. From her own struggles with depression and drug abuse to her experiences of violence to Puerto Rico's history of colonialism, every page vibrates with music and lyricism.
Rita Moreno: A Memoir by Rita Moreno
In this luminous memoir, Rita Moreno shares her remarkable journey from a young girl with simple beginnings in Puerto Rico to Hollywood legend and one of the few performers, and the only Hispanic, to win an Oscar, Grammy, Tony and two Emmys. Here, for the first time, Rita reflects on her struggles to break through Hollywood s racial and sexual barriers. She explores the wounded little girl behind the glamorous facade and what it took to find her place in the world. She talks candidly about her relationship with Elvis Presley, her encounters with Howard Hughes, and the passionate romance with Marlon Brando that drove her to attempt suicide. And she shares the illusiveness of a perfect marriage and the incomparable joys of motherhood.
Many famous people have come from Puerto Rico including Lin-Manuel Miranda who led us on our visit to Puerto Rico! To see who else originates from the island country, try doing a Google search for “Famous Puerto Ricans”.
Teen Resources
Check out Passport to Another Land: Puerto Rico to learn more about the culture, language, and traditions of this beautiful American territory.
Fast Facts
Source under CC BY-SA 3.0
Official Name: England
Capital: London
Population: about 56 million
National Language: English
Currency: Pound Sterling
Flight from Indianapolis to London: 9 hours
The climate in England is temperate maritime meaning that temperatures are mild. Temperatures are typically no lower than 32 degrees Fahrenheit and no higher than 90 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer. The weather is damp with rainfall spread evenly throughout the year, and the coldest months are January and February while the warmest is July.
Plan Your Trip
Frommer's EasyGuides contain punchy, concise prose by our expert local journalists, which gives readers all they need to know to plan the perfect vacation. This includes reviews for travel venues in all price ranges, as well as information on culture and history that will enhance any trip.
The British Isles are a popular destination, and an immense body of book-buyers will be the potential audience for this important new travel guide. It incorporates all the elements that have won best-seller status for Frommer's guidebooks: strong opinions colorfully expressed; up-to-date and recently researched information of all sorts; cost-conscious advice that covers every price range. This far-reaching guide of 600 some-odd pages, takes the visitor to every popular destination in England and Scotland, including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Bath, Oxford, Liverpool, Manchester, and more--and, of course, London. A fold-out map, numerous interior maps, and four-color photographs throughout, will make this an exceptionally valuable guide for your next trip.
Lonely Planet London is your passport to the most relevant, up-to-date advice on what to see and skip, and what hidden discoveries await you. Explore ancient castles, modern galleries and world-class museums, catch a show on the West End, and down a pint in a traditional pub; all with your trusted travel companion.
In the latest edition of this top-selling guidebook, Rick covers the best of Europe's big cities and inspiring countrysides. Includes itineraries for one to four days in the top destinations in England, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Switzerland; Rick's tips for beating the crowds, skipping lines, and avoiding tourist traps, trip planning strategies like how to link destinations and design your itinerary, what to pack, where to stay, and how to get around. Rick Steves Best of Europe covers London, Paris, Provence, the French Riviera, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, Venice, Florence, Cinque Terre, the Swiss Alps/Berner Oberland, Munich, Rothenberg and the Romantic Road, the Rhine Valley, Berlin, and Amsterdam.
We have many more travel guides to Europe and London, England. To see what is available in the Muncie Public Library collection, simply go to the advanced search feature in our catalog and do a subject search for “England -- Guidebooks.”
Places To Visit
London, the capital of England, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world! It boasts something for everyone from the historical to the modern. If you love history in any form, there are many destinations to explore. Try spending a day around Trafalgar Square where you can also visit Nelson’s Column or the National Gallery to view art. Nearby are St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, the British Museum, Big Ben, and the Houses of Parliament. If you are fans of all things royal, go witness the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace or experience the Tower of London, which was not only a prison but a royal residence.
If history is not your cup of tea, visit Soho, Covent Garden, Mayfair, or Piccadilly Circus where you can experience London culture in all of its forms from shopping to the theater! Round out your day with a trip to the London Eye where you can experience London from on high.
If you enjoy other forms of learning like literature or science, visit the British Library, the Victoria and Albert Museum, or Greenwich, where the Prime Meridian is located! Of note in Greenwich are Greenwich Palace, Old Royal Navy College, and the Royal Observatory.
Amateur fossil collectors love going to the Jurassic Coast, which stretches from Exmouth, Devon to Swanage, Dorset. It is the only natural World UNESCO site in England. Although it is known for the vast number of fossils from ancient sea life along the coast (particularly Charmouth and Lyme Regis), it also boasts beautiful beaches. Be sure to also check out Durlston Country Park, Corfe Castle, Kimmeridge Bay, Lulworth Cove, Durdle Door, Isle of Portland, Weymouth, and Seaton.
Due to the rise of the Industrial Revolution, the wool industry in The Cotswolds collapsed, and it retained its rustic, quaint feel because of it. This is now the source of its tourist industry today for people who want to get away from the hustle and bustle of city life or those who just enjoy walking. Some places of note in the Cotswolds are The Slaughters, Chipping Campden (where you can find a 17th century Market Hall), Stanton, and Stow-on-the-Wold. Highly recommended for those who love Downton Abbey!
In Somerset, visit Wells, home to the oldest medieval street in Europe according to locals as well as Wells Cathedral, the first completely Gothic cathedral in England, and the Bishop’s Palace adjacent to the Cathedral. Also check out Glastonbury, a site of spiritualism, healing and wellness. It is also home to Glastonbury Tor, the ruins of a church that also served as a site for paganism and is home to the Holy Grail according to legend.
England is also known for its stone circles, particularly Stonehenge, but another place of note is Avebury where you will also find Silbury Hill, a prehistoric man-made structure similar to the mounds at Mounds State Park in Anderson. These prehistoric stone circles and structures are mysterious, and experts still don’t quite know their purposes. However, plenty of theories about them are out there.
Brighton is a seaside resort town along the English Channel in the county of Sussex. For those of you who are fans of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Brighton is the place where Lydia travelled with Colonel Forster’s wife. It boasts attractions like beaches, Brighton Palace Pier, the British Airways i360 viewing tower, and the Royal Pavilion, a seaside pleasure palace built by King George IV that is now a museum.
Dover, also along the coast, is a very important English town in terms of its military value. The town has historically been a strategic point to fend off invasions since Roman times. Dover Castle is testimony to this throughout English history. Also of note are the famous whites cliffs of Dover thanks to the chalk found along the coast.
The county of Durham is in northern England and like all of England, rich with history. The word comes from the Old English word for hill (“dun”) and Norse word for island (“holme”) reflecting the mixed peoples that lived in that region of England thanks to the Viking invasions of the Middle Ages. Places of note are Durham Cathedral, Durham Castle, The Bowes Museum, Raby Castle, Beamish: The Living Museum of the North, and the town of Bishop Auckland.
If you are looking for adventure, try hiking or boating in Lake District National Park in the county of Cumbria in northwest England. The countryside there is beautiful and filled with valleys, mountains, coasts, villages, and lakes!
Some other places of note that we didn’t visit are York, Canterbury, Bath, Hadrian’s Wall, Oxford, Cambridge, Hastings, and the list could continue. Due to time constraints, we could not delve into the county of Cornwall of Poldark fame at all, but try looking into some of the seaside towns like Truro or Falmouth. Cornwall is also famous for Arthurian legends, which is embodied by Tintagel Castle. To see all of Rick Steves’ episodes on England and other countries in the United Kingdom, visit the Rick Steves' Europe YouTube channel and find the Great Britain playlist.
Culture
The bestselling thriller of all time, now available in a beautiful deluxe edition with French Flaps—a timeless tale of suspense in which ten strangers, each with a dark secret, are mysteriously invited to a mansion on an uninhabited island and killed off, one by one.
Hailed in The Washington Post Book World as "a definitive synthesis of the best editions of recent decades," the massive one-volume Oxford Shakespeare was based on eight years of full-time research by a team of distinguished British and American scholars. The result of the most fundamental rethinking of the text and presentation of Shakespeare's works ever undertaken, it offered many remarkable innovations features, including a new chronological order, revised stage directions, modern spelling and punctuation, and two full versions of King Lear--as originally written and as revised later for performance. The Complete Oxford Shakespeare divides this excellent book into three handy volumes. It contains all the innovative features of the original, including a lucid General Introduction by Stanley Wells, and brief introductions to each work. It has been organized into Histories, Comedies, and Tragedies, with the plays grouped in chronological order in each volume.
In this British comedy series, London's leading surgeon, Dr. Martin, suddenly develops a phobia about blood, and moves to the hamlet of Portwenn. Now a general practitioner, Martin becomes the sleepy little burg's sole physician. But Martin's lack of bedside manners (or any manners at all!) soon puts him at odds with the town's eccentric citizenry, resulting in some difficult, and hilarious, moments.
To see what other great British television programs we have in our collection, try an advanced subject search here for “Television programs -- Great Britain.”
A one-volume edition charting Arthur Dent's odyssey through space in the first four titles in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series.
Multiple copies available through our book club collection. Make a discussion group of it! Call us at Maring-Hunt or Kennedy Library for discussion questions and tips on how to run a successful book club.
The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien's three-volume epic, is set in the imaginary world of Middle-earth - home to many strange beings, and most notably hobbits, a peace-loving "little people," cheerful and shy. Since its original British publication in 1954-55, the saga has entranced readers of all ages. It is at once a classic myth and a modern fairy tale. Critic Michael Straight has hailed it as one of the "very few works of genius in recent literature." Middle-earth is a world receptive to poets, scholars, children, and all other people of good will. Donald Barr has described it as "a scrubbed morning world, and a ringing nightmare world...especially sunlit, and shadowed by perils very fundamental, of a peculiarly uncompounded darkness." The story of this world is one of high and heroic adventure. Barr compared it to Beowulf, C.S. Lewis to Orlando Furioso, W.H. Auden to The Thirty-nine Steps. In fact the saga is sui generis - a triumph of imagination which springs to life within its own framework and on its own terms.
Often considered the foundation of political liberalism, John Locke's Two Treatises of Government was first published anonymously in 1689, in the wake of England's Glorious Revolution. In The First Treatise of Government, Locke refutes the idea of divine monarchy, while The Second Treatise of Government articulates Locke's philosophy of government, which he based upon his theories of natural rights and the social contract. In Locke's view, governments' legitimacy is based upon their performance of their proper functions-preservation of the life, liberty, and property rights of their citizens, and protection from those who seek to violate these rights. A radical doctrine at the time of its publication, Locke's theories provided a philosophical basis for many of the principles behind the American Revolution. More than 300 years after the publication of the Two Treatises of Government, Locke's ideas continue to spark debate. A must-listen for anyone interested in the foundations of contemporary political ideology, Locke's hugely influential work will retain its relevance for generations to come.
Available through Hoopla.
In A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, Mary Wollstonecraft tackles the wasted potential she sees in women, refusing to see them as inferior to men; she decries their limitations and suggests that they are worthy of an equal standard of education, and that they should be taught to develop their own reason, not simply how to gain a man. Written in 1792, at the height of the French Revolution, A Vindication is an eloquent and persuasive response to the prevailing attitudes of the time. It is the original feminist manifesto.
Available through Hoopla.
Online Resources
For more English authors, try this Goodreads list of novels and plays to build your England To Read list. If you enjoy art, check out the topic of England on Google Arts and Culture. Also, artuk.org is a charity devoted to making British art accessible to anyone who wishes to view it, partnering with over 3,300 institutions.
Food
Once known for its watery potatoes, stringy mutton, and grayed vegetables, London is now considered to be the most vibrant city on the global food map. The London Cookbook reflects the contemporary energy and culinary rebirth of this lively, hip, sophisticated, and very international city. It is a love letter to the city and an insider's guide to its most delicious haunts, as well as a highly curated and tested collection of the city's best recipes. This timeless book explores London's incredibly diverse cuisine through an eclectic mix of dishes, from The Cinnamon Club's Seared Aubergine Steaks with Sesame and Tamarind to the River Cafe's Tagliatelle with Lemon, and from Tramshed's Indian Rock Chicken Curry to Nopi's Sage and Cardamom Gin. Striking the perfect balance between armchair travel and approachable home cooking, The London Cookbook is both a resource and keepsake, a book as much for the well-travelled cook as for the dreaming novice.
For Anglophiles and fans of food television, where British figures such as Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, and Gordon Ramsay have a significant presence. A home-cooking British food book by an American who interprets, translates, and writes for the American kitchen.
"A collection of more than 180 appealing everyday recipes from the bestselling author of the River Cottage series"--Provided by publisher. Committed to ethical produced, seasonal food and a concern for the environment, Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall is known for his River Cottage series as well as his campaigns for environmental issues relating to food sustainability.
Enhance your enjoyment of the perfect cup of tea with delectable teatime treats. Tea and Cookies by Rick Rodgers—award-winning cooking teacher and author of more than 25 acclaimed cookbooks, including the Seasonal Gatherings and 101 series—is an exquisite gift book on the history and culture of tea that includes practical information on the many varieties available to tea lovers and delicious recipes for cookies to serve with each cup.
Many famous chefs come from England. Check out what we have in our collection from Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson, Mary Berry, and Paul Hollywood!
Online Resources
Try searching online as well for traditional British foods and recipes to see what’s out there! Here’s what we found:
History
The Middle Ages re-created through the cast of pilgrims in The Canterbury Tales.
Having won Whitbread and Somerset Maugham honors for fiction and James Tait Black honors for biography, Ackroyd launched an ambitious multivolume history of England in 2011 that has now reached its fifth installment.
Try searching for Peter Ackroyd in the Muncie Public Library catalog to see if we have prior installments of Ackroyd’s English history series.
"The English and Their History presents the momentous story of England "first as an idea, and then as a kingdom, as a country, a people and a culture." Here, in a single volume, is a fresh and comprehensive account of the English and their history. With extraordinary insight, Robert Tombs examines language, literature, law, religion, politics, and more while investigating the sources of England's collective memory and belief. The English and Their History spans 700,000 years, from the island's very first inhabitants to the present day, stopping along the way to recount the tales of conquerors, kings, and queens; a nation's myths and legends, facts and extraordinary truths. No history of England has come close to matching the scale and scope of this historical masterwork--with an eye for detail to rival his ambition, Tombs has managed to cover every significant happening and development over hundreds of thousands of years while accessibly explaining how they connect. But The English and Their History is more a work of narrative nonfiction than one of reference or record, expertly guiding the reader from footprints in the mud of early Homo sapiens through Shakespeare, Reformation, revolution, and industrialization in a narrative stretching all the way to the present"-- Provided by publisher.
By 1941, Winston Churchill had come to believe that the outcome of World War II rested on the battle for the Atlantic. A grand strategy game was devised by Captain Gilbert Roberts and a group of ten Wrens (members of the Women's Royal Naval Service) assigned to his team in an attempt to reveal the tactics behind the vicious success of the German U-boats. Played on a linoleum floor divided into painted squares, it required model ships to be moved across a make-believe ocean in a manner reminiscent of the childhood game, Battleship. Through play, the designers developed "Operation Raspberry," a counter maneuver that helped turn the tide of World War II.
In 1848, the British East India Company, having lost its monopoly on the tea trade, engaged Robert Fortune, a Scottish gardener, botanist, and plant hunter, to make a clandestine trip into the interior of China-territory forbidden to foreigners-to steal the closely guarded secrets of tea horticulture and manufacturing. For All the Tea in China is the remarkable account of Fortune's journeys into China-a thrilling narrative that combines history, geography, botany, natural science, and old-fashioned adventure. Disguised in Mandarin robes, Fortune ventured deep into the country, confronting pirates, hostile climate, and his own untrustworthy men as he made his way to the epicenter of tea production, the remote Wu Yi Shan hills. One of the most daring acts of corporate espionage in history, Fortune's pursuit of China's ancient secret makes for a classic nineteenth-century adventure tale, one in which the fate of empires hinges on the feats of one extraordinary man.
Available through Hoopla
An authoritative and sweeping history of Britain from the Romans to the present day. The Story of Britain is an accessible one-volume history that clearly depicts Britain's origins―and explains how the past shaped the nation's current identity. He begins the story of Britain from the very earliest recorded Celtic times, and with this new edition has now brought it up to date via the Blair years and into the present day of Brexit Britain. A magnificently eloquent volume, the narrative chronicles two thousand years of Britain's history, the triumph of its people, the glory of its culture, and its dramatic influence on other nations of the world, especially the United States. It is a remarkable achievement and, with his passion, enthusiasm and wide-ranging knowledge, Strong is the ideal narrator. The book is ideally suited for everyone who cares about Britain's past.
For other great books and resources on English history, do an advanced subject search here for "Great Britain -- History."
Online Resources
English Heritage is an organization that prides itself on providing historical experiences for people outside of a book and where the history really happened. On the website, you can learn about the story of England from prehistory to the 20th Century. The BBC also has a timeline of British History available for viewing.
Music
Autobiography is baked into Adele's art. She called her first album 19, naming it after her age at the time of writing, and like a musical, millennial Michael Apted, each successive album represented another chapter in her life's story. Fueled by heartbreak, her roiling 2011 record 21 ushered in her adulthood and superstardom, two acts that were instrumental in the creation of 25, the 2015 album purportedly documenting her mid-twenties. Between 21 and 25, Adele fell in love and started a family, an event that would surely be grist for a memoirist's mill if Adele was as confessional a singer/songwriter as she appears, but she is not. Like 21 before it, the love that flows through 25 is either curdled or lost, love that can no longer replenish or nourish. It is certainly not the kind of love that would arise from a satisfying, stable relationship, but it is indeed the kind of love that is recognizable from 21: love that hurts, not heals…. Fittingly, 25 also plays better over the long haul, its march of slow songs steadily revealing subtle emotional or musical distinctions. Make no mistake, all 11 songs are of a piece -- they're shaded by melancholy, gaining most of their power through performance -- but that cohesive sound only accentuates how Adele has definitively claimed this arena of dignified heartbreak as her own. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Conventional wisdom holds that the Beatles intended Abbey Road as a grand farewell, a suspicion seemingly confirmed by the elegiac note Paul McCartney strikes at the conclusion of its closing suite. It's hard not to interpret "And in the end/the love you take/is equal to the love you make" as a summation not only of Abbey Road but perhaps of the group's entire career, a lovely final sentiment. The truth is perhaps a bit messier than this. The Beatles had tentative plans to move forward after the September 1969 release of Abbey Road, plans that quickly fell apart at the dawn of the new decade, and while the existence of that goal calls into question the intentionality of the album as a finale, it changes not a thing about what a remarkable goodbye the record is. In many ways, Abbey Road stands apart from the rest of the Beatles' catalog, an album that gains considerable strength from its lush, enveloping production -- a recording so luxuriant, it glosses over aesthetic differences between the group's main three songwriters and ties together a series of disconnected unfinished songs into a complete suite. Where Sgt. Pepper pioneered such mind-bending aural techniques, Abbey Road truly seized the possibilities of the studio and, in doing so, pointed the way forward to the album rock era of the 1970s.
This album includes Bohemian Rhapsody , Another One Bites the Dust, Killer Queen, Fat Bottomed Girls, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, Flash, Seven Seas of Rhye, We Will Rock You, We Are the Champions, and more!
If a series of unfortunate comparisons (like the ones to follow) cause listeners to equate British vocalist Amy Winehouse with Macy Gray, it's only natural. Both come on like a hybrid of Billie Holiday and Lauryn Hill who's had a tipple and then attempted one more late-night set at a supper club than they should have. Despite her boozy persona and loose-limbed delivery, though, Winehouse is an excellent vocalist possessing both power and subtlety, the latter an increasingly rare commodity among contemporary female vocalists (whether jazz or R&B). What lifts her above Macy Gray is the fact that her music and her career haven't been marketed within an inch of their life. Instead of Gray's stale studio accompaniments, Winehouse has talented musicians playing loose charts behind her with room for a few solos. Instead of a series of vocal mellifluities programmed to digital perfection, Winehouse's record has the feeling of being allowed to grow on its own -- without being meddled with and fussed over (and losing its soul in the process).... ~ John Bush
Muncie Public Library has a number of materials on these artists and more! Simply go to our catalog and type in the musical artist that you are looking for in the search bar to peruse our selection. If you would like to see what other musicians are from England, go to your favorite internet browser and type in “musicians from England” or “music groups from England” to see a list.
Online Resources
Check out YouTube for music from your favorite English bands!
People
This provocative biography tells the story of how an ambitious young Londoner became England’s greatest novelist. Focused on the 1830s, it portrays a restless, uncertain Dickens who could not decide on a career path. Through twists and turns, the author traces a double transformation: in reinventing himself Dickens reinvented the form of the novel.
Andrews follows up the No. 1 New York Times best-selling Home, which recounted her tough upbringing, with another memoir that shows how she came into her shining career in film and the attendant issues of her personal life. With a 300,000-copy first printing.
The Lost Explorer: Finding Mallory on Mount Everest by Conrad Anker
On June 8, 1924, George Leigh Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappeared somewhere near the summit of Mount Everest, leaving open the tantalizing question of whether they had reached the summit of Everest twenty-nine years before Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay. In 1999, climber Conrad Anker discovered Mallory's body on Everest and helped solve one of the greatest mysteries in the history of adventure and exploration. In The Lost Explorer, Anker and historian David Roberts craft a dramatic account of the expeditions of 1924 and 1999, and ultimately capture the passion and spirit of two men driven to test themselves against nature at its most brutal.
"Christened Reginald Dwight, he was a shy boy with Buddy Holly glasses who grew up in the London suburb of Pinner and dreamed of becoming a pop star. By the age of twenty-three he was performing his first gig in America, facing an astonished audience in his bright yellow dungarees, a star-spangled T-shirt, and boots with wings. Elton John had arrived and the music world would never be the same again. His life has been full of drama, from the early rejection of his work with song-writing partner Bernie Taupin to spinning out of control as a chart-topping superstar; from half-heartedly trying to drown himself in his LA swimming pool to disco-dancing with Princess Diana and Queen Elizabeth; from friendships with John Lennon, Freddie Mercury, and George Michael to setting up his AIDS Foundation to conquering Broadway with Aida, The Lion King, and Billy Elliot the Musical. All the while Elton was hiding a drug addiction that would grip him for over a decade. In Me, Elton also writes powerfully about getting clean and changing his life, about finding love with David Furnish and becoming a father. In a voice that is warm, humble, and open, this is Elton on his music and his relationships, his passions and his mistakes. This is a story that will stay with you by a living legend"--Amazon.
Meave Leakey's thrilling, high-stakes memoir--written with her daughter Samira--encapsulates her distinguished life and career on the front lines of the hunt for our human origins, a quest made all the more notable by her stature as a woman in a highly competitive, male-dominated field.
Check out our Biography collection on famous English people as well as other British nationalities by going to the Advanced Search feature in our catalog and doing a subject search for “Great Britain -- Biography.”
Online Resources
Ball State University Libraries offers a great resource on British biographies called the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography through its online database collection. You will need a BSU login outside of campus, but you can purchase a computer pass for one dollar within Bracken Library in order to get access to this interesting database.
Muncie Public Library has a print version of this called The Concise Dictionary of National Biography: From Earliest Times to 1985 that patrons can reference. Unfortunately, this resource cannot be checked out, but librarians can show you how to make copies of any entries that you would like.
Religion
For the 350th anniversary of the 1662 edition intimately familiar to our most enduring writers, an exquisite deluxe edition of the Anglican prayer book and literary masterpiece.As essential to the canon as the Bible and the plays of Shakespeare, The Book of Common Prayer has been in daily use for centuries. Originally produced for the Church of England in the sixteenth century by Thomas Cranmer, who was burned at the stake upon the accession to the throne of the ardently Catholic Queen Mary, it contains the entire liturgy as first presented in English-as well as some of the oldest phrases to be used by modern English speakers. Here are daily prayers, scripture readings, psalm recitals, and the services marking such religious milestones as baptism, confirmation, and marriage, all from the 1662 edition, whose influence can be seen in the work of some of the greatest writers in English literature, from Donne and Swift to Austen and the Brontës.This beautiful deluxe edition includes a new introduction by The New Yorker's book critic James Wood, discussing how The Book of Common Prayer has influenced the English language and literature.
John Wesley was an eighteenth-century preacher, theologian, and cleric who helped found the Methodist movement with his brother Charles. Arguably one of the most important Christian voices of his day, Wesley wrote in his journal on a daily basis, capturing his views, thoughts, feelings, and prayers on paper to share with the world. The journal contains fifty years' worth of this great man's reflections and experiences and is widely considered one of the great spiritual classics.
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Online Resources
The Church of England is the national church of the country although many religious denominations comprise the country of England. If you would like to learn more about the Church of England, visit the church’s official website.
Science
Stephen Hawking was recognized as one of the greatest minds of our time and a figure of inspiration after defying his ALS diagnosis at age twenty-one. He is known for both his breakthroughs in theoretical physics as well as his ability to make complex concepts accessible for all, and was beloved for his mischievous sense of humor. At the time of his death, Hawking was working on a final project: a book compiling his answers to the "big" questions that he was so often posed--questions that ranged beyond his academic field. Within these pages, he provides his personal views on our biggest challenges as a human race, and where we, as a planet, are heading next. Each section will be introduced by a leading thinker offering his or her own insight into Professor Hawking's contribution to our understanding. The book will also feature a foreword from Academy Award winning actor Eddie Redmayne, who portrayed Hawking in the film The Theory of Everything, and an afterword by Hawking's daughter, Lucy Hawking, as well as personal photographs and additional archival material.
Today Sir Isaac Newton and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz are generally considered the twin independent inventors of calculus, and they are both credited with giving mathematics its greatest push forward since the time of the Greeks. Had they known each other under different circumstances, they might have been friends. But in their own lifetimes, the joint glory of calculus was not enough for either and each declared war against the other, openly and in secret.
This long and bitter dispute has been swept under the carpet by historians -- perhaps because it reveals Newton and Leibniz in their worst light -- but The Calculus Wars tells the full story in narrative form for the first time. This vibrant and gripping scientific potboiler ultimately exposes how these twin mathematical giants were brilliant, proud, at times mad and, in the end, completely human.
Also, check out Sir Isaac Newton’s The Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.
A thrilling account of the worst cholera outbreak in Victorian London and a brilliant exploration of how Dr John Snow's solution revolutionised the way people think about disease, cities, science and the modern world.
Never mind the prominent role particle physicist Fabiola Gianotti played in CERN's discovery of the Higgs boson, women just don't get the encouragement they need and deserve to pursue careers in science. This handy book, with profiles of 52 women from Nobel Prize winners to major science innovators, should help.
Be sure to check out the profiles for Elsie Widdowson, Ada Lovelace, Dorothy Hodgkin, Mary Anning, Rosalind Franklin, Anne McLaren, Mary Cartwright, and Hertha Ayrton, all of whom are English scientists.
Award-winning author William Rosen tells the story of the men responsible for the Industrial Revolution and the machine that drove it-the steam engine.
Easily the most influential book published in the nineteenth century, Darwin's The Origin of Species is also that most unusual phenomenon, an altogether readable discussion of a scientific subject. On its appearance in 1859 it was immediately recognized by enthusiasts and detractors alike as a work of the greatest importance: its revolutionary theory of evolution by means of natural selection provoked a furious reaction that continues to this day." "The Origin of Species is here published together with Darwin's earlier Voyage of the 'Beagle.' This 1839 account of the journeys to South America and the Pacific islands that first put Darwin on the track of his remarkable theories derives an added charm from his vivid description of his travels in exotic places and his eye for the piquant detail.
The founding of a zoo in London is a story of jaw-dropping audacity in the Age of Empire. It is the story of diplomats, traders, scientists, and aristocratic amateur naturalists charged by Sir Stamford Raffles with collecting amazing creatures from all four corners of the globe. It is the story of the first 'zoo' in history, a weird and wonderful oasis in the heart of the filthy, swirling city of Dickensian London, and of the incredible characters, both human and animal, that populated it--from Charles Darwin and Queen Victoria to Obaysch the celebrity hippo, the first that anyone in Britain had ever seen. This is a tale of visionaries and adventurers, of science and empire, and of Victorian grandeur and romanticism. And it is the saga of a dizzying age of transformation and industrialization, a time of change unmatched before or since. This the extraordinary story of London Zoo.
Online Resources
The English have a strong, scientific tradition that is well-represented by the Royal Society, an organization that is the United Kingdom’s national science academy. It is “dedicated to promoting excellence in science for the benefit of humanity” (The Royal Society, 2020). Similarly, the British Science Association is a charity that seeks to diversify the scientific field in order to help combat the challenges faced by the world.
To see some more famous English scientists, type “famous English scientists” into your favorite browser’s search bar and check out the list. Also, check out this article from the Royal Society on influential women in British science history.
Teen Resources
With this cookbook, dining a la Hogwarts is as easy as Banoffi Pie With more than 150 easy-to-make recipes, tips, and techniques, you can indulge in spellbindingly delicious meals drawn straight from the pages of your favorite Potter stories. With a dash of magic and a drop of creativity, you'll conjure up the entrees, desserts, snacks, and drinks you need to transform ordinary Muggle meals into magical culinary masterpieces, sure make even Mrs. Weasley proud.
Frances was nine when she first saw the fairies. They were tiny men, dressed all in green. Nobody but Frances saw them, so her cousin Elsie painted paper fairies and took photographs of them "dancing" around Frances to make the grown-ups stop teasing. The girls promised each other they would never, ever tell that the photos weren't real. But how were Frances and Elsie supposed to know that their photographs would fall into the hands of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle? And who would have dreamed that the man who created the famous detective Sherlock Holmes believed ardently in fairies -- and wanted very much to see one? Mary Losure presents this enthralling true story as a fanciful narrative featuring the original Cottingley fairy photos and previously unpublished drawings and images from the family's archives. A delight for everyone with a fondness for fairies, and for anyone who has ever started something that spun out of control.
Warren takes you on a journey into the workhouses, slums, factories, and schools of Victorian England, and into the world of Dickens. She shows now he used his pen to do battle on behalf of the poor, becoming one of the great reformers of his or any age.
Check out Passport to Another Land: England to learn more about the culture, language, and traditions of this beautiful country.
