I'm dying to go to the New England Booksellers' Association trade show this Saturday in Providence. It's the best way for a history writer to find out what's being published now and what each publishing company's marketing executives are pushing. As I begin a new book project, it's an ideal time to scan the field. The trade show hosts zads of publishers, including a multitude of the small presses. The one thing holding me back is that Saturday is the time that Ken and I typically spend together, often with Sophie in tow. I'll have to see how things go this week.

While working on the program for tonight's film and discussion, I've been repeatedly reminded of Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation:The Dark Side of the All-American Meal (published in the UK as Fast Food Nation: What the All-American Meal is Doing to the World). [If you follow the link, you will come to a "The Page You Requested Could Not Be Found." It can indeed be found. Enter "Fast Food Nation" into the Search field and go.]

Schlosser vividly describes factory farms and food-processing plants, pointing out how huge, often multinational corporations control agriculture and the food we eat in the U.S. He especially highlights the grueling, backbreaking, dangerous labor of the workers employed by these companies and the slave labor wages they pay.
I'm so glad this book is on the bestseller list again. Maybe America will wake up.