New Student Research

Liana Epstein, Yale College Class of 2014 "The Great American Writers’ Cookbook"written for Professor Stuart's Fall 2012 English 121 class:
Writing About Food

An excerpt: "The late 70s were politically tumultuous as scientific experimentation increased and the American public became wary of new technology following disasters such as the 1979 Three Mile Island nuclear accident. By 1981, the nuclear arms race had intensified to a peak tension where Mutually Assured Destruction by the US and Soviet Union was generally accepted. These years also witnessed John Lennon’s assassination, the eruption of Mount St. Helens, and the tragedy of the space shuttle Columbia. The Great American Writers certainly had enough serious material to work with. This cookbook provided humor to diffuse some of the apprehension many Americans were likely feeling in response to these historical events."

Read the essay: Liana Epstein, The Great American Writers' Cookbook

About the book: The Great American Writers' Cookbook, edited by Dean Faulkner Wells and with an introduction by Craig Claiborne, Oxford: Yoknapatawpha Press, c1981.