Salsa: NOT THE DANCE

Think back to your US history classes—how much time did you spend studying Native American perspectives? According to some experts, it probably wasn’t much. History professor and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz fills that knowledge gap with An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States. Published in 2014, this book is a retelling of US history that makes two major arguments: First, the US’s global success can be traced directly to its genocide of Native Americans. Second, indigenous resistance holds the key to a more peaceful future.

In this guide, we’ll discuss life in precolonial America and explain what led Europe to colonize the Americas. Then, we’ll explain how patterns of genocide and resistance have played out over the course of US history. Our commentary will provide additional information and alternative ideas about the historical events Dunbar-Ortiz covers. We’ll also explore social issues related to colonization, explain how Native American resistance efforts intersect with other movements, and provide an update on US-indigenous relations in the 21st century.

Salt is one of the cheapest, most commonplace items: It sells for less than a loaf of bread, and during winter, we scatter it liberally on roads and sidewalks. However, there was once a time when salt was considered rare and valuable. In Salt, Mark Kurlansky argues that throughout much of human history, salt was a precious commodity—one that significantly shaped civilizations.

In this guide, we’ll present Kurlansky’s history of salt, describing the role it played in nourishing our ancestors, driving innovation, building empires—and even provoking rebellions. You’ll learn why salting food isn’t just about improving its flavor, why salt harvesting causes sinkholes, and how salt played an important role in several independence movements. Throughout this guide, we’ll supplement Kurlansky’s history of salt with relevant concepts in chemistry, food science, and geology. We’ll also update the book’s ideas with recent research on how we harvest and use salt today.

In The Silk Roads, historian Peter Frankopan identifies Central and Western Asia as the crossroads of human civilization, the birthplace of the world’s major religions, the battleground where the great empires of history rose and fell, and the garden from which today’s global economy first sprouted. He argues that understanding the East is crucial to our understanding of the world—particularly for Westerners who have lost this global perspective.

In ancient times, trade routes known as the Silk Roads first brought European merchants to the luxury markets of the East, enabling the flow of both material goods and ideas from East to West. According to Frankopan, the Silk Roads have always been history’s crucial connection point, spreading not just luxury goods like silk and spices, but also technology, religion, languages, cultures, ideologies, and even conflicts and diseases. In this guide, we explore Frankopan’s history of the Silk Roads, while also incorporating insights and feedback from other scholars to supplement his analysis.

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal shows how the fast food industry has reshaped the American economic system and imprinted itself on the nation’s culture since the 1950s. The industry has profoundly reshaped how American food is produced, marketed, and consumed. The book explores fast food’s exploitative marketing and labor practices, destruction of the nation’s independent farmers, responsibility for the spread of deadly foodborne pathogens like E. coli, and creation of a national obesity epidemic. Fast Food Nation shows us how fast food has exerted a decidedly negative influence on American life.

Think back to your US history classes—how much time did you spend studying Native American perspectives? According to some experts, it probably wasn’t much. History professor and activist Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz fills that knowledge gap with An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States. Published in 2014, this book is a retelling of US history that makes two major arguments: First, the US’s global success can be traced directly to its genocide of Native Americans. Second, indigenous resistance holds the key to a more peaceful future.

In this guide, we’ll discuss life in precolonial America and explain what led Europe to colonize the Americas. Then, we’ll explain how patterns of genocide and resistance have played out over the course of US history. Our commentary will provide additional information and alternative ideas about the historical events Dunbar-Ortiz covers. We’ll also explore social issues related to colonization, explain how Native American resistance efforts intersect with other movements, and provide an update on US-indigenous relations in the 21st century.

Salt is one of the cheapest, most commonplace items: It sells for less than a loaf of bread, and during winter, we scatter it liberally on roads and sidewalks. However, there was once a time when salt was considered rare and valuable. In Salt, Mark Kurlansky argues that throughout much of human history, salt was a precious commodity—one that significantly shaped civilizations.

In this guide, we’ll present Kurlansky’s history of salt, describing the role it played in nourishing our ancestors, driving innovation, building empires—and even provoking rebellions. You’ll learn why salting food isn’t just about improving its flavor, why salt harvesting causes sinkholes, and how salt played an important role in several independence movements. Throughout this guide, we’ll supplement Kurlansky’s history of salt with relevant concepts in chemistry, food science, and geology. We’ll also update the book’s ideas with recent research on how we harvest and use salt today.

Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal shows how the fast food industry has reshaped the American economic system and imprinted itself on the nation’s culture since the 1950s. The industry has profoundly reshaped how American food is produced, marketed, and consumed. The book explores fast food’s exploitative marketing and labor practices, destruction of the nation’s independent farmers, responsibility for the spread of deadly foodborne pathogens like E. coli, and creation of a national obesity epidemic. Fast Food Nation shows us how fast food has exerted a decidedly negative influence on American life.

American society is inundated with food. There are thousands of options of what to eat and a myriad of ways to eat it. So why does food need defending? In In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan distinguishes between real food and processed food and how the reliance on the latter leads to a society plagued by Western diseases.

From our reliance on industry and science to dictate what we should and shouldn’t eat to the loss of traditional food cultures, the Western diet has wreaked havoc on Americans and created one of the unhealthiest societies in the world. But we can reverse the damage if we repair our relationship with food and support the health of the food chain.

Salt is one of the cheapest, most commonplace items: It sells for less than a loaf of bread, and during winter, we scatter it liberally on roads and sidewalks. However, there was once a time when salt was considered rare and valuable. In Salt, Mark Kurlansky argues that throughout much of human history, salt was a precious commodity—one that significantly shaped civilizations.

In this guide, we’ll present Kurlansky’s history of salt, describing the role it played in nourishing our ancestors, driving innovation, building empires—and even provoking rebellions. You’ll learn why salting food isn’t just about improving its flavor, why salt harvesting causes sinkholes, and how salt played an important role in several independence movements. Throughout this guide, we’ll supplement Kurlansky’s history of salt with relevant concepts in chemistry, food science, and geology. We’ll also update the book’s ideas with recent research on how we harvest and use salt today.