What Others Say About My Books

Just saw the first review of my newest book, Destination Heartland: A Guide to Discovering the Midwest’s Remarkable Past. I’m happy to say that the reviewer understood what I hoped the book would accomplish: get folks to explore the Heartland. Here’s the review from New City Magazine.

Pigs, Pork, and Heartland Hogs: From Wild Boar to Baconfest has been named to the ALA’s Choice Reviews Outstanding Academic Titles list for 2019!

And Choice Reviews wrote about the book: “Clampitt, an independent scholar, presents a multidisciplinary homage to the pig, the first animal to be domesticated as a source of food and the most commonly eaten meat across the globe…. A highly readable, engaging consideration of the history and culture of pork.”

A few more reviews:
Heartland Hogs is a captivating study on the history of the relationship between humans and pigs. From the pleasure of consuming bacon, chops and ham to controversies surrounding the hog farming industry, Cynthia Clampitt covers every angle of our longstanding alliance with the mighty swine.
— Heather Lauer, Author, Bacon: A Love Story

A refreshingly thorough and fair treatment of an animal so integral to our country’s long and complex food history. A go-to book for anyone interested in the history and geography of pigs, how we’ve used what they provide, and how they will continue to be one of the world’s most important food resources.
— Christopher R. Laingen, Eastern Illinois University

And if you want a lot of details, here is an interview done by the Fooditor website: https://fooditor.com/story-how-midwest-won-pigs/

But Midwest Maize also keeps gaining fans. Corn is the story of America. It is the golden thread that ties together our history, our economy, and most likely our future. But the story is also a lot of fun, from vampires to Fritos, John Deere to the Chicago Bears, and vastly more.

Los Angeles Magazine recommended it as summer reading for foodies. Blog Critics and Chicago Book Review also had nice things to say. (And Chicago Book Review also named it one of the best nonfiction books of 2015.)

An article and interview, rather than a review is this article from the Cleveland Plain Dealer. It does include excerpts from the book–and a link at the bottom of the article will take you to one of the recipes from the book, just in case you want to find out what folks were eating in the 1800s.

And here is what the experts were saying even before the book came out.

“A comprehensive, clear-eyed view of the plant that made America what it is today. The author’s focus on the Midwest provides both a fresh look and a splendid overview of the importance of this central region, not only in building our nation but also in establishing our place in the world’s agriculture and economy.”
–Betty Fussell, author of The Story of Corn

“Cynthia Clampitt tells the lively saga of maize’s rise from obscure origins in Mesoamerica to the Midwest’s–and America’s– most significant crop. It is consumed in seemingly unending ways, from straight off the cob to ingredients in thousands of processed foods. It is the main ingredient in animal feed and it is even converted into the ethanol that powers our cars. Corn is inextricably linked to Midwestern history, and Clampitt tells the incredible tale well. Midwest Maize is carefully researched, insightful and delightful to read.”
–Andrew F. Smith, author of Eating History: Thirty Turning Points in the Making of American History

“Cynthia Clampitt’s Midwest Maize is the most complete book on the subject we have encountered. . . . Readers will not want to miss a single detail of this modest grain’s story as it rises from a simple foodstuff for Native Americans found here by the early settlers, to one of the most important farm products of today’s century. Brava. This superb book, clearly a work of enormous curiosity and passion, is truly a job very well done!”
–Linda and Fred Griffith, authors of Onions, Onions, Onions, winner of the James Beard Award

“Cynthia Clampitt has given us a richly detailed cultural history of corn, from its origins in Mexico to the mega-crop that is planted on millions of acres of Midwestern land today. She also provides a balanced discussion of corn’s role in providing both food and fuel in the years to come. This book is a must-read for anyone following the debates over food, land use, and healthy environments in today’s world.”
–John C. Hudson, author of Making the Corn Belt

“This book contributes to scholarship in foodways through its careful ‘biography’ of a single crop and also by demonstrating how technology, geographic features, settlement history, economics, and politics both shape and are shaped by food culture. . . . It makes an excellent point that corn in the Midwest provides a microcosm for understanding the impact of the choices we make as well as offering possible solutions.”
–Lucy M. Long, author of Regional American Food Culture

And finally, how the University of Illinois Press describes the book:
Food historian Cynthia Clampitt pens the epic story of what happened when Mesoamerican farmers bred a nondescript grass into a staff of life so prolific, so protean, that it represents nothing less than one of humankind’s greatest achievements. Blending history with expert reportage, she traces the disparate threads that have woven corn into the fabric of our diet, politics, economy, science, and cuisine. At the same time she explores its future as a source of energy and the foundation of seemingly limitless green technologies. The result is a bourbon-to-biofuels portrait of the astonishing plant that built a nation–and sustains the world.

Midwest Maize Honors
Midwest Maize was short-listed for the Jon Gjerde Prize for Best Book on Midwestern History published in 2015.
The book was named one of the nine best nonfiction books of 2015 by Chicago Book Review.
Short-listed for grand prize, Eric Hoffer Award.
Honorable mention in Culture category, Eric Hoffer Award.