Books about Cornfields from Amazon.com

When Witold Rybczynski first heard about New Daleville, it was only a developer's idea, attached to ninety acres of cornfield an hour and a half west of Philadelphia Over the course of five years, Rybczynski met and talked to everyone involved in the building of this residential subdivision -- from the developers to the township leaders, whose approval they needed, to the home builders and engineers and, ultimately, the first families who moved in.

Always eloquent and illuminating, the award-winning author of Home and A Clearing in the Distance looks at this "neotraditional" project, with its houses built close together to encourage a sense of intimacy and community, and explains the trends in American domestic architecture -- from where we place our kitchens and fences to why our bathroomsget larger every year.

Last Harvest was voted one of the ten best books of 2008 by the editors of Planetizen, and as Publishers Weekly said, "Rybczynski provides historical and cultural perspectives in a style reminiscent of Malcolm Gladwell, debunking the myth of urban sprawl and explaining American homeowners' preference for single-family dwellings.".
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Residents of small towns in New England like to say "George Washington slept here," while citizens of the Illinois Valley like to say "Al Capone slept here."

As you can see, things are different in the Land of Lincoln

Scarface might or might not have laid his head to rest in the Illinois Valley - a region 70 miles southwest of Chicago - but there is evidence that lesser hoods slept there - sometimes for eternity.

Capone's Cornfields covers the rackets and racketeers of the Illinois Valley from the horse-and-buggy era to the Internet age. You'll read about bona fide pinstripe-clad Mafiosi such as Capone, Paul "The Waiter" Ricca and "Mad" Sam De Stefano. However, lesser known and less noxious viceroys of vice also appear in its pages.

In Capone's Cornfields, you'll be taken for a ride, but unlike some of the mobsters about which you'll read, you'll return safely.

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Price: $13.99 [Notify me when price goes down.]

"Political web sites and e-mail lists were novelties in 1996. By 2000, they were a news trend. By 2004, they will be a part of every electoral and policy campaign News-seekers, activists, and decision makers increasingly turn to the Net as a matter of course. The Civic Web delineates the basic issues, opportunities, and dilemmas posed by the introduction of computer-networked communications into U.S. national politics. Leading scholars from several academic disciplines join pioneer practitioners of online advocacy, discussion, and law in considering how the Internet can host, and even advance, enlightened self-government by a free people in a constitutional republic.".
Price: $15.95 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The perfect coffee table book for those who appreciate the finer elements of ordinary things, this beautifully photographed volume displays with the design flair of a museum show the ultimate iconic items. The thoughtful, intellectual--often irreverent--commentary on these commonplace things alongside the artistic photographs of each--over 75 in total--entertains with the search for soul in products that we know and probably use or have used. Whether they agree or disagree with the authors--and this is part of the fun--readers will delight in the homage to these things that we appreciate but rarely take the time to venerate. The martini, the peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a Mont Blanc pen--these things are not just drinks, foods or writing utensils, "they exhibit a rare and mysterious capacity to be just exactly what they ought to be," as the authors write. We get excited about them, not because they are the "best" but because they have an elusive combination of style, class and utility. The collection is astonishingly eclectic, yet with a flip through the pages readers instinctively understand the connection..
Price: $9.49 [Notify me when price goes down.]

The popularization of the Internet has shepherded in a revolution in business and personal communication. But how has online technology been used in mainstream American politics? Here, Michael Cornfield provides a comprehensive guide to how the Internet has been used in political campaigns. He shows, for example, how candidates such as George W. Bush and John McCain in 2000 - as well as political action committees and the media - struggled to figure out how to fit the Internet into their ongoing operations. Through a series of cases, he examines how candidates use the Web as a campaign tool and as a fund-raising mechanism and how voters use the Internet to become more knowledgable. He finds that while many political pundits have argued that the Internet can be a revolutionary force in politics, citizens and politicians alike have yet to find innovative uses that go beyond conventional political operations..
Price: $12.00 [Notify me when price goes down.]