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A lively study of the deep meanings hidden in common things and their power to make profound changes in the world around us

Table of Contents

Foreword | Not by Bread Alone / William Cronon

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Corn, Beans, and Just Another Squash | 10,000 B.C.E. to 1600

2. “The Times Wherein Old Pompion Was a Saint” | From Pumpkin Beer to Pumpkin Pie, 1600 to 1799

3. Thoreau Sits on a Pumpkin | The Making of a Rural New England Icon, 1800 to 1860

4. “Wonderfully Grand and Colossal” | The Pumpkin and the Nation, 1861 to 1899

5. Jack-o’-Lantern Smiles | Americans Celebrate the Fall Harvest with Pumpkins, 1900 to 1945

6. Atlantic Giants to Jack-Be-Littles | The Changing Nature of Pumpkins, 1946 to the Present

7. Pulling Up a Pig Sty to Put in a Pumpkin Patch | The Changing Nature of American Rural Economies, 1946 to the Present

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Cindy Ott is assistant professor of American studies at Saint Louis University.

Reviews

"From the symbolism of pumpkins in classical and medieval mythology, to locavores and harvest festivals, Ott's paean to pumpkins is important, entertaining, and enlightening." Warren Belasco, author of Food, the Key Concepts "An original, carefully researched, engagingly written, even playful and witty foray into the exploding field of food history by an up-and-coming star in the field. How appropriate that so delightful a vegetable has an equally delightful book to pay it tribute." from the Foreword by William Cronon