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cahistorygeek's review
3.0
Wonderfully illustrated but I had hoped for a bit more. Rather than discuss the types of ephemera as a whole and how they were used (when, where, why) the book essentially discusses each illustration in turn (and, as other reviewers mentioned, the text and the illustrations don't line up).
I'm not sure why it's in the California Studies in Food and Culture list, especially given the author's experience and leanings toward Philadelphia and the region. There is little mention of California and the West which is surprising given its agricultural and culinary wealth. (And whats up with so little mention of fruit crate labels- a California collectors dream in their own right?) There is great potential to address orientalism and perceptions of Native Americans and African Americans in the book. To be clear the author does bring up the stereotyping of blacks and Native Americans but a more nuanced discussion would be appreciated as well.
I think I expected a different type of book, but this was essentially an introduction to collecting. Not very helpful for the researcher/ scholar/ student but an interesting coffee table book.
I'm not sure why it's in the California Studies in Food and Culture list, especially given the author's experience and leanings toward Philadelphia and the region. There is little mention of California and the West which is surprising given its agricultural and culinary wealth. (And whats up with so little mention of fruit crate labels- a California collectors dream in their own right?) There is great potential to address orientalism and perceptions of Native Americans and African Americans in the book. To be clear the author does bring up the stereotyping of blacks and Native Americans but a more nuanced discussion would be appreciated as well.
I think I expected a different type of book, but this was essentially an introduction to collecting. Not very helpful for the researcher/ scholar/ student but an interesting coffee table book.
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