The first Newberry Medal for children’s literature was awarded to Hendrik Van Loon for The Story of Mankind on June 22, 1922. Read more about the literature, films, and music of this era in On the Shore (see NOVELS).
Author: annsepstein@att.net
Ann S. Epstein is an award-winning writer of novels, short stories, memoirs, and essays.
Learn History Through Fiction: Products Created 100 Years Ago
Many products still known today were invented in the early 1900s-1920s. For example: Nestle Permanent Hair Wave (1905) Pyrex cookware (1915); Hydrox (1908) and Oreo (1912) cookies; Peter Pan Smooth Peanut Butter (1928); and Brillo (1913) and S.O.S. (1917) which stands for Save Our Saucepans and was named by the inventor’s wife. Also, the first issue of Reader’s Digest was published on February 05, 1922. Read about other products from this era in BEHIND THE STORY and learn more about popular culture before and after WWI in On the Shore (NOVELS).
Learn History Through Fiction: ID Tags a Cog in the Machinery of War
The first military ID tags were in issued 1906. Soldier got two tags, one to wear on their body, the other for the troop or ship record-keeper. Serial numbers were added to the tags in 1918, during WWI, due to the high casualty rates and the gruesome mutilation of bodies by the increasingly sophisticated machinery of warfare. Read more about WWI history and its effect on immigrant families in On the Shore (see NOVELS).
The Madison Review to Publish Golo’s Transport
I’m delighted to share the news that The Madison Review will publish my short story “Golo’s Transport” in the Spring 2018 issue (see SHORT STORIES). Here’s the story’s log line: In “Golo’s Transport,” an angry old man confronts the trauma of his parents sending him away on the Kindertransport from Germany to England on the eve of WW II. Soon after I finished the story, humanitarians suggested a “kindertransport” for children of Syrian refugees, adding to the manuscript’s timeliness. Here’s the website of The Madison Review if you’d like to see what else they publish: https://www.themadisonrevw.com/.
“The Five Percent Rule” Online at The Artist Unleashed
My craft essay “The Five Percent Rule: How Much Background Detail is Essential for Authenticity in Historical Fiction?” is now online at The Artist Unleashed website http://www.theartistunleashed.com/ If you’re curious about the other 95%, the interesting details that get left out, see BEHIND THE STORY.
Shout-Out to Vine Leaves Press
Vine Leaves Press (VLP) is an independent publishing house based in Australia, with an international staff and roster of authors, that offers something of value for every literate reader. Writers and readers depend on small presses like VLP to promote and disseminate the work of authors whose voices might otherwise not be heard. Under the leadership of the multi-talented Jessica Bell (writer, musician, artist), VLP publishes memoir, creative nonfiction, literary essay collections, novels, short story collections, poetry, vignette collections, and writing reference books. Please check out their website http://www.vineleavespress.com/ to find something for yourself and all the appreciative readers in your life.
What I’m Reading: What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories by Laura Shapiro
My Amazon review of What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories (Rated 3): Too Meager to Satisfy the Reader’s Appetite – With careful scholarship, Laura Shapiro portrays the kitchens and tables of six women across a variety of times, places, and social classes. The collection is mixed. My favorites were the Edwardian cook, Rosa Lewis, whom I’d never heard of before, and Eleanor Roosevelt, a long-time idol of mine, in which I was disabused of long-held myths about her indifference to good food. Shapiro sticks close to the data, which unfortunately, sometimes makes for a spare and unimaginative meal.
Learn History Through Fiction: WWI Era Slang
WWI era slang was quite colorful. Some of my favorites (and their meanings) stem from typical adolescent preoccupations, namely sex, cars, and booze: Hayburner (gas-guzzling car); iron (motorcycle); iron one’s shoelaces (go to the restroom); orchid (expensive item); skatey (vulgar, cheap); struggle buggy (car for making out); barney mugging (having sex); mazuma (money); and splifficated (drunk). Discover additional bygone slang expressions in BEHIND THE STORY and read more about popular culture during the WWI era in On the Shore (see NOVELS).
What I’m Reading: The Burning Girl by Claire Messud
My Amazon review of The Burning Girl (Rated 4): Sifting Through the Ashes of Friendship – Claire Messud captures the intensity of pre-adolescent female friendship and the pain that follows its inexplicable dissolution. As Julia, the smart protagonist, puzzles over the loss of her best friend Cassie, at once her soul mate and her opposite, readers glimpse the wise woman Julia will become. One wishes only for a few more singe marks to burn this book into memory.
Learn History Through Fiction: Sugar High
(In honor of Halloween) Candy manufacturers began using corn syrup during WWI because sugar was rationed. Corn syrup was so cheap that they never stopped the substitution. Popular confections during WWI (dubbed “war candies”) were Amalkaka (chocolate-covered animal crackers, perhaps derived from a baby’s pronunciation of the popular plain cookies) and GooGoo Cluster (a mound of caramel, marshmallow nougat, peanuts, and milk chocolate). Its shape was harder to wrap than conventional rectangular or square candy bars of the day, and it was the first time multiple elements were mass-produced in a retail candy. Read more about WWI-era history and popular culture in On the Shore (see NOVELS) and go to BEHIND THE STORY (03/06/17 post) to learn about other candies invented in the 1800s that are still with us today.
