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70 PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ■ APRIL 6, 2020
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whom are black or Latino. He also attri-
butes the city’s robust nonprofit sector to
inadequate public funding for schools and
municipal services, as well as the religious
beliefs and moral values of area residents.
Interspersed with interviews of dozens of
Houstonians, Klineberg’s meticulous
research makes a strong case that
Houston, with its growing inequalities,
demographic shift to a nonwhite majority,
and rising social and environmental con-
sciousness, is at the forefront of America’s
future. This eye-opening and accessible
study deserves a wide readership. (June)Union: The Struggle to Forge the
Story of United States Nationhood
Colin Woodard. Viking, $30 (432p) ISBN 978-0-
525-56015-9
Journalist Woodard (American Nations)
chronicles the history of attempts to
define America’s national identity in this
ambitious and accessible narrative.
Identifying two competing visions of
U.S. nationhood that emerged in the
19th and early 20th centuries, Woodard
profiles U.S. Navy secretary and histo-
rian George Bancroft (1800–1891), who
saw national character through the lens
of a series of propositions—a belief in
personal freedom, equality before the
law, republican governance—and pro-
slavery novelist and politician William
Gilmore Simms (1806–1870), who
advocated Anglo-Saxon ethnic and
racial chauvinism. During the Civil War,
Bancroft’s vision won a grand victory, but
Simms’s ethno-nationalism, according to
Woodard, has continued to be a persistent
component of the country’s public life,
embodied by the Ku Klux Klan, the
social Darwinist–inspired scholarship of
Frederick Jackson Turner and Woodrow
Wilson, and the “expanding churches of
illiberalism” galvanized by the election
of Donald Trump. Woodard oversells his
argument by treating pride in the
nation’s constitutional legacy as histori-
cally discrete from pride in America’s
cultural heritage, but he marshals a
wealth of information into a fluid narra-
tive that manages to make abstract
intellectual concepts tangible. This
enlightening and character-driven
account will resonate with progressive
history buffs. (June)Lifestyle
Food & Drink
The Duke’s Mayonnaise Cookbook:
75 Recipes Celebrating the
Perfect Condiment
Ashley Strickland Freeman. Grand Central,
$28 (256p) ISBN 978-1-5387-1734-9
“From breakfast to dessert, Duke’s is
my secret ingredient for amazing recipes,”
writes recipe developer Freeman in this
cheerful debut that celebrates, without
feeling gimmicky, Duke’s Mayonnaise—
the popular Southern condiment that
originated in South Carolina. The recipes
include such classics as crab and lobster
rolls, deviled eggs, and potato salad, but
there are also plenty of surprises as well,
among them peppermint fudge brownies,
grilled rosemary-dijon pork chops, and
miso-mayo-glazed salmon. An avid trav-
eler, Freeman has developed some recipes
based on places she’s visited, most notably
a pork banh mi with spicy sriracha-mayo,
rosemary French fries with aioli (mayo,
lemon juice, Dijon mustard, garlic), and
Thai turkey lettuce wraps with creamy
peanut sauce. The recipes are easy to follow
and filled with helpful tips—she adds
baking soda to boiling water so hard-boiled
eggs are easier to peel, places corn in the
center of a Bundt pan to easily cut kernels
off the cobs for making hush puppies, and
lets potatoes cool completely before cutting
them for a salad to prevent mushiness.
Whether readers are mayonnaise aficio-
nados or need inspiration to create flavorful
foods with this pantry staple, this useful
guide will not disappoint. (June)Outlander Kitchen:
To The New World & Back Again
Theresa Carle-Sanders. Delacorte, $35
(352p) ISBN 978-1-984855-15-2
Using Diana Gabaldon’s series of novels
that blend historical fiction, romance, and
time travel as a culinary springboard, Carle-
Sanders follows 2016’s Outlander Kitchen:
The Official Outlander Cookbook with this
inspired and informed collection featuring
more than 100 new recipes. She serves up
such dishes as Mrs. Figg’s Flapjacks,
Dottie’s Millet Loaf, and Lord John’s
Lunchbox (roast duck breast atop German
potato salad). While at times it feels as if
Carle-Sanders is reaching a bit for ratherpedestrian fare mentioned in the books in
passing (sardines on toast for Lady Joffrey;
mulled cider), the majority are sumptuous
dishes, such as Benedicta’s Steak and
Mushroom Pie; Ham Steaks with Raisin
and Mustard Sauce; and John Grey’s
Yorkshire Pudding. Other notable dishes
include The Old Fox’s Roast Haunch of
Venison (“Do not cook a venison haunch
past medium. It will be tough”), Tobias
Quinn’s Colcannon (“Make the leftovers
into pancakes by stirring in an egg and
enough flour to bind the mixture”), and
Jerry MacKenzie’s Time-Traveling Pasties
(“handheld descendants of large, medieval
English meat pies”). Fans of Gabaldon’s
series will devour these accessible, well-
conceived dishes. (June)100 Techniques:
Master a Lifetime of Cooking
Skills, from Basic to Bucket List
Editors at America’s Test Kitchen. America’s Test
Kitchen, $40 (448p) ISBN 978-1-945256-93-6
The America’s Test Kitchen cooks bring
their collective knowledge to bear on this
diverse collection of tips and illustrate their
points with more than 200 recipes. The
first and lengthiest chapter, “Essentials
Every Home Cook Should Know” includes
helpful tips: flavorings should be applied
when and where they are most effective
(salt chicken breasts under the skin before
baking and sprinkle the salt from a height
of 12 inches to achieve even distribution);
attention should be paid to textures (lumpy
batter, for example, results in fluffier pan-
cakes and muffins). The “Techniques You
Didn’t Know You Couldn’t Live Without”
chapter is full of ways to simplify kitchen
chores: using a blender is the key to fool-
proof hollandaise and béarnaise sauces;
freezing live lobster before putting them in
the pot is the best form of sedation, and an
instant-read thermometer provides a no-
fail way of knowing when items are done
cooking. The bucket list chapter includes
fun projects, such as concocting homemade
cocktail bitters and smoking ribs indoors
in an oven preheated to 500 degrees
before lowering to 250 after 30 minutes
(and using tea leaves instead of wood
chips for the smoke). Time-tested
wisdom proves to be the most important
ingredient in this eclectic and engaging
tome. (Apr.)