reviews

Culinary Crimes... Author:  Tom Mueller The genius who figured out that you could take hard, bitter little fruits and turn them into one of the most coveted substances in human history never got an award, but the passionate story of olive oil has continued unabated for millennia.  In Extra Virginity, journalist Tom Mueller explores the elegant, convoluted and often disreputable world of this unique liquid, revealing its magic as food, medicine and obsession. Mueller, who lives amongst the olive groves outside Genoa, Italy, explains that olive oil is really just a unique kind of fruit juice.  He discusses many of [...]

Greed, Deceit, Mayhem and Yellow Journalism... Author:  Paul Collins In 1897, two boys find a tightly wrapped package floating in the East River.  Much to their surprise, it’s the upper half of a well-muscled man’s body.  Arms still attached, head missing.  Blueberry pickers in Harlem stumble across the lower half of the same unfortunate victim.  Still no head.  Police are notified and eventually suspect foul play, having initially blamed the findings on the work of local medical students.  So begins journalist Paul Collins’ latest work, The Murder of the Century, a true tale of greed, deceit and mayhem in New [...]