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Press kit for In a Pickle

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In a Pickle press kit | Press release | Blurbs | Reviews | Author's bio | Author's web site and blog | Author's photo | Cover image | Excerpt

 

In a Pickle A Family Farm Story Jerry Apps Publication date September 2007 LC: 2007011563 PS 256 pp.  6 x 9 ISBN-13: 978-0-299-22300-7 Cloth $24.95 t (ISBN-10: 0-299-22300-0) Terrace Books, a trade imprint of the University of Wisconsin Press   Press Release THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN PRESS 1930 Monroe Street, 3rd Floor, Madison, Wisconsin 53711-2059 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Publication date: September 1, 2007 Contact: Marketing Manager, 608-263-0734 ISBN: 978-0-299-22300-7 Cloth $24.95 publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu IN A PICKLE A Family Farm Story by Jerry Apps "This is one of those slice-of-life novels that utterly wins us over with rich characters, homespun dialogue, and a story that, although it takes place half a century ago, involves a subject that's still current: the elimination of small farms by big agribusiness. Apps . . . invests the novel with the kind of realism, precise detail, and local color that only someone who had lived the story could do."–Booklist "In a Pickle is a many-layered pleasure delivered by a master craftsman who is also, like Studs Terkel and Howard Zinn, a passionate student of the people's history. As Apps engages us in the coming-of-age saga of the pickle factory manager Andy Meyer, this novel is at once a lesson in rural Wisconsin sociology, a quietly scathing indictment of factory farming, and a great read."–John Galligan, author of The Nail Knot and The Blood Knot "In a Pickle tells this poignant story of change, family, and heartache in a nostalgic yet unforgettable way."–Oscar Mireles, editor of I Didn't Know There Were Latinos in Wisconsin The year is 1955. Andy Meyer, a young farmer, manages the pickle factory in Link Lake, a rural town where the farms are small, the conversation is meandering, and the feeling is distinctly Midwestern. Workers sort, weigh, and dump cucumbers into huge vats where the pickles cure, providing a livelihood to local farmers. But the H. H. Harlow Pickle Company has appeared in town, using heavy-handed tactics to force family farmers to either farm the Harlow way or lose their biggest customer–and, possibly, their land. Andy, himself the owner of a half-acre pickle patch, works part-time for the Harlow Company, a conflict that places him between the family farm and the big corporation. As he sees how Harlow begins to change the rural community and the lives of its people, Andy must make personal, ethical, and life-changing decisions. Jerry Apps, born and raised on a Wisconsin farm, is professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the author of more than fifteen books, many of them on rural history and country life. His nonfiction books include Every Farm Tells a Story, Country Wisdom, When Chores Were Done, Humor from the Country, Country Ways and Country Days, One-Room Country Schools, Cheese, Breweries of Wisconsin and Ringlingville USA. He is also the author of the historical novel The Travels of Increase Joseph. He received the 2007 Major Achievement Award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers as well as the 2007 Notable Wisconsin Author Award from the Wisconsin Library Association. If you have any questions or would like to set up an interview with the authors, please contact Publicity Manager at 608.263.0734 or publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu. We would greatly appreciate receiving a copy of any review or mention that may appear. Tear sheets noting name and location of publication and date of issue. Blurbs: "Life on the nation's traditional small family farms was on a collision course with industrialization and technology. Small cheese factories were closing, combines were replacing the threshing crew, and workhorses were put out to pasture. It also meant that farm families were facing the traumas of the future. Jerry Apps chronicles this dilemma of change through the lives of central Wisconsin farmers who existed by the sweat of their brows and the muscles in their arms. . . . In a Pickle is a story you'll read with relish and remember forever." –John Oncken, syndicated agriculture columnist and radio commentator "In a Pickle tells this poignant story of change, family, and heartache in a nostalgic yet unforgettable way." –Oscar Mireles, editor of I Didn't Know There Were Latinos in Wisconsin "In a Pickle is a many-layered pleasure delivered by a master craftsman who is also, like Studs Terkel and Howard Zinn, a passionate student of the people's history. As Apps engages us in the coming-of-age saga of the pickle factory manager Andy Meyer, this is at once a lesson in rural Wisconsin sociology, a quietly scathing indictment of factory farming, and a great read." –John Galligan, author of The Nail Knot and The Blood Knot Reviews: [Reviews will be posted when they are available.] Excerpt "What happens when a farmer begins buying out his neighbors–we have fewer and fewer farmers.  And pretty soon, towns like this start disappearing." "It's the only way, Isaac.  You either get big or you get out. Harlow Company says it.  University people say that.  These little pickle patches–no offense, Isaac–are things of the past.  They're history." "When you get big debts, you expect the land to produce no matter what–and you start abusing it, using it up." "Don't you realize what we are giving up when we lose a family farm?  It's a way of life, but so much more.  We lose people who know the land and how to care for it, who know livestock and how to raise it, who know machinery and how to keep it operating, and who know what community means. That's what will be lost when these family farms disappear." "We believe it is time for farmers to rise up and fight, to reclaim their rightful place as family farmers." "It's all about driving us small farmers off the land. That's what it's about . . ." – from In a Pickle Author's Bio: Jerry Apps, born and raised on a Wisconsin farm, is professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the author of more than fifteen books, many of them on rural history and country life. His nonfiction books include Every Farm Tells a Story, Country Wisdom, When Chores Were Done, Humor from the Country, Country Ways and Country Days, One-Room Country Schools, Cheese, Breweries of Wisconsin and Ringlingville USA. He is also the author of the historical novel The Travels of Increase Joseph. He received the 2007 Major Achievement Award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers. Author's web site and blog: Jerry Apps has his own web site, www.jerryapps.com with more information about this book. He also has a blog at jerryapps.com/blog For more information, in addition to this press kit, contact our publicity manager, phone: (608) 263-0734, email: publicity@uwpress.wisc.edu [Return to the book page for In a Pickle]

Cover image: This cover image can be downloaded and used in any web-based publicity for this book. For a 300 dpi version, click here. Author Photo: These images can be downloaded and used in any web-based publicity for this book. For a 300 dpi version, click here.

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