Journey Round My Room, published by San Francisco’s Arion Press, is a travelogue by Xavier de Maistre.
The story in a nutshell: In 1790, as a young officer in the Piedmontese army, Xavier de Maistre participated in a duel. It is not known whether his opponent perished or was wounded; de Maistre records no injury to himself. As punishment for the duel, he was confined to his own quarters in Turin for 42 days.
During his house arrest, he wrote this short book. The conceit is that although the author is incarcerated, he is free to travel in his imagination. Confined to his room, waited upon by his servant and accompanied by his dog, he counts the 36 paces of the room’s periphery and crisscrosses the space haphazardly, encountering objects that trigger imaginary journeys.
Architect Ross Anderson took 16 photographs with a cellphone camera of models of the room, its furnishings and the author’s traveling coat. These low-resolution pictures are printed on translucent paper; the result is an elusive evocation of an interior that reflects the interior of the mind.
Cocktails with a Twist May Bring Some Relief for Shelter-in-Place
COVID-19 episode making you nervous, tense and out of sorts? The pandemic shutdown of all our bars and nightclubs has motivated many of us to restock our liquor cabinets and entertain ourselves quietly at home.
Going through our library recently, we came across Cocktails with a Twist, published some time ago by Chronicle Book, but still available online—which is your best bet because most book shops are shuttered as well. Each chapter is based on a classic, but inside the unique gatefolds, readers will discover numerous riffs, like swapping Irish whiskey for rye to make a Blackthorn, or substituting amaro for vermouth to make a Black Manhattan.
More than 100 variations on 21 modern classic cocktail recipes are accompanied by helpful tips on keeping a well-stocked bar, garnishing drinks, and throwing a party.
Leland Stanford Bio a Study in Disruption
“Disruption” as a concept goes back further than Steve Jobs in Silicon Valley. To hear author Roland de Wolk tell it, staid Stanford University has a dark and shady past. “Given the nature of its founder, we shouldn’t be surprised,” de Wolk told an audience recently convened at the Book Club of California.
American Disruptor (UC Press) is the untold story of Leland Stanford—from his birth in a backwoods bar to the founding of the world-class university that became and remains the nucleus of regional innovation.
The life of this robber baron, politician and historic influencer is the astonishing tale of how one supremely ambitious man became this country’s original disruptor—reshaping industry and engineering one of the greatest raids on the public treasury for America’s transcontinental railroad, all while living more opulently than maharajas, kings and emperors.
It is also the saga of how Stanford, once a serial failure, overcame all obstacles to become one of America’s most powerful and wealthiest men, using his high elective office to enrich himself before losing the one thing that mattered most to him—his only child. Richly detailed and deeply researched, American Disruptor restores Leland Stanford’s rightful place as a revolutionary force and architect of modern America.
| To see more of the interview, check out duclosculturalcurrents.com. |
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