In American Bacon, Mark A. Johnson asks (and answers) a seemingly simple question: How has bacon overcome centuries of religious prohibition, cultural contempt, and dietary advice to become a twenty-first-century culinary and cultural powerhouse? Starting in early modern Britain and tracing the story of bacon through the colonial era, the Civil War, the Progressive Era, modern fad diets, and the emerging craft bacon industry, Johnson provides a new perspective on some familiar Ame...

From Muscle Shoals to Mobile, Alabamians enjoy fabulous barbecue at home, at club meetings and at countless eateries.In the 1820s, however, a group of reformers wanted to eliminate the southern staple because politicians used it to entice voters. As the state and nation changed through wars and the civil rights movement, so did Alabama barbecue. Alabama restaurants like Big Bob Gibson's, Dreamland and Jim 'n Nick's have earned fans across the country. Mark A. Johns...

Concepts in Reproduction integrates the principal mechanisms of reproduction among eukaryotes, with a focus on animals and plants. The text emphasizes processes and approaches that evolved to address specific problems inherent in reproduction using examples from morphology, functional studies, and genetic studies. The many high-quality figures complement the text and provide visual storyboards. Footnotes and boxes are used throughout to provide depth and to enrich understanding. I...

In Rough Tactics: Black Performance in Political Spectacles, 1877–1932, author Mark A. Johnson examines three notable cases of Black participation in the spectacles of politics: the 1885–1898 local-option prohibition contests of Atlanta and Macon, Georgia; the United Confederate Veterans conflict with the Musicians’ Union prior to the 1903 UCV Reunion in New Orleans; and the 1909 Memphis mayoral election featuring Edward Hull Crump and W. C. Handy. Through these case studies, John...