Clara Barton (as portrayed by Karen Vuranch, courtesy WV Humanities Council’s History Alive! Program) will visit Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library in Wheeling on Tuesday, June 5 at noon. Barton was the first woman to tend the wounded on the front lines during the Civil War and became known as “The Angel of the Battlefield.” She cared for the suffering from both North and South and is well known as the founder of the American Red Cross. Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a bag lunch and free beverages are served. Please call 304-232-0244 for more information.

May 29: A Land More Kind Than Home

Author and Bethany College English professor Wiley Cash will be at Lunch With Books on Tuesday, May 29 at noon to discuss his new book, A Land More Kind than Home. In her review, Wheeling Intelligencer/News-Register LIFE editor, Linda Comins, described this book as a “major triumph” and a “masterfully told story.” Cash is from western North Carolina, a region that figures prominently in his fiction. His stories have appeared in Crab Orchard Review, Roanoke Review and The Carolina Quarterly.

Words & Music Bookstore will have copies of A Land More Kind Than Home available for purchase and signing.Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a bag lunch and free beverages are served. Please call 304-232-0244 for more information.

Then at 7 pm on the 29th, sociologist Grace Norton (WVNCC) will lead the final class of The People's University, Government, The Political Spectrum, a consideration of what terms like "Liberal," Conservative," and Socialist" mean in the reality of 2012.

Wheeling Jesuit University, & Comparative Politics!

Today, Tuesday, May 22 at noon, Dr. Joseph Laker, retired professor of history at Wheeling Jesuit University, will present his new history of the school from Arcadia's Campus History Series. For more information, see below.

Then tonight at 7 PM, Dr. John Poffenbarger, professor of political science at WJU, will return to talk about Comparative Modern Political Systems for the OCPL's People's University Government series.

Don't miss these fantastic & FREE programs!

More about Dr. Laker's book:

Book Description:
The 60-acre campus of Wheeling Jesuit University is located in the eastern suburbs of Wheeling, West Virginia. Originally named Wheeling College, it is the youngest of the 28 Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States. John Swint, bishop of the Diocese of Wheeling-Charleston, and the Jesuits founded Wheeling College as a traditional, coeducational, liberal arts institution. In time, faculty and students became quite diverse, and programs of study proliferated. The institution added “Jesuit” to its name in 1988 to become Wheeling Jesuit College and, eight years later, became a university and modified its name accordingly. In 1994, the board of directors approved a mission statement that calls on Wheeling Jesuit University to educate men and women for life, leadership, and service with and among others.

Author Bio: Dr. Joseph A. Laker, who taught history at Wheeling Jesuit University from 1974 to 2009, reviewed thousands of photographs to choose more than 200 images to illustrate the history of the school from its founding in 1954 to the present. Alumni, students, faculty, staff, and those interested in local history will find this pictorial story of Wheeling Jesuit University and how it has grown and changed during the past half-century enjoyable and informative.

Locally Grown Food

Grace Norton of the Green Wheeling Initiative will be at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library on Tuesday May 15 at noon to explain the importance of locally grown food both to the environment and to human health. Lunch With Books programs are free and open to the public. Patrons are invited to bring a bag lunch and free beverages are served. Please call 304-232-0244 for more information.

SAMPLE CLASSIC POLISH COOKING AT LUNCH WITH BOOKS

Smecznego!

Laura and Peter Zeranski, authors of Polish Classic Recipes (a new cookbook from Pelican Publishing), will be at Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library in Wheeling on Tuesday May 8 at noon for a book talk and signing.

The Zeranskis are a husband and wife team who have been cooking and eating classic Polish food together for decades. Peter Zeranski was born in Europe to Polish parents. His family’s love for Polish cuisine and traditions is showcased in The Art of Polish Cooking, the critically acclaimed cookbook his late mother Alina Żerańska wrote in 1968.

It was Peter’s mother who inspired him to undertake this project. Originally, he designed to update her cookbook, The Art of Polish Cooking, which is not only a foundational work on Polish cuisine, but also has been a best-seller for more than 40 years. A completely new project evolved from this aim, and Polish Classic Recipes-complete with 100 stunning photographs-was soon contracted.

Designed for the modern kitchen yet retaining traditional roots, each heritage recipe in the book has been tested to perfection. Showcased alongside beautiful photography and with titles given in both Polish and English, recipes range from cucumber salad and beet soup to pork cutlets and potato pancakes. A chapter devoted to pierogi presents the dumplings with an assortment of fillings, and the final chapter of sweets tops off any meal in true Polish fashion. Accompanied by notes on Polish holiday customs, history, and menu pairing suggestions, these dishes offer a flavorful sample of the Polish dining experience, as passed down from generation to generation.

Like all the books in Pelican’s Classic Recipe Series, the entries in this collection were carefully selected to provide a cross section of memorable and authentic dishes. Organized by course, the offerings range from appetizers and salads to sides and sweets, featuring the most iconic and national of dishes––Hunter’s Stew and Barszcz––alongside simple peasant fare and a handful of desserts, including honey cake, poppy seed rolls, and chocolate mazurka.

The Zeranskis will have copies of Polish Classic Recipes available for purchase and signing at the Lunch With Books event. In addition, free samples of Hunter’s Stew, spicy kielbasa, marinated beet salad, and chocolate Mazurka (along with free beverages) will be available at the Lunch With Books program, which is free and open to the public. More information about the book is available at their blog at polishclassiccooking.blogspot.com. For more information about this or other Lunch With Books programs, please call the library at 304-232-0244. Read more from Weirton Daily Times.