Customer Reviews

Veggie Revolution: Smart Choices for a Healthy Body and a Healthy Planet

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My husband picked up this book for our 17-year-old daughter who declared herself vegan in April. We had been having a hard time coming up with family meals that would satisfy everyone, but the recipes in this book have pleased even my picky 11-year-old. I've ended up reading the rest of it as well, and found it really interesting. The informational chapters are all too convincing - my husband and I are cutting back our meat intake as well. I'd highly recommend this book to anyone interested in vegetarianism or who is trying to understand a family member's choice. It's bolstered my daughter with new arguments and left us all better informed. I'm buying it for my sister-in-law for Christmas.

Veggie Revolution reads less like research and more like a personal journey to understand the meat industry, how it affects the animals, the environment, our communities and our health. It is full of helpful advice to readers who want to make a difference. I especially enjoyed the alternating voices of the mother/daughter authors as they shared their experiences and choices about food. Good section on vegetarian nutrition and cooking for the beginner.

What an eye opener! We have got to change the manner in which we raise our food or else! This book makes the case with fascinating research and deeply insightful conclusions. The authors are obviously very passionate about their subject and have presented it in a very engaging way. It's terrific!

I have read many books on vegetarianism and the environment over the years, so I was pleasantly surprised that Veggie Revolution approaches these subjects in a new way -- very thought-provoking and well-documented but at the same time a fascinating read, never dry or boring. The authors are not just giving us information, they are telling a story! For one section of the book, the authors visited a number of farms of various sizes and types and interviewed farm workers, owners, and other professionals. The accounts of the farm visits are so vivid that I could imagine I was right there with the authors. Another thing that makes the book very interesting is that the authors put a human face on the farmers and other people who are quoted in the book; they do this by giving us a glimpse into their lives and their perspectives on the issues. It is impressive that the authors treat all of them with respect and consideration, whether the authors share their values and perspectives or not. All through the book the authors use a conversational tone that I found very engaging -- they are not talking down to me, but sharing important information as one would with a friend.

The nutritional information is quite solid. I have learned a ton about nutrition over the past 35 years, as well as having been a vegetarian for the past 17 years, and I can say with assurance that the nutritional information in this book is right on the mark.

The recipes are great! I especially like how the recipes can be made with ingredients that are readily available: most of them I already have in my pantry or refrigerator, and any that I don't have are readily available at my local grocery or farmer's market. The directions are easy to follow, and having options and notes on the recipes is very helpful.

Throughout the book, the authors make a solid case for improving our diets as well as for supporting local farmers and working on all levels to take care of the earth. I strongly recommend Veggie Revolution for anyone who is not afraid to learn the truth about where our food comes from, how this impacts our lives and the future of the planet we live on, and what we can do to improve the situation both personally and globally.

The authors present the most disturbing material in the gentlest, most matter-of-fact way. In reporting that digs deeper than a farmer's plow, they examine every alarming angle of our contemporary eating habits, yet inspire us with hope for change. Here is a feast of vegetarian recipes -- now you can grow
younger, healthier and saner.
Dannye Powell

This is an engaging discussion of the environmental, ethical and nutritional benefits of eating lower on the food chain as portrayed through this family's personal journey of discovery. The two voices make this book especially interesting. I found myself wondering if a section was written by the scientist mother or the college student daughter. The writing style is conversational, sometimes funny; the material is well researched and offers a thorough look at the impact our food choices have on our future. Whether we choose to be vegetarian or not, we can (and maybe we must) make a difference!

History comes alive in this authentic yet fascinating peek into many of Colorado's movers and shakers. This is NOT history as you remember it from school. No endless list of dates, no dull recitation of soldiers in battle. Instead, the famous and the infamous, along with representatives of the solid stock upon which the state's future rested, are captured in readable vignettes. While Fetter is an historian, she never surrenders to the mundane and ordinary. Every life has a story, and the collection of historic characters--heroines, scoundrels, the tragic, the triumphant--make you wonder if you could have met the challenges of frontier life. . .how your own existence will be viewed eventually. Perfect for history buffs, lovers, students, and visitors to and residents of the state.

I grew up in Colorado and thought I was familiar with the stories behind the famous names of many of the towns, buildings, streets and monuments throughout the state. However, "Colorado's Legendary Lovers" provided fascinating new insight into these pioneers and introduced me to many previously unknown but equally fascinating characters. With humor and compassion, Ms. Fetter takes the reader into the intimate lives of the politicians, madams, magnates, miners, chiefs, gamblers, scoundrels, heroes, heroines, saints and sinners who contributed much of the color and drama to the rich history of the early West. Some of the stories detail triumphant lives of great success. Others describe tragic figures who never were successful or whom success ruined. A few made me laugh out loud. All are told in detail so vivid that the reader is transported back in time, hearing the sounds coming from the mines and saloons, smelling the perfume and dust, and feeling the heat and cold. If you're headed toward Colorado, this is the book to read on the plane, curl up with in front of the fireplace at the ski lodge or keep on the nightstand at your Bed and Breakfast.

Colorado's Legendary Lovers is a delightfully written collection of "mini-biographies" of famous (and infamous) Colorado couples. The 51entries average five pages each and are divided into chapter groupings like "Natives and Pioneers" "Scandals and Triangles," "Lovers for Life" and "Haunting Romances." Within these categories Fetter details romances of some of the state's best known personalities of the Victorian era (circa 1840-1912).

There are the expected entries, like Horace Tabor and Baby Doe, Kit Carson and Maria Josefa Jaramillo, Chipeta and Chief Ouray, Spencer and Julie Penrose, as well as an affair of the heart for Isabella Bird. There are less traditional entries such as the "Trinidad Madams' Association" (an early labor movement in the red light district),"the Saga Mountain Charley" (a woman who cross-dresses to exact revenge on her husband's killer), and "Lovesick Ladies of Pitkin County" (illustrating the struggle of same-sex lovers in a more restrictive era). Additional vignettes on the courting customs and tokens such as "Hair Jewelry" and social mores of the time are scattered throughout the volume.

A Denver native and fourth generation Coloradoan, Fetter's lifelong interest in local history and women's history is apparent in her research. Letters, journals and contemporary newspaper accounts are frequently cited in the entries. There is an extensive bibliography of secondary resources. However, the collection is not designed for researchers (although middle school and some high school students could find it useful). It will be popular with history buffs. As historian Thomas J. Noel suggests in his glowing foreword, "Her honesty, clarity, graceful writing and wit make this a sweetheart of a book."

Fetter has written on Colorado history topics for over a decade including Climb Every Mountain, the Story of Garland Country Day School.