Dean King to Speak at MRL

Tales from History of Adventure and Survival

Dean King, the well-regarded author of narrative historical non-fiction, is speaking at the Main Branch of the Massanutten Regional Library on Thursday, November 7th at 7:00pm.  A Richmond native, he was born in 1962 and graduated from the University of North Carolina and New York University.  As a post graduate, King spent ten years in New York City mostly writing for up-scale magazines and other periodicals.

As American as Apple Pie

“As American as apple pie.” There’s a reason we’ve had this saying for so long; it’s because it’s true. Americans cannot hold claim to inventing pie in general, but we can take full tribute for the invention of sweet pies—fruit, custard, anything without meat. Back in Ancient Greece, where almost everything in our society started, they made spiced meat pies. These pies sometimes had figs in them for added flavor, but there is no record of anyone making a fruit pie. These meat pies made their way through Europe to England and then came over to America on the Mayflower. When the colonists became revolutionaries, they also became revolutionary bakers. Looking for a way to get food on the run, the revolutionaries made small, hand held fruit pies (McDonalds, anyone?).[1]