More than a century and a half after its founding, the Iowa State Fair is the state’s central institution, event, and symbol. New Jersey has the Shore; Kentucky has the Derby; Iowa has the Fair. The humble Iowa State Fairground ranks alongside the Great Pyramids at Giza and the Taj Mahal in the best-selling travel guide 1,000 Places to See Before You Die. During its annual run each August, the fair attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors who make the pilgrimage to the fairground to see the iconic butter cow, to ride the Old Mill, to walk through the livestock barns, and to people-watch. At the same time that they enjoy fried candy bars and roller coasters, Iowans also compete to raise the best corn and zucchinis, to make the best jams and jellies, to rear the finest sheep and goats, the largest cattle and hogs, and the handsomest horses. This tension between entertainment and agriculture goes back all the way to the fair’s founding in the mid-1800s, as historian Chris Rasmussen shows in this thought-provoking history. The fair’s founders had lofty aims: they sought to improve agriculture and foster a distinctively democratic American civilization. But from the start these noble intentions jostled up against people’s desire to have fun and make money, honestly or otherwise—not least because the fair had to pay for itself. In their effort to uplift rural life without going broke, the organizers of the Iowa State Fair debated the respectability of horse racing and gambling and struggled to find qualified livestock judges. Worried about the economic forces undermining rural families, they ran competitions to select the best babies and the “ideal” rural girl and boy while luring spectators with massive panoramas of earthquakes and fires, not to mention staged trainwrecks. In short, the Iowa State Fair has as much to tell us about human nature and American history as it does about growing corn.

Carnival in the Countryside: The History of the Iowa State Fair (Iowa and the Midwest Experience)

History

Rasmussen, Chris

Americas

University Of Iowa Press

By the Supreme Court’s own admission, vaccines are inherently unsafe. Within these pages Dr. Rasmussen reveals a shocking secret that government and drug companies do not want you to know. Vaccines are often dangerous, unpredictable, and rife with contaminants. They can cause autism spectrum disorder (ASD), cancer, lowered IQ, autoimmune diseases, cognitive disorders, and neurodegenerative illnesses. It’s an established fact that drug companies have devolved into rapacious engines of greed. Tragically, their blood money has deeply influenced the American Academy of Pediatrics and the CDC, creating a dangerous conflict of interest for members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP). This unholy alliance has directly led to over-vaccinating our children solely for profit. As a consequence, we are seeing the replacement of communicable diseases with chronic nervous system and autoimmune disorders through the CDC’s vaccination program. We are being systematically injured, poisoned, and killed for drug company profits, and to enrich the bank accounts of corrupted officials who have sworn to protect us. This explosive book is a warning to everyone that you’re next. Read on and take heed.

You're Next: Lies, Corruption and the Dirty Business of Vaccines

Medical Books

Medicine

Rowanvale Books Ltd.

This topical survey focuses on research in tertiary mathematics education, a field that has experienced considerable growth over the last 10 years. Drawing on the most recent journal publications as well as the latest advances from recent high-quality conference proceedings, our review culls out the following five emergent areas of interest: mathematics teaching at the tertiary level; the role of mathematics in other disciplines; textbooks, assessment and students’ studying practices; transition to the tertiary level; and theoretical-methodological advances. We conclude the survey with a discussion of some potential directions for future research in this new and rapidly evolving domain of inquiry.

Research on Teaching and Learning Mathematics at the Tertiary Level: State-of-the-art and Looking Ahead (ICME-13 Topical Surveys)

Education & Teaching

Biza, Irene

Giraldo, Victor

Hochmuth, Reinhard

Khakbaz, Azimehsadat

Higher & Continuing Education

Springer

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Rasmussen, Chris. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Rasmussen, Chris