{"product_id":"oranges-9780374512972","title":"Oranges","description":"\u003cp\u003eA classic of reportage, \u003ci\u003eOranges\u003c\/i\u003e was first conceived as a short magazine article about oranges and orange juice, but the author kept encountering so much irresistible information that he eventually found that he had in fact written a book. It contains sketches of orange growers, orange botanists, orange pickers, orange packers, early settlers on Florida's Indian River, the first orange barons, modern concentrate makers, and a fascinating profile of Ben Hill Griffin of Frostproof, Florida who may be the last of the individual orange barons. McPhee's astonishing book has an almost narrative progression, is immensely readable, and is frequently amusing. Louis XIV hung tapestries of oranges in the halls of Versailles, because oranges and orange trees were the symbols of his nature and his reign. This book, in a sense, is a tapestry of oranges, too--with elements in it that range from the great orangeries of European monarchs to a custom of people in the modern Caribbean who split oranges and clean floors with them, one half in each hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJohn McPhee\u003c\/b\u003e was born in Princeton, New Jersey, and was educated at Princeton University and Cambridge University. His writing career began at \u003ci\u003eTime \u003c\/i\u003emagazine and led to his long association with \u003ci\u003eThe New Yorker\u003c\/i\u003e, where he has been a staff writer since 1965. Also in 1965, he published his first book, \u003ci\u003eA Sense of Where You Are\u003c\/i\u003e, with Farrar, Straus and Giroux, and in the years since, he has written nearly 30 books, including \u003ci\u003eComing into the Country\u003c\/i\u003e (1977), \u003ci\u003eThe Control of Nature\u003c\/i\u003e (1989), \u003ci\u003eThe Founding Fish\u003c\/i\u003e (2002), \u003ci\u003eUncommon Carriers\u003c\/i\u003e (2007), and \u003ci\u003eSilk Parachute\u003c\/i\u003e (2011). \u003ci\u003eEncounters with the Archdruid\u003c\/i\u003e (1972) and \u003ci\u003eThe Curve of Binding Energy\u003c\/i\u003e (1974) were nominated for National Book Awards in the category of science. McPhee received the Award in Literature from the Academy of Arts and Letters in 1977. In 1999, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for \u003ci\u003eAnnals of the Former World\u003c\/i\u003e. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Farrar, Straus and Giroux","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50629223022866,"sku":"9780374512972","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_79096d72-42e1-4214-9037-c92d624cefeb.jpg?v=1732724814","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/oranges-9780374512972","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}