URBANA , Ohio (July 1, 2008) - The Johnny Appleseed Society will have a booth/tent at the upcoming Art Affair on the Square to be held on Saturday, July 19 in downtown Urbana. They will be featuring a twice-a-day presentation/book-signing by an author of a new book, chronicling the lives of America’s traveling salesmen. The half-hour presentations will begin at 11 a.m. and again at 2 p.m.

One of the salesmen featured by author Ronald Solberg in his book THE WHIZBANGS OF OOHS AND AHS is Urbana’s own John Chapman (Johnny Appleseed). Much of the information that the author will be presenting about “Johnny” is not commonly known or understood. Solberg credits the Society’s Museum and its director Joe Besecker for making rare archival material available that legitimized the substantial contributions made by the legendary, but real, historical figure.

THE WHIZBANGS will be on sale for $19.95 following the presentations. Proceeds from the book sales will go to support the work of the Johnny Appleseed Society and Museum.

About the Book:

THE WHIZBANGS OF OOHS AND AHS: AMERICA'S SALESMEN - THEIR LORE, LIVES AND LAUGHS
by Ronald Solberg

This comprehensive and generously illustrated collection is a lively and loving history celebrating the richness of America's traveling salesman tradition and the ways that the men and women of the road profoundly affected the American way of life through both word and deed. Composed of hundreds of tales, anecdotes, quotes, stories and thumbnail biographies, the author has compiled an entertaining historical pageant that has been more than 300 years in the making. Learn about the great and the infamous, their pitches and scams, successes and failures, and the humor both by and about them.

The author grew up as the son of a Fuller Brush Man and went on to become a door-to-door salesman himself, working his way through college by selling brushes, brooms, and waxes. Although Solberg would become a high school English and journalism teacher, the salesman bug remained firmly planted.

In 2002 he was commissioned by Chicago’s Newberry Library to prepare lesson plans on an area turn-of-the-century labor movement. Solberg chose to focus on the salesman and while researching the topic, he came to realize that he was actually fulfilling a life-long dream -- to compile the details and history of America's traveling salesmen, thus creating a portrait that exemplifies the country best spirit of industry, sunny optimism and faith.