Drink or Baking with Julia

Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol

Author: Iain Gately

In the tradition of wildly popular histories such as Salt, an intoxicating tour of "the cause of—and solution to—all of life's problems": alcohol

Alcohol is a fundamental part of western culture and an essential element of Christianity. It is the most controversial part of our diet, simultaneously nourishing and intoxicating. We have been drinking as long as we have been human, and for better or worse, alcohol has shaped our civilization.

Drink investigates the history of this Jekyll and Hyde of fluids, tracing mankind's love/hate relationship with alcohol from ancient Egypt to the present day. Along the way it scrutinizes the drinking habits of presidents, prophets, and barbarian hordes, and features drinkers as diverse as Homer, Ernest Hemingway, William Shakespeare, Al Capone, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson.

Drink further documents the contribution of alcohol to the birth and growth of the United States, taking in the War of Independence, the Pennsylvania Whiskey revolt, the slave trade, and the failed experiment of national Prohibition. Finally, it provides a history of the world's most famous drinks—and the world's most famous drinkers. Enthusiasts of craft brews and fine wines will discover the origins of their favorite tipples. Packed with trivia and colorful characters, Drink amounts to a sloshed history of the world: Better make it a double.

The Washington Post - Jonathan Yardley

Iain Gately, a British writer who six years ago published Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization, now turns his attention to booze, a subject, it goes without saying, of similar character but considerably larger import. Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol, is thorough, informative, briskly readable and witty. It is likely to be enjoyed more by those who take the occasional (or more than occasional) drink than by those who do not, but a central theme should be of interest to all readers: Like it or not, alcohol has been and always will be with us, an important part of human history, culture and society…In taking us from ancient Greece to MADD, Gately doesn't miss a beat, at least none that I can identify…it's all here, authoritatively and often amusingly recounted.

Publishers Weekly

With the same ambitious sweep and needle-in-history's-haystack approach of his previous tome on tobacco, Gately takes on all things alcohol. From absinthe to Jay-Z's boycott of allegedly racist Cristal, from Mayan pulque to Pilsner Urquell, he covers the history and the culture of the medicinal and mind-altering product that since at least 8000 B.C. has been part of human civilization. The book's first chapters chronicle the history of fermentation and distillation from early civilization through the late Middle Ages, before the narrative's bulk gives over to alcohol's story since the colonization of the New World. Gately touches on such minutiae as the tableware and music selections onboard the expedition ships that followed Raleigh to America and an exacting chronology of laws enacted to ban the sale of alcohol to Indians. He ecumenically includes historical information from every civilized continent; yet for a book on booze, it's at first drier than straight gin, definitely for those who like their history neat. Like a good party, however, it becomes livelier as the author works in such far-flung cultural materials as the plays of Alfred Jarry and Budweiser's '80s mascot, Spuds McKenzie. In the end, Gately ranges so wide and deep that this may become a classic reference on the subject. (July)

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John Charles - Library Journal

For thousands of years, the world has both celebrated and cursed alcohol. In his latest breezily entertaining book, Gately, who has also written about another addictive substance in Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization, writes about both the beneficial and the detrimental effects alcohol has had on society while giving readers a concise, chronological history of alcohol throughout time and across the globe. Readers needing a basic overview of the general subject of alcohol should be satisfied with Gately's book, but researchers requiring a more detailed history about specific alcoholic beverages such as wine will need to find other books such as Thomas Pinney's A History of Wine in America or Roderick Phillips's A Short History of Wine to be more useful. Recommended for academic and larger public libraries.

Kirkus Reviews

The history of the Western world as seen through the prism of booze, glorious booze. Gately (Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization, 2002) serves up a lavish account, lengthy but never dull, of how human civilization has prized and demonized alcohol throughout history. It's been mostly prized, he demonstrates, beginning with a discourse on how the epic poem Gilgamesh, possibly the first literary work in existence, shows intoxication and celebration as inextricably connected in Sumerian society circa 2000 BCE. Throughout ancient history, alcohol was considered a crucial component of the good life. Gately follows the role played in Greek culture by the wine-soaked deity Bacchus and the transmission of his cult to Rome. Comparatively abstemious in the republic's early years, Romans in the heyday of the empire considered the Hebrews among their more civilized subjects because they cultivated wine. In 988 CE, Prince Vladimir of Kiev chose Christianity over Islam as the faith to unite his people, changing the future of European religion because he couldn't abide the idea of not drinking. (Despite some token entries on Asia and the Middle East, this is a Western history.) Europe in the Dark Ages appears to have been utterly sozzled, with adults and children drinking ale for breakfast and throughout the day. It was only the introduction of tea and coffee in the 17th century that gave Europeans something better to drink than the admittedly foul water, though England's 18th-century gin craze still caused enough societal damage to bear resemblance to America's crack epidemic. Gately plays it straight throughout, with occasional witty asides such as the one on whyabsinthe never took off in London: "Why flirt with the occult when one already lived in Stygian gloom?" He considers modern temperance advocates, from Prohibitionists to today's health zealots, as being not just wrong, but spoilsports. In this lively book, the latter is the more damning charge. A heady cocktail. Agent: Jim Rutman/Sterling Lord Literistic

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Baking with Julia: Sift, Knead, Flute, Flour and Savor the Joys of Baking with America's Best...

Author: Dorie Greenspan

Hands on baking with recipes and techniques that teach you how to make great breads, pies, cobblers, cookies, cakes, and pasties, both sweet and savory. A world-class course in baking for new and practiced bakers alike.

Baking with Julia is not only a book full of glorious recipes but also one that continues Julia's teaching tradition. Basic techniques come alive and are easily comprehensible in recipes that demonstrate the myriad ways of raising dough, glazing cakes, and decorating crusts. This is the resource you'll turn to again and again for all your baking needs.

Baking with Julia presents an extraordinary assemblage of talent, knowledge, and artistry from the new generation of bakers whose vision is so much a part of this book. The list of contributors reads like a Who's Who of today's master bakers: Flo Braker, Steve Sullivan, Marcel Desaulniers, Nick Malgieri, Alice Medrich, Nancy Silverton, Martha Stewart, and a host of bright new talents such as Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid.

With nearly 200 recipes, and half as many pages of full-color photographs, this incomparable kitchen companion goes far beyond what most cookbooks offer. More than 50 pages of illustrated reference sections define terms and techniques, and explain the hows and whys of batters and doughs. If you've never made flaky pie crust, your first no-fail experience is at hand.

From chocolate to cheesecake, from miniature gems to multitiered masterpieces-this cookbook is a total immersion experience in the wonder of home baking.

Richard Flaste

Whatever the objectives of the television series may have been, the book, written by Dorie Greenspan in a literate, patient but exuberant style, is more than strong enough to stand on its own. It's the product of a tremendous collaborative effort, yet it achieves a clear authorial tone. To my ear, it sounds as if Ms. Greenspan has spent so much time with Julia Child that she's assimilated her accent and eloquence, although it may be be own natural voice....The 200 recipes are organized as a course in baking, with an early, energetic section on the basic batters and doughs or cakes and pastries. The book moves on to recipes of varying degrees of complexity. In the bread section, you start off easy, with simple compositions, like white bread or a buttermilk loaf for your bread machine, and then it's on to more painstaking creations that might include tricky wild yeast and meticulous braiding.But the book's success is due to more than organization: the text never misses a chance to explain, expand and entertain. The reader is told, for instance, that the molded cookies called "tuiles" are a reference to French roof tiles; chiffon cake was named for the airy costumes of the flappers in the 1920's. And the tutorials that accompany recipes are models of clarity... " —New York Times

New York Times

Whatever the objectives of the television series may have been, the book, written by Dorie Greenspan in a literate, patient but exuberant style, is more than strong enough to stand on its own. It's the product of a tremendous collaborative effort, yet it achieves a clear authorial tone. To my ear, it sounds as if Ms. Greenspan has spent so much time with Julia Child that she's assimilated her accent and eloquence, although it may be be own natural voice. . . . The 200 recipes are organized as a course in baking, with an early, energetic section on the basic batters and doughs or cakes and pastries. The book moves on to recipes of varying degrees of complexity. In the bread section, you start off easy, with simple compositions, like white bread or a buttermilk loaf for your bread machine, and then it's on to more painstaking creations that might include tricky wild yeast and meticulous braiding. But the book's success is due to more than organization: the text never misses a chance to explain, expand and entertain. The reader is told, for instance, that the molded cookies called "tuiles" are a reference to French roof tiles; chiffon cake was named for the airy costumes of the flappers in the 1920's. And the tutorials that accompany recipes are models of clarity. . .

Publishers Weekly

Julia Child's newest TV series is a 39-part "full course in the art of baking." Here Greenspan (Waffles from Morning to Midnight) delivers the textbook for the course. The syllabus is comprehensive, covering breads, morning pastries, cakes, cookies, pies and savory pastries. The French classics-baguette, croissant, genoise, savarin, madeleines-are all present, but so are focaccia, pita, cobbler, rugelach and biscotti. This variety owes much to 27 "baker-professors" called on to instruct in their specialties. Steve Sullivan creates artisanal baguettes and couronnes; Beatrice Ojakangas prepares Danish Pastry and Swedish Limpa; Alice Medrich presents a Chocolate Ruffle Cake; Jeffrey Alfond and Naomi Duguid bake Persian Nan and other flatbreads; Lauren Groveman makes bagels and bialys; and Martha Stewart crafts a wedding cake decorated with marzipan fruit. Greenspan presents the nearly 200 recipes in classic Julia style; each recipe is clear, complete and comes with preparation and storage information. But the student-baker will need equipment and patience to match their efforts: many recipes rely on a heavy duty mixer, and some techniques will take repeated effort to master. For the ambitious, the adventurous and the simply appreciative, Baking with Julia is a course worth taking and a cookbook worth owning. BOMC/Good Cook selection; author (Ms. Child) tour. (Nov.)

Library Journal

Based on a new PBS series hosted by Julia Child, this work is destined to be a classic. The book begins by covering basics such as equipment, terms, and techniques before proceeding to building blocks such as flaky pie dough and genoise and then advancing to such sweet delights as chocolate truffle tarts and French strawberry cake. Everything from the way to knead bread dough to pointers for puffs is covered. Greenspan (Waffles: From Morning to Midnight, Morrow, 1993) has collected over 200 sweet and savory recipes from 27 baking professionals, including Lora Brody, Flo Braker, and Nancy Silverton. Interspersed among the recipes are plenty of mouthwatering photographs of the tempting treats. Sure to be popular with patrons and appropriate for all libraries, this book is highly recommended. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 7/15/96.]-John Charles, Scottsdale P. L.