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Dinner with Churchill

Policy Making at the Dinner Table

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available

A friend once said of Churchill: "He is a man of simple tastes; he is quite easily satisfied with the best of everything." But dinners for Churchill were about more than good food, excellent champagnes, and Havana cigars. "Everything" included the opportunity to use the dinner table both as a stage on which to display his brilliant conversational talents, and an intimate setting in which to glean gossip and diplomatic insights and to argue for the many policies he espoused over a long life.

In this riveting, informative, and entertaining book, Stelzer draws on previously untapped material, diaries of guests, and a wide variety of other sources to tell of some of the key dinners at which Churchill presided before, during, and after World War II.

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    • Library Journal

      Starred review from May 1, 2013

      Stelzer, research associate at the Hudson Institute, provides readers with an enjoyable and original look at the often overlooked "table top diplomacy" of Sir Winston Churchill. A self-described man of "plain tastes," Churchill enjoyed excellent champagnes, wines, Cuban cigars, and first-rate food. While considered extravagant by the standards of today, the foods that Churchill enjoyed were not uncommon for those of his class during his early life. By drawing on extensive research and interviews, Stelzer leads the reader on a grand tour of some of the finest hotels, restaurants, estates, and political conferences (Yalta, Potsdam, the Savoy, the White House) with some of the most notable figures of World War II (FDR, Stalin, King George VI, Eisenhower). Narrator Davina Porter does a superb job with the accents and in conveying emotion. VERDICT Strongly recommended for those interested in Churchill, food, or history.--Scott R. DiMarco, Mansfield Univ. of Pennsylvania Lib.

      Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      August 13, 2012
      It’s well known that Churchill loved eating, drinking, and smoking, and that he transacted a great deal of business while doing all of the above. Therefore, it’s surprising that this is the first book focusing on this aspect of his vastly overwritten life. Stelzer, a Reader at Churchill College, Cambridge, has turned up a great deal of material on the prime minister’s legendary “zest for life,” but readers anxious to learn how he turned his occasions for repast to his political advantage will find thin pickings. Stelzer sketches the historical background, and while three chapters discuss Churchill’s preferences in food, drink, and cigars, the author concentrates on menus, seating arrangements, guest lists, toasts, bills, thank-you notes, gossipy diary excerpts, and reports from servants. The nearest Stelzer comes to attacking a historical question is an analysis of accusations that Churchill was an alcoholic, which she concludes he was not. Despite the title, this is not an account of the great man’s dinnertime political exploits but an admiring series of anecdotes on his social life that will please collectors of Churchilliana. 80 b&w illus. Agent: Georgina Capel, Capel and Land Literary Agency (U.K.).

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  • English

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