Dinner with Churchill
Policy-Making at the Dinner Table

Name: Dinner with Churchill
Brand: Blackstone Audiobooks
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4 (1 reviews)
Author: Cita Stelzer
ISBN: 9781483025445

Author: Cita Stelzer

Narrator: Davina Porter

Unabridged: 5 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Published: 04/15/2014

Categories: Nonfiction, History, European History, Biography & Autobiography, Political Biography, Wars, World War Ii, Political Science, International Relations

Synopsis

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.

About Cita Stelzer

Cita Stelzer, a freelance journalist and a research associate at the Hudson Institution, previously worked for John Lindsay, mayor of New York, and Governor Hugh Carey. She is currently a reader at Churchill College, Cambridge, and a member of the board of the Churchill Centre and trustee of Wigmore Hall.

About Davina Porter

Davina Porter is an actress and an award-winning narrator who has more than 400 audiobooks to her credit. Her narrations have garnered more than 20 AudioFile Earphones Awards, and her reading of Written in My Own Heart’s Blood earned a Voice Arts Award for Best Voiceover in Fiction.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Jim on March 14, 2017

At the 20% mark, I wasn't thrilled. The blurb says it all well. The first introduction expands on this & is a bit long. The second isn't quite as long, but pretty much reiterates both. The text, so far, seems to just expand on these, but without any binding thread. We're bouncing all around from 193......more

Goodreads review by Jeff on March 27, 2013

Lavish stage settings but no performances. Enroute through Scotland to Newfoundland for his August, 1941 meeting with Roosevelt, Churchill ordered a grouse hunt outside Perth for the Presidential dinner that would come later aboard HMS Prince of Wales. Is that interesting? Yes it is, along with a hun......more

Goodreads review by Caitlin on February 17, 2013

I think most readers have had exposure to World War II history. Most of us have at least cursory knowledge of the big players - FDR, Churchill, Stalin. I was attracted to Dinner with Churchill because of its subject matter - Churchill's use of the dinner table to forward his policies. We're talking......more

Quotes

“A delicious tribute to Churchill’s heroic appetite for wining, dining, and politicking.” Ben Macintyre, New York Times bestselling author

“To Churchill, meals weren’t just a matter of getting something to eat. They were social occasions which he used to cement alliances and sway opponents.” Wall Street Journal

“These meals, and even white-linen picnics for generals in France after D-Day, are chronicled in Dinner with Churchill.” New York Times

“Entertaining…The former prime minister considered meals to be an opportunity for diplomacy and political gamesmanship. He used those moments to charm and, at times, disarm friends and foes, and viewed each moment as a way of accomplishing goals that might not be realized through traditional means. Narrated by Davina Porter, the book is charming and provides insight into Churchill through a new lens…Porter clearly enjoys the material, conveying it with the same alacrity that Churchill likely felt when eating.” AudioFile

“An enjoyable and original look at the often overlooked ‘table top diplomacy’ of Sir Winston Churchill…Stelzer leads the reader on a grand tour of some of the finest hotels, restaurants, estates, and political conferences with some of the most notable figures of World War II. Narrator Davina Porter does a superb job with the accents and in conveying emotion. Strongly recommended for those interested in Churchill, food, or history.” Library Journal (audio review)

“An amusing, informative look at Winston Churchill’s ample dinner diplomacy…An enjoyable work that nicely rounds out our already-full portrait of the great leader.” Kirkus Reviews