The Duchess Who Wouldnt Sit Down or Fresh Eggs

The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down: An Informal History of Hospitality

Author: Jesse Browner

Partisan, witty, and laced with astonishing historical detail, The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down is dedicated to a new understanding of the art of hospitality. Jesse Browner leads the way back through Western civilization, from a present-day poker game where Browner's devastatingly delicious sandwiches leave the best players penniless, to the ancient Greeks, whose gods punished or exalted the mortals according to their excellence as hosts. On the way, we visit Hitler at his summer home, Gertrude Stein in Paris and Lady Ottoline Morrell in England, Audubon in nineteeth-century America, Louis XIV at Versailles, and the Roman emperors, for whom classic dinner-table entertainment was a good poisoning. As delightful and edifying as an evening in favored company, The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down is a must-read for anyone who's ever accepted an invitation-or wonders why they keep sending them out.

The New York Times

Hospitality, Browner writes in The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down, is designed to give the host what he needs while letting the guest imagine that he has been gratified. It is ''Your guests must be made to bend to your will or else you are lost.'' — Elizabeth Hanson

Publishers Weekly

Like an artfully served canap , Browner's brief exploration of hospitality may seem light, but has a rich, lingering flavor. He works backward through time, beginning with Adolf Hitler's quirky type of hospitality at his retreat, at which every guest room had a copy of Mein Kampf and French pornography books on the bedside table. From there, novelist Browner (Conglomeros; Turnaway) wanders into the realm of Gertrude Stein, John James Audubon and Louis XIV, whose court witnessed the humiliation of a duchess who wouldn't sit because she was offered a stool instead of a chair. The book also explores Rome's Julio-Claudian dynasty and the rough days of Agamemnon's army. Browner plumbs these historical periods for hospitality anecdotes and finds some pearls, proving the host-and-guest relationship has never been particularly carefree. While directing the conversation, Browner proves an excellent host himself, throwing out delicious bons mots and peppering the work with personal details. Excursions into his daughter's teddy bear teas and his own propensity for weakening his poker buddies' resolve with homemade sandwiches give the book a sense of coherence and smooth charm. By the time he devotes an entire chapter to his family's Thanksgiving dinner, it's easy to see how his analysis of hospitality through the ages has shaped the event. He writes, "When I am a good host, I can order the world precisely as I believe it ought to be." It's no effort to delight in the fact that Browner is also a good storyteller, and the way he orders the world here is an invitation worth answering. (Oct. 1) Forecast: Browner's book has the quirky appeal to land it the book review sections of culinary and travel magazines, aided by blurbs from New York restaurateur Danny Meyer and Oxford Companion to Food author Alan Davidson. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Table of Contents:

	Introduction	1
I	How to Put Your Guests at Ease	9
II	Teddy Bears' Picnic	28
III	Odd Fish	49
IV	The Duchess Who Wouldn't Sit Down	64
V	The Cockentrice	94
VI	Germans!	110
VII	Gaius, Titus, Lucius	130
VIII	Friendly to Strangers	155
IX	Thanksgiving, New York City, 2001	176
	Acknowledgments	191
	Bibliography	192

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Fresh Eggs

Author: George Moran

George Moran, a.k.a. "the egg man", is a New York City street artist and co-author of seven top-selling humor books. He has been drawing eggs in one form or another for over 20 years. EGGS are the perfect antidote for modern life. Whether they are meditating, intimidating people, or even doing chores, George and his yolks will make you laugh. Guaranteed. 123 two-color drawings. Size A. 128 pp.