Commemorating the places where American communities gather, a compendium of stories and photographs that celebrate the pleasures of public spaces.Nationwide, more and more entrepreneurs are committing themselves to creating and running "third places," also known as "great good places." In his landmark work, The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg identified, portrayed, and promoted those third places. Now, more than ten years after the original publication of ...

Third places are all those spots where people gather, put aside the concerns of home and work (our first and second places), and hang out simply for the pleasures of good company and lively conversation. Third places are the heart of a community's social vitality, and have long been central to grassroots democracy.Third places are the heart of a community's social vitality, and have long been central to grassroots democracy. Author Ray Oldenburg is renowned for coining the term "third plac...

The Joy of Tippling is a toast to the importance of drinking together, crafted by the ultimate tippler. Like Ray Oldenburg's bestselling The Great Good Place, in which he coined the now-famous term "third places," his latest book is packed with factual information, humor and wit, personal insights, and sound sociological observations. The Joy of Tippling is a celebration of third places, and a call to community. Ray Oldenburg is known internationally for his book ...

*A Finalist for the Spirited Award for Best New Book on Drinks Culture, History or Spirits**A Guardian Best History and Politics Book of 2022*“At last, the feminist history of booze we’ve been waiting for!” —Amy Stewart, author of The Drunken BotanistThe James Beard Award-winning history of women drinking through the agesStrawberry daiquiris. Skinny martinis. Vodka sodas with lime. T...

“A knowledge-filled tome for true cocktail nerds or those aspiring to be” (Esquire), from one of the world’s most acclaimed bartendersWINNER OF THE JAMES BEARD AWARD • WINNER OF THE TALES OF THE COCKTAIL SPIRITED AWARD® FOR BEST NEW COCKTAIL OR BARTENDING BOOK • IACP AWARD FINALISTMeehan’s Bartender Manual is acclaimed mixologist Jim Meehan’s magnum opus—and the first book of the modern era to explain the bar industry from...

Starbucked will be the first book to explore the incredible rise of the Starbucks Corporation and the caffeine-crazy culture that fueled its success. Part Fast Food Nation, part Bobos in Paradise, Starbucked combines investigative heft with witty cultural observation in telling the story of how the coffeehouse movement changed our everyday lives, from our evolving neighborhoods and workplaces to the ways we shop, socialize, and self-medicate.In

Selected by Ruth Reichl, "punchy and vibrant" essays on food, its place on our tables, in our lives, and in our world ( Publishers Weekly).The twenty-eight pieces in this volume are about food, yet touch on every pillar of society: from the sense memories that connect a family, to the scientific tinkering that gives us new snacks to share, to the intersections of culinary culture with some of our most significant political issues. Included among other essa...

Author of the forthcoming What She Ate: Six Remarkable Women and the Food That Tells Their Stories (Summer 2017)With a swooping voice, an irrepressible sense of humor, and a passion for good food, Julia Child ushered in the nation’s culinary renaissance. In Julia Child, award-winning food writer Laura Shapiro tells the story of Child’s unlikely career path, from California party girl to coolheaded chief clerk in a World War II spy station to bewildered amateur cook and fin...

The year's top food writing from writers who celebrate the many innovative, comforting, mouthwatering, and culturally rich culinary offerings of our country."These are stories about culture," writes J. Kenji López-Alt in his introduction. "About how food shapes people, neighborhoods, and history." This year's Best American Food Writing captures the food industry at a critical moment in history — from the confrontation of abusive kitchen culture, to the dis...

"THE DEFINITIVE HISTORY OF BOURBON."— Sacramento BeeA Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance BestsellerA ROLLICKING BIOGRAPHY OF BOURBON WHISKEY THAT DOUBLES AS "A COMPLEX AND ENTERTAINING" ( WALL STREET JOURNAL) HISTORY OF AMERICA ITSELFFew products are so completely or intimately steeped in the American story as bourbon whiskey. As Dane Huckelbridge's masterfully crafted history reveals, the i...

For two hundred years, a rogues' gallery of chefs, line cooks, and dishwashers have slaved away, largely unseen, to serve the dining public. Their pedigrees reach back to the first restaurants during the reign of France's Louis XVI and extend to the Delmonico brothers in New York, Escoffier in Paris, and, in Fried: Surviving Two Centuries in Restaurants, a renegade cook in Minneapolis walking like a duck with a whole, raw salmon on his head.Author and professional chef Steve Lerach...

Finalist for the IACP Cookbook AwardA Washington Post Notable Book of the YearA Smithsonian Best Food Book of the YearLonglisted for the Art of Eating PrizeFeaturing a new chapter on ten restaurants changing America today, a “fascinating . . . sweep through centuries of food culture” (Washington Post).Combining an historian’s rigor with a food enthusiast’s palate, Paul Freedman’s seminal and h...