The Hour A Cocktail Manifesto

One part celebration, one part history, two parts manifesto, Bernard DeVoto’s The Hour is a comic and unequivocal treatise on how and why we drink—properly. The Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning author turns his shrewd wit on the spirits and attitudes of his time (warning: this book is NOT for rum drinkers), and instructs readers on how to drink with class while shedding new light on the simple joys of the cocktail hour. An immediate classic, and perfect gift for the modern drinker, Wallace Stegner called it “a manual of witchcraft, a book of spells and observances” and Lewis Lapham hailed it as “generous, indomitable and wise.” With a wonderful introduction from Daniel Handler, this fully illustrated reprint of the 1950s definitive drinking guide provides a humorous and nostalgic read guaranteed to lift your spirits.

Bernard Devoto was an author, literary critic, and historian. In 1948, he won the Pulitzer Prize for Across the Wide Missouri, and in 1953 he won the National Book Award for The Course of Empire. From 1935 onward he wrote a regular column, The Easy Chair, for Harper's magazine. He served as curator for the papers of Mark Twain and gained popularity for his The Journals of Lewis and Clark. He was a champion of public lands and the conservation of natural resources, as well as an adamant defender of civil liberties.
Daniel Handler is the author of the novels The Basic Eight, Watch Your Mouth, and Adverbs, and far too many books as Lemony Snicket. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and child.