Girly Drinks: A World History of Women and Alcohol
Mallory O'Meara
(Author)
Description
*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 Botanist
The James Beard Award-winning history of women drinking through the ages
Strawberry daiquiris. Skinny martinis. Vodka sodas with lime. These are the cocktails that come in sleek-stemmed glasses, bright colors and fruity flavors--these are the Girly Drinks.
From the earliest days of civilization, alcohol has been at the center of social rituals and cultures worldwide. But when exactly did drinking become a gendered act? And why have bars long been considered "places for men" when, without women, they might not even exist?
With whip-smart insight and boundless curiosity, Girly Drinks unveils an entire untold history of the female distillers, drinkers and brewers who have played a vital role in the creation and consumption of alcohol, from ancient Sumerian beer goddess Ninkasi to iconic 1920s bartender Ada Coleman. Filling a crucial gap in culinary history, O'Meara dismantles the long-standing patriarchal traditions at the heart of these very drinking cultures, in the hope that readers everywhere can look to each celebrated woman in this book--and proudly have what she's having.
Product Details
Price
$27.99
$26.03
Publisher
Hanover Square Press
Publish Date
October 19, 2021
Pages
384
Dimensions
6.34 X 9.24 X 1.19 inches | 1.11 pounds
Language
English
Type
Hardcover
EAN/UPC
9781335282408
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About the Author
Mallory O'Meara is the award-winning and bestselling author of The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick. It won the 2019 SCIBA Book Award for Biography and the Rondo Hatton Classic Horror Award, and was nominated for both a Locus and a Hugo Award. Every week, Mallory cohosts the literary podcast Reading Glasses. A New England native, she now lives in the mountains near Los Angeles with her two cats, where she is at work on her latest nonfiction book. Bourbon is her drink of choice.
Reviews
"[A] thorough, and thoroughly entertaining, history... Elegantly woven into each cheeky chapter is rigorous historical context... O'Meara glides easily from the 17th-century pulquerias of Mexico to the feminine "fern bars" of the 1970s, making sure to not to forget the queen of girly drinks: the Cosmopolitan. Provoking both thought and laughter, this serves as bracing refreshment from a master textual mixologist." -Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Feminist and very funny... O'Meara deftly blends in equal measures of social history, gossip, and solid research, and adds enjoyable footnotes... women have discovered, invented, advanced, championed, and celebrated alcohol. Ladies? This calls for a drink." -Booklist "At last, the feminist history of booze we've been waiting for! After centuries of being excluded, ignored, or treated as accessories, Mallory O'Meara has put women at the center of a global history of alcohol. From winemakers and distillers to activists, leaders, and change-makers, Girly Drinks takes us on a whirlwind tour of the role women have played in what we drink, and how, when, and why we drink it."
--AMY STEWART, author of The Drunken Botanist
"Girly Drinks is anything but--a raw shot of boozy history that stings as well as it soothes!"
--PATTON OSWALT
"With this lively book Mallory O'Meara has provided a real service, giving us not only a long-overdue new perspective on a great many familiar issues, but also raising all kinds of other issues that are unfamiliar and shouldn't be."
--DAVID WONDRICH, author of Imbibe
"Cheers to Mallory O'Meara and her serious yet seriously entertaining treatise on the history of gendered drinks. Girly Drinks will introduce you to queens and nuns, bootleggers and bartenders, telling their stories and proving the point that all drinks are girly drinks."
--JEANETTE HURT, author of Wisconsin Cocktails and Drink Like a Woman Praise for The Lady from the Black Lagoon "If you loved Hidden Figures, you'll love this much-overdue biography of Disney's first female animator, and Hollywood's only woman (still) to design a monster for a major motion picture." --Town and Country "There's never a dull moment in this beautiful, heartfelt tribute to a pioneering special-effects designer and animator and passionate call for change in the industry that forgot her." --Booklist (starred review) "Engaging and compelling.... A fierce and often very funny guide to the distaff side of geekdom." --Los Angeles Times "O'Meara's chatty, impassioned book, The Lady from the Black Lagoon, lifts Milicent Patrick out of the mire of obscurity. O'Meara is a dogged researcher and a fierce partisan...Patrick's story [has] resonances for today, when women in Hollywood still find themselves in the company of monsters." --Maureen Corrigan, NPR "Fresh Air" "Captivating and exhaustively researched...This is a fascinating slice of Hollywood history with a feminist slant, correcting a sexist wrong from decades ago and restoring Patrick to her rightful place of esteem." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Feminist and very funny... O'Meara deftly blends in equal measures of social history, gossip, and solid research, and adds enjoyable footnotes... women have discovered, invented, advanced, championed, and celebrated alcohol. Ladies? This calls for a drink." -Booklist "At last, the feminist history of booze we've been waiting for! After centuries of being excluded, ignored, or treated as accessories, Mallory O'Meara has put women at the center of a global history of alcohol. From winemakers and distillers to activists, leaders, and change-makers, Girly Drinks takes us on a whirlwind tour of the role women have played in what we drink, and how, when, and why we drink it."
--AMY STEWART, author of The Drunken Botanist
"Girly Drinks is anything but--a raw shot of boozy history that stings as well as it soothes!"
--PATTON OSWALT
"With this lively book Mallory O'Meara has provided a real service, giving us not only a long-overdue new perspective on a great many familiar issues, but also raising all kinds of other issues that are unfamiliar and shouldn't be."
--DAVID WONDRICH, author of Imbibe
"Cheers to Mallory O'Meara and her serious yet seriously entertaining treatise on the history of gendered drinks. Girly Drinks will introduce you to queens and nuns, bootleggers and bartenders, telling their stories and proving the point that all drinks are girly drinks."
--JEANETTE HURT, author of Wisconsin Cocktails and Drink Like a Woman Praise for The Lady from the Black Lagoon "If you loved Hidden Figures, you'll love this much-overdue biography of Disney's first female animator, and Hollywood's only woman (still) to design a monster for a major motion picture." --Town and Country "There's never a dull moment in this beautiful, heartfelt tribute to a pioneering special-effects designer and animator and passionate call for change in the industry that forgot her." --Booklist (starred review) "Engaging and compelling.... A fierce and often very funny guide to the distaff side of geekdom." --Los Angeles Times "O'Meara's chatty, impassioned book, The Lady from the Black Lagoon, lifts Milicent Patrick out of the mire of obscurity. O'Meara is a dogged researcher and a fierce partisan...Patrick's story [has] resonances for today, when women in Hollywood still find themselves in the company of monsters." --Maureen Corrigan, NPR "Fresh Air" "Captivating and exhaustively researched...This is a fascinating slice of Hollywood history with a feminist slant, correcting a sexist wrong from decades ago and restoring Patrick to her rightful place of esteem." --Publishers Weekly (starred review)
