The Course of History is an interesting take on historical events. I had never stopped to think about the importance of historical meals - I just recognized that they had to have taken place. This book was a nice blend of describing the meals as well as the historical significance of not only the event bu the participants. The author's tone was approachable and I think this is an easy read for most audiences.

The author tries to strike a balance between the meal itself and its historical significance. While the meals themselves were interesting, there is something missing from the book and I still can't pinpoint what.

Filled with great facts and thoroughly researched this book weaves together the facts to turn an interesting tale of a wonderful topic into a must read.

This book was such a neat way to look at history using a list of 10 very specific things. The way this was written and the technique made it a more dynamic book that had me hooked since it wasn't as dense as other history-based books. More books like this, please!!

An interesting and entertaining way to look at 10 pieces of history. We are always looking for new ways to make learning more fun so easier for our children to learn and understand. This book sets the stage as if we are watching a one act play. How wonderful...just like we were spying at the actual event. How many more events could we attach the same principle to and make learning fun for everyone? HMMMM

One of the most informative and interesting nonfiction books I have ever read! Very well researched while also being entertaining. I learnt so much and would love if the author published more works that are in a similar vain.

Kids who want or have recently received a dog, will appreciate this story! A new dog needs to be trained and if they aren't well....there are consequences! This story is humorous, but shows what it's like for a family to get a dog. Dogs need to worked with and owners need patience. . That is a hard lesson to learn (I remember it well....) but the book offers up dog training advice. Fun summer read!
Pt. 1 of what looks to be a fun series!

Part history, part cookbook, this innovative collection of ten significant meals includes complete recipes and a synopsis of the historical significance of each, even with attendees and locations. Will appeal to history lovers and foodies alike.

This book seemed perfect for me because I love reading history and trying new recipes. However, while there seemed to be so much to love about this book, I just couldn’t.

Each of the ten chapters of the book was divided into two sections: the historical narrative about the meal and the recipes for the menu. Just that division made the book feel choppy to me, especially since at the end of historical narrative the author tried his best to tie that particular event to the next event.

My primary struggle with this book was that it tried to do too much with too little. The early chapters felt more like historical fiction, as I was dubious that all the details of the dinners that the author recounted were actually recorded for posterity. While, in some cases, the authors were careful to disclose that the menu was representative of a typical meal for the period, in other cases that care was absent. I was also dubious that the meals cited played the pivotal roles attributed to them, and that perhaps the importance of single meals was being overstated.

That being said, I thought that the historical narratives were compelling reads. They were a little uneven in how much time was spent on the details of the meal, as opposed to situating the meal in time and to describing the aftermath of the decisions made at the meal. I easily finished the book in less than a week because I kept wanting to return to it to read the next chapter.

I received this book as a digital advance reader copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book almost makes me regret signing up for Netgally. What a slog. I did get this book from Netgally in exchange for an honest review.

I love history and I love food, so this should have been right up my alley. It was not. The book isn’t badly written, but there is an air of smugness about it that set me teeth on edge. Struan Stevenson’s writing bounces between quoting from historical record to offering observations as if he was present at these meals. At times he seemed overly enthusiastic about the matching livery of Thomas Jefferson’s slaves, or patronizingly smug about oil company leaders “smacking their lips” while enjoying a fine single malt. By inserting observations that he could not have made himself as if he had observed them, he gives the impression that he wanted very much to be in the room where it happened.

Stevenson declares himself intrigued by dining diplomacy, but then doesn’t really articulate why the meals he has chosen fit his thesis – how did they change the course of history? The first meal – Bonnie Prince Charlie’s meal the night before the Battle of Culloden is a great example. I know that the Jacobite leadership feasted well and lavishly while the English were more restrained in their pre-battle dinner, but Stevenson makes no connection between the what happened at those dinners and the butchery that happened on the battlefield the next day. I would also argue that the dinner Hitler had with Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg was irrelevant. The Anschluss was going to happen and the dinner did nothing to alter Hitler’s plans for Austria. If there is a case to be made that the dinner held some history changing significance, Stevenson did not articulate it.

The dinner that Stevenson was clearly most interested in was Winston Churchill’s birthday dinner with Stalin and Roosevelt in Tehran. A couple of weeks after finishing the book, it is the only section of the book that has stuck with me. Even in this section though, Stevenson could have done a lot more to talk about how soft diplomacy improved the relationship between the three and how that impacted the end of World War Two.
There are recipes at the end of each chapter, but they left me feeling flat.

This book is very male, very Western and leaves me feeling like Stevenson longs for the days when white men made major decisions together behind closed doors.

History; food add recipies a fascinating look at times in history the food that was eaten a unique combination a book to learn historical facts from interesting recipes a wonderful read for history buffs and foodies, #netgalley #skyhorsepublishing,

We all need to eat so why not put differences aside and break bread.

This book talks about 10 meals that had major effects on the world throughout history. They run in chronological order and start with Culloden and end with the Egypt/Israel peace accords. What is interesting is the interactions between the people and how they felt about each other going in. In most cases the parties did not like each other but through a common meal were able to converse in such a way that they could accomplish things (not all good). Each chapter also includes recipes from that meal. The one recipe that through me though was the soup that Hitler ate because he was a vegetarian (and this is mentioned in the chapter) but the soup was made with ham hock and chicken broth.

If you are a fan of micro-histories given this one a try.

The Course of History is a interesting book combining food, history, recipes. The author did a thorough research and wrote the book well.

I enjoyed this book. It delved into two of my fa orite things, food and history. I love how the author used food to help understand some of the most famous battles in history. And a bonus is that the recipes are included!

I love foodways history and as this book was a great read on the topic. The way in which the food and the overall facts of history were wove together was extremely engaging.

The author's painstaking research and attention to detail is obvious in the writing of this book. There were many facts that I only discovered after reading this!

A masterfully researched and passionately written amalgamation of history and food, The Course of History is a perfect read for readers with a keen interest in both.

The book often reads more like a novel than non-fiction, with vibrant literary writing bringing the events and participants of these significant events to life. There is a strong sense of depth of research in the impeccable attention to detail which is deliciously layered in each scene like a pastoral painting, giving the reader a very real feeling of being in the midst of legendary figures. Perhaps the most noteworthy of Stevenson’s achievements in this work is how strongly he evokes the zeitgeist of each moment in history - seamlessly travelling centuries and decades with no break in immersion.

The recipes present a fascinating look into cuisine of the time, while remaining, for the most part, achievable to the home cook wishing to recreate a slice of history. Tony Singh has done an incredible job at bringing these meals into the modern kitchen

I found this a thoroughly enjoyable read - especially the earlier chapters and will be recommending it to fellow history enthusiasts.

This certainly was an interesting book combining history, food and recipes. Even though I found the book fascinating, I thought it was to a certain extent a bit chilling that it included the Austrian Anschluss with Hitler at Berghof, even if it was an important historcal event.

I’m a history buff and foodie and absolutely enjoyed this book. The history leading to how each dinner came about is a great lead up to the menu and recipes. These are major historical meetings and events that are concisely summed up and will help even the non history buff understand some of the major events in history…and how they ate as well.

There are a few recipes I will definitely try from here, but quite a few I won’t. If only a few of the wine selections were available to go with the meals, it would be amazing. A girl can dream, but I’ll make some of my own wine selections and skip the aperitifs, which are not as big a deal as they were back in older times.

A great read for the history loving foodies out there!

I wanted to like this book. I love food and I thought I loved history. But after reading this, I've decided that some history just isn't as interesting as other history. I found the "descriptions" of the events to be way too long and tedious. I wanted more description about the meal...not just the food, but the conversation, setting, etc. I guess that might be too short of a book because the bulk of this book was the historical lead-up to and aftermath of the meal. There were way too many people involved in each story to keep my interest. That being said, there are definitely some recipes I'll be trying.