A narrative history of the craft cocktail renaissance, written by a New York Times cocktail writer and one of the foremost experts on the subject.

A Proper Drink is the first-ever book to tell the full, unflinching story of the contemporary craft cocktail revival. Award-winning writer Robert Simonson interviewed more than 200 key players from around the world, and the result is a rollicking (if slightly tipsy) story of the characters--bars, bartenders, patrons, and visionaries--who in the last 25 years have changed the course of modern drink-making. The book also features a curated list of about 40 cocktails--25 modern classics, plus an additional 15 to 20 rediscovered classics and classic contenders--to emerge from the movement.

'A complete history of one of the world's most iconic cocktails--now the poster child of the modern cocktail revival--with fifty recipes for classic variations as well as contemporary updates. In this fun, unexpected, and informative guide, New York Times spirits columnist Robert Simonson explores the history of the Old Fashioned: its birth as the 'ur-cocktail' in the late nineteenth century, ascension in the 1950s and 1960s (as portrayed and repopularized by Don Draper on Mad Men), and renaissance as the star of the contemporary craft cocktail movement. A perfect Father's Day gift for any whiskey-loving gent, the book boasts a sleek, stylish package with striking photography throughout. With fifty elegant, delicious, and totally-within-reach cocktail recipes, The Old Fashioned is destined to become a classic on par with its namesake beverage'--

Theater greats Sir Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, Vivian Leigh, Joan Plowright, and Kenneth Tynan get together to rehearse Ionesco's Rhinoceros. With lightning wit and scathing insight into the true nature of genius, this play opens the private world of these very public people, exposing their warmth, their egos, and their glittering madness.