You will never again look at a Martini or think of rum the same way. Wonderfully entertaining.

Sexist, obnoxious, and incredibly arrogant. The Cocktail Manifesto spews such blasphemes as calling Rum the worst blemish in American history and that the Manhattan is a sin against piety. Still, even with hyperbolic and absurd rantings, DeVoto manages some particularly beautiful insights and descriptions of how and when to enjoy a cocktail. It's certainly worth a read for the sake of itself.

There's no doubt that Mr. DeVoto would consider me an olive-chomping barbarian, a fruity-cocktail-sipping heathen. I'm everything he despises - a woman who loves a good fruity cocktail especially if it has an umbrella or better yet a clear plastic monkey hanging on the edge of the glass by its long skinny tail! But he and I do agree on one thing which is that there is nothing better than getting together with some friends at the violet hour and having a few cocktails. And if someone is going to

Let's concentrate on the chapter entitled 'The Enemy,' shall we?Mr. DeVoto, I couldn't agree with you more. The real problem isn't alcohol, it is this country's preocupation with sweets. Why, I can't count how many times I've been wandering the streets at the middle of the night, smashed on cupcakes, and raped and beat some random guy.Now that that's out of the way, indulge me my silly feminist ideas, if you will.I don't appreciate his comment that the reader should go into the kitchen and see w...

DeVoto's dogmatism about his incredibly narrow drink opinions would be easier to swallow if not accompanied by so, so much regressive and condescending misogyny. Having just finished reading this, I am worried that before I can get rid of it someone will come over and see it, and think that I support anything he says.

A few weeks ago I was fortunate enough to be caught outside on a warm spring evening by my neighbor, Dan, while I was pulling weeds. I had been gardening all day and was tired and dirty but throughly enjoying the day. He suggested Susan and I come over and have a cocktail with him and the invitation struck me perfectly. We rounded up our other neighbor, Barbara, and the four of us sat on Dan's front porch for the rest of the night watching the sun set through the trees, talking politics, listeni...

“The surest proof of the moral condition of the universe is that you can always find good whiskey if you go looking for it.” So declares Bernard DeVoto in The Hour, and I think that sentence serves as the real thesis of his manifesto. While he rails against rum and the various cocktails that were just becoming popular at the time of the book’s writing (he particularly dislikes soda as a mixer), the big point he’s making isn’t about a proper drink, but about the proper way to enjoy one. It’s call...

The Hour of, of course, is the cocktail hour. Perhaps this would have been a better read had I a few drinks first, since, no doubt, it was written under the influence of a few. You get the feeling when reading this that the author might have eventually reread this while sober and scratched his head wondering what exactly he had meant to say. Sort of like getting up in the middle of the night and writing something down only to wake up the next morning wondering what it meant.Nevertheless it was a...

Fantastic book, if you have a sense of humor about it. Obviously, DeVoto takes shots at all sorts of targets, and you can argue whether he hits the mark or not. But to me, I was laughing all the way through. Funniest book I've read in a while. Just don't take it too seriously, and you'll be fine. Except for his recommendations on how to make a proper martini. That's serious as a heart attack.

An amusing, tongue-in-cheek collection of DeVoto’s essays, written between 1948-1951, on the subject of drinking in America. Pulitzer Prize winner DeVoto has been described as an “author, literary critic, and historian.” He certainly did NOT receive his Pulitzer for this work, but that is part of what makes The Hour fun. He definitely wrote most of the columns included here with a either a “slug of whiskey” (likely Rye or Irish) at his side, or maybe a garnish-free Martini (preferably 3.7 to 1!)...

This book has an entertaining style and should be read more as humor book than as a bartending guide. Readers should be aware it was written in 1948 and is a product of the time - when it's assumed all people are heterosexual, single women are looking for a husband and should be attractive to the men in the group if they are to be invited, etc.Some of the illustrations are charming - the cover illustration is one of my favorites. Others again reflect the times - in a way that can now be off-putt...

Rec'ed by a friend who has a consistent eye for what I will enjoy:, this was a delight.

I was absolutely taken by The Hour; DeVoto's writing is incredibly passionate. There is the essence of curmudgeon throughout the book, but the sarcasm is immediately evident, and makes it that much more hilarious. I would trust that he wasn't ready to start our granddaddy's war over a person making a cocktail other than the two he specified, but even if he was, his views are outlined so strongly that you have to give him credit for them! The detail he offers, with such illustrious nuance and vis...

Bernard DeVoto's The Hour is a clarion call for adults to have a quiet hour of conversation with friends or loved ones over a good cocktail. His votive hour is right before dinner; in my household it is the hour before bedtime. I guess DeVoto would classify it more as a nightcap, but the same principle is at work. It is a time to talk and unwind, a time to be civilized as the troubles of the day recede away. DeVoto spends much of his time railing against "alien" liquors such as Scotch whiskey or...

Kind of disappointing. Popular historian DeVoto (Twain, edited Lewis and Clark journals down to 1 volume, Year of Decision) gives us a short volume here on the Cocktail Hour. Cranky and opinionated, and the writing is oddly archaic, even for 1951 when it was originally published. Humorous at times, and a nice record of times past (when bars watered down their liquor!). You can buzz through this in a couple of sittings (small pages, large type, lots of white space on the page, quotes and illustra...

After reading, “Always, Julia: The Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto”, Bernard DaVoto, Avis’s husband became as familiar to me as Julia and Avis was. His books and work were mentioned so often I was intrigued. This book was not in my library’s system and had to be requested. It came from Washington, the other side of the country! I’m in NJ. This impressed me, why I don’t know. This was a fun book…I knew it would be. I even loved the book’s jacket. It is a short rhapsody to the cocktail….and...

(Actually 4.5 stars, but rounding up. Also, I read the 1951 edition, but Goodreads doesn't seem to have an entry for it.)This is a series of four essays by the noted historian about cocktails and the cocktail hour. For DeVoto, the Martini and whiskey (bourbon and rye) are the pinnacle of American achievement, and the Martini and whiskey slug are the only two cocktails. (He'll allow you to make an Old Fashioned for a demanding guest, but no Manhattans; and don't get him started on rum.)It's very

The Hour: A Cocktail Manifesto is a short tome written by Bernard DeVoto in 1948 on the proper way to enjoy cocktails. The hour of the title refers to 6:00PM, and as for cocktails, in DeVoto's view there are exactly two acceptable cocktails, a dry martini made only with gin and vermouth, and a glass of whiskey. That's it, everything is derided with DeVoto devoting the bulk of his wrath to rum in particular as well any other overly sugary drink. A reader with modern sensibilities is likely to be

Reading this book you can actually smell Manhattan circ. 1953. Bernard DeVoto was a Historian, who wrote the ultimate love object (the book of course) to the serious art of drinking, and drinking well. The man has a strong hatred for the drink "Manhattan" as well as Rum. In fact he hates all sweet cocktails with a passion. And if you think you should add that olive to the martini, forget it. Cocktail is not a food, its a drink. The great thing about the book is the packaging - all the original i...

"The Hour is not simply a piece of humorous cultural patriotism either. It is a manual of witchcraft, a book of spells and observances."—Wallace Stegner, author of Angle of Repose"In an age when all that was old seems new again, Bernard DeVoto's The Hour couldn't have made a more timely reappearance. This book reminds me of one of the joys of being an adult—cocktail hour!"—Graydon Carter"If in the well and truly made martini DeVoto finds "water of life" and the blessing to the spirit, so also De...