Dinner with Churchill - by Cita Stelzer (Paperback)

About the Book

An eloquent narrative of the great man's dinner-table diplomacy, this sumptuous volume is an intellectual treat for all admirers of Churchill.

Book Synopsis

A friend once said of Churchill "He is a man of simple tastes; he is quite easily satisfied with the best of everything." But dinners for Churchill were about more than good food, excellent champagnes and Havana cigars. "Everything" included the opportunity to use the dinner table both as a stage on which to display his brilliant conversational talents, and an intimate setting in which to glean gossip and diplomatic insights, and to argue for the many policies he espoused over a long life.In this riveting, informative and entertaining book, Stelzer draws on previously untapped material, diaries of guests, and a wide variety of other sources to tell of some of the key dinners at which Churchill presided before, during and after World War II- including the important conferences at which he used his considerable skills to attempt to persuade his allies, Franklin Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin, to fight the war according to his strategic vision.

Review Quotes

A delicious tribute to Churchill's heroic appetite for wining, dining, and politicking.--Ben Macintyre, author of Operation Mincemeat

A delightful and fascinating book.--Andrew Roberts, author of The Storm of War

To Churchill, meals weren't just a matter of getting something to eat. They were social occasions which he used to cement alliances and sway opponents.

About the Author

Cita Stelzer received a BA degree from Barnard College, with a major in history, worked in educational publishing, and has been a stringer for the Financial Times. Cita served as special aide to New York's Mayor John Lindsay and to Governor Hugh Carey, specializing in energy policy. She founded a public relations firm in New York City specializing in business development for law firms before joining an economic consulting firm specializing in regulatory policy.

She is a former member of the Churchill Archives Centre US Advisory board, President of the Arizona chapter of the International Churchill Society, a former Trustee of Wigmore Hall, the venerable chamber music venue in London, and has been a member of the Board of Trustees and Vice Chairman of the Aspen Musical Festival and School. Cita is also a Churchill Fellow of the National Churchill Museum in Fulton, Missouri.

She is the author of three books on Winston Churchill, Dinner with Churchill: Policy-Making at the Dinner Table (2013), Working with Winston: The Unsung Women Behind Britain's Greatest Statesman (2019), and Churchill's American Network: Forging the Special Relationship (2023).