Elizabeth David's reputation as one of the most influential food writers of the twentieth century rests primarily on her first five books. Mediterranean Food appeared in 1949 when England was still on wartime rations. Before long every self-respecting cook had a copy of it in the kitchen; between 1955 and 1985, more than a million copies of her book were sold. Elizabeth's aim was to bring flavor of these blessed lands of sun and sea and olive trees" into English homes, and her books transformed a generation of cooks by demystifying unfamiliar ingredients like garlic, red peppers and olive oil that have since become everyday cooking staples.
Born in 1913 to a wealthy, well-connected family, Elizabeth Gwynne was privately educated until the age of sixteen, when she was sent to France to learn the language and study at the Sorbonne. After being "finished" in Paris and Munich, she returned to London and worked briefly as an actress, but left again to explore Europe. At the age of twenty-six, she and her married lover, Charles Gibson-Cowan, set-off on a boat bound for Greece. Trapped in Antibes by the war, Elizabeth came under the spell of Norman Douglas, one of the most important influences in her life. She and Charles set sail again just as Italy entered the war, only to find themselves interned in Messina, accused of espionage. Eventually they reached Athens. They spent the winter in 1940-41 on a Greek Island, where Elizabeth first started to cook Mediterranean food. 
The German invasion of the Balkans forced them to join refugees fleeing to Egypt. In the raffish Fortunes of War of Alexandria and Cairo, Elizabeth flourished and came to know writers such as Lawrence Durrell and Patrick Leigh Fermor. She also met Tony David, an officer in the Indian army. He proposed to her by letter from Italy and, to the astonishment of her friends, she accepted. After the war and a few months in India, Elizabeth returned to gray rationed England.
Exasperated by the bleakness of English food, she put pen to paper and wrote Mediterranean Food, a book that caught the imagination of a generation was soon followed by French Country Cooking, Italian Food, French Provincial Cooking, and many other titles. In the course of the next decade, the happiest of her life, Elizabeth's books and articles inspired a cookery revolution.
Working from an extensive archive of personal papers, Artemis Cooper reveals the powerful tensions between Elizabeth David's private world and the image of the successful woman she presented to her public. It is a story that even some of her closest friends never knew.

Writing at the Kitchen Table: The Authorized Biography of Elizabeth David

Cooper, Artemis

Cookbooks, Food & Wine

Ecco

This is an account of life, attitudes and events in Cairo during World War II. It describes the historical background of the events of the Desert War, as well as stories and descriptions of personalities gleaned from the Ambassador's diaries and those of her grandparents, Duff and Diana Cooper.

Cairo In The War 1939-1945

History

Military

Penguin Uk

"A rich and intriguing story whcih the authors disentangle with great skill."--Sunday Telegraph From Antony Beevor, the internationally bestselling author of D-Day and The Battle of Arnhem In this brilliant synthesis of social, political, and cultural history, Antony Beevor and Artemis Cooper present a vivid and compelling portrayal of the City of Lights after its liberation. Paris became the diplomatic battleground in the opening stages of the Cold War. Against this volatile political backdrop, every aspect of life is portrayed: scores were settled in a rough and uneven justice, black marketers grew rich on the misery of the population, and a growing number of intellectual luminaries and artists including Hemingway, Beckett, Camus, Sartre, de Beauvoir, Cocteau, and Picassocontributed new ideas and a renewed vitality to this extraordinary moment in time.

Paris After the Liberation 1944-1949: Revised Edition

BEEVOR, Antony

Europe

Penguin Publishing Group

This book relates what Cairo, between 1939-1945, meant to different groups of people, such as the troops, the officers, the irregular warriors, the inveterate gamblers, the free French, Poles and Balkan Royal families as well as the countless refugees.

Cairo in the War, 1939 - 1945

Hamish Hamilton Ltd.

"Exquisite publication, written by respected scholars and artist, combines scholarly research with a pleasant writing style. Covers tango's history from early-19th century to the present, addressing tango's spread into Europe and North America and its 'golden age' in Buenos Aires from the 1920s-50s; also discusses topics such as tango and 'machismo,' and the tango revival in film, theater, and literature. Includes an extended bibliography and discography. Richly illustrated with facsimiles, reproductions of drawings, paintings, and photographs. For review by Pablo Vila, see Lat. Am. Music Rev., Vol. 18, No. 1, 1997, p. 113-123"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 58.http://www.loc.gov/hlas/

Tango!: The Dance, the Song, the Story

Humor & Entertainment

MARTIN, RICHARD

Collier, Simon

Azzi, María Susana

Puzzles & Games

Thames&Hudson

Traces the history of the tango, describes dancers and musicians associated with the dance, and looks at the tango in art and movies

Cooper, Duff, Cooper, Artemis, Cooper, Diana

A Durable Fire: The Letters of Duff and Diana Cooper, 1913-1950

COOPER, DIANA

Cooper, Duff

Olympic Marketing Corp

Elizabeth David was born into a upper-class family and pursued a rebellious and bohemian life as a student of art and then an actress in Paris, before running off with a married man to Greece and then settling in Cairo, where she worked for the British government. After the Second World War, she returned to England, where she was shocked by poor food into writing first articles, then books on Meditteranean cooking. A Book of Mediterranean Food was published in 1950, inspiring a cookery revolution, bringing new flavours and ingredients to the drab, post-war British diet. Over the next few years, David was to become a major influence on British cooking, yet her classic cookery books show little of the colourful personality behind the public persona. Artermis Cooper, in this refreshing biography, reveals an adventurous and uncompromising personality - a woman with a passion for food, life and men. This is the whole story: of her strong friendships, her failed marriage, tempestuous affairs and the greatest love of her life, told with extensive refererence to David's private papers and letters. 'In this wonderful and creative book, Cooper has brought David to life . . . she not only writes like an angel, but has done her research with great skill and obvious enjoyment.' Derek Cooper, Sunday Times 'Engagingly well-written, thoroughly researched and documented. One of the delights of Artemis Cooper's book is that it makes you go back, time and again, to the source. And suddenly I will find that I have whiled away the afternoon re-reading, for the sheer pleasure of it, half of Spices or An Omlette and a Glass of Wine.' Frances Bissell, The Times 'Fluent, engaging and astonishingly readable.' Clarissa Dickson Wright, Mail on Sunday 'Artemis Cooper is skilled and wise enough to handle the contradictory sides of David's character without being either censorious or sensational.' Arabella Boxer, The Times Literary Supplement

Faber and Faber

With the benefit of Russian documents never before seen by Western scholars, German transcripts, and private letters and diaries, the author offers a compelling narrative of the battle of Stalingrad, which broke the back of the Nazi army during the Second World War. 20,000 first printing.

Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942-1943

Viking Adult

Writing at the Kitchen Table The Authorized Biography of Elizabeth David; Elizabeth David The Authorized Biography

Writing at the kitchen table: The authorized biography of Elizabeth David

Biographies & Memoirs

Michael, Joseph

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Cooper, Artemis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Cooper, Artemis

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Cooper, Artemis. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Writing at the Kitchen Table: The Authorized Biography of Elizabeth David

Cairo In The War 1939-1945

Paris After the Liberation 1944-1949: Revised Edition

Cairo in the War, 1939 - 1945

Tango!: The Dance, the Song, the Story

Tango!: The Dance, the Song, the Story

A Durable Fire: The Letters of Duff and Diana Cooper, 1913-1950

Writing at the Kitchen Table: The Authorized Biography of Elizabeth David

Stalingrad: The Fateful Siege, 1942-1943

Writing at the kitchen table: The authorized biography of Elizabeth David