The only reporter present at the mythic Paris Tasting of 1976 for the first time introduces the eccentric American winemakers and records the tremendous aftershocks of this historic event that changed forever the world of wine. The Paris Tasting of 1976 will forever be remembered as the landmark event that transformed the wine industry. At this legendary contest—a blind tasting—a panel of top French wine experts shocked the industry by choosing unknown California wines over France’s best. George M. Taber, the only reporter present, recounts this seminal contest and its far-reaching effects, focusing on three gifted unknowns behind the winning wines: a college lecturer, a real estate lawyer, and a Yugoslavian immigrant. With unique access to the main players and a contagious passion for his subject, Taber renders this historic event and its tremendous aftershocks—repositioning the industry and sparking a golden age for viticulture across the globe. With an eclectic cast of characters and magnificent settings, Judgment of Paris is an illuminating tale and a story of the entrepreneurial spirit of the new world conquering the old.

Another fascinating book by the author of Brunelleschi’s Dome and Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling: a saga of artistic rivalry and cultural upheaval in the decade leading to the birth of Impressionism. If there were two men who were absolutely central to artistic life in France in the second half of the nineteenth century, they were Edouard Manet and Ernest Meissonier. While the former has been labelled the “Father of Impressionism” and is today a household name, the latter has sunk into obscurity. It is difficult now to believe that in 1864, when this story begins, it was Meissonier who was considered the greatest French artist alive and who received astronomical sums for his work, while Manet was derided for his messy paintings of ordinary people and had great difficulty getting any of his work accepted at the all-important annual Paris Salon. Manet and Meissonier were the Mozart and Salieri of their day, one a dangerous challenge to the establishment, the other beloved by rulers and the public alike for his painstakingly meticulous oil paintings of historical subjects. Out of the fascinating story of their parallel careers, Ross King creates a lens through which to view the political tensions that dogged Louis-Napoleon during the Second Empire, his ignominious downfall, and the bloody Paris Commune of 1871. At the same time, King paints a wonderfully detailed and vivid portrait of life in an era of radical social change. When Manet painted Dejeuner sur l’herbe or Olympia, he shocked not only with his casual brushstrokes but with his subject matter: top-hatted white-collar workers (and their mistresses) were not considered suitable subjects for ‘Art.’ Ross King shows how, benign as they might seem today, these paintings changed the course of history. The struggle between Meissonier and Manet to see their paintings achieve pride of place at the Salon was not just about artistic competitiveness, it was about how to see the world. Full of fantastic tidbits of information and a colourful cast of characters that includes Baudelaire, Courbet and Zola, with walk-on parts for Monet, Renoir, Degas and Cezanne, The Judgment of Paris casts new light on the birth of Impressionism and takes us to the heart of a time in which the modern French identity was being forged.

Drawing on Freudian theories of sexuality and Kant's conception of the beautiful, French art historian Hubert Damisch considers artists as diverse as Raphael, Picasso, Watteau, and Manet to demonstrate that beauty has always been connected to ideas of sexual difference and pleasure. Damisch's tale begins with the judgment of Paris, in which Paris awards Venus the golden apple and thus forever links beauty with desire. The casting of this decision as a mistake—in which desire is rewarded over wisdom and strength—is then linked to theories of the unconscious and psychological drives. In his quest for an exposition of the beautiful in its relation to visual pleasure, Damisch employs what he terms “analytic iconology,” following the revisions and repetitions of the motif of the judgment through art history, philosophy, aesthetics, and psychoanalysis. This translation brings an important figure of the French art historical tradition to Anglo-American audiences.

Master storyteller Gore Vidal’s 1952 classic. The fast and furious hedonistic world of the jet-set commuting between the glamour centres of Europe is the setting for this famous novel by one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable writers. Philip Warren is a personable young American who moves amongst the international demi-gods of wealth and status in search of himself and a future which will satisfy his part cynical, part romantic outlook.

Love is honorable but selfish. Love is a record of my wrongs. Love had fractured in trials but held on for the truth. And the truth was he'd hurt me, yet I loved him.He'd left me, yet I followed him.But I was done with Léo Baudin.And as soon as the semester was over, I would be done with Paris.But until then, I would learn the rest of his secrets.The ones they whispered about behind his back. The ones that had the entire city watching his every move. The ones that held him hostage.But to know his secrets meant to know him. And to know him was to fall further for the man who'd already hurt me so much.I hated him for breaking my heart, but I should've learned by now that the things we loathe become the things we love.And just when I thought there was nothing left to keep us apart, the ghosts of his past came back to life with a truth neither of us could have expected. And lies that neither of us could imagine.As each layer unraveled, the choice between power and wisdom and love grew greater. And the consequences of our decision would be the judgment of this city.But when all else fails, love always hopes. Against all odds, love always perseveres. The Judgment of Paris is the second book in the Odyssey Duet. It is necessary to read The Fall of Troy (Book 1) first.

The Judgement of Paris - the tale of the shepherd-prince who gave Venus the prize in a beaty competition - was variously treated by classical writers and became a favourite theme for artists. No painter seems to have responded to the ancient story with more intelligence and enthusiasm than Peter Paul Rubens, who devoted at least eight pictures to it. A Judgement of Paris marks every stage in Rubens' career, so that the present survey, which includes familiar and unfamiliar works, allows an insight into his entire artistic development. Since his illustrations of the subject were intended for a variety of contexts, this study also adresses many aspects of Rubens's practice and production, as well as touching on his later reputation. Rubens's response to the theme is also seen in relation to earlier literary and pictorial tradition. Paris's decision had set a problem for moralists - for his choice had led, indirectly, to the onset of the Trojan War. Some commentators held that the young man, who had two other goddesses to choose from, should have preferred Minerva, patron of learning, or at least had opted sensibly for wealth, in the person of Juno. Allegorical readings has some influence on the depiction and interpretation of the theme in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. It is shown how Rubens came to favour the Venetian artistic convention which focussed on the moment prior to Paris's decision, thus effectively rejecting the interpretation of the Judgement as a moral condemnation. Rubens came to see the myth as a universal image of the problem of choice. But also, more specifically, he seems to have associated Paris with the artist as arbiter of beauty - the final theme explored in this illuminating book.