A Small Publishing Milestone for T.W.

Somebody once said, “Good things come to those who wait” (Was it Shakespeare, or Hillary Clinton?). It has certainly tested my patience at times to wait for the publication of “Entertaining from Ancient Rome to the Super Bowl – An Encyclopedia,” but it has finally arrived.

“Entertaining…” is a two-volume encyclopedia published by Greenwood Press which contains 120 entries that explore the history and cultural significance of all aspects of entertaining. Yours truly was one of 64 contributors, and I joined the project in the spring of 2006, even before “Culinary Types” arrived on the scene. Sometimes, the project seemed as if it were taking about as long as the history of world entertaining, but I suppose there were a lot of dinner parties and dirty dishes for the contributors to sort through in researching this tome.

Authored by T.W. Barritt are five hefty entries, Colonial America, Dinner Parties, Martha Stewart, Fourth of July and Wine, as well as a sidebar on how to prepare Plum Pudding. The contributors are described in the preface as “all experts in their respective fields,” and I do claim a certain familiarity with wine and have prepared a plum pudding or two in my day. While I’ve come close to meeting Martha on one or two occasions, that event has yet to happen. I do hope if she reads the entry, she feels I portrayed her influence on entertaining with accuracy and insight.

I am indebted to the delightful Francine Segan, who first invited me to join the project when I contacted her out of the blue more than two years ago to interview her on her specialty, culinary history. I greatly appreciate the opportunity she provided.

Now, I’m really not expecting you to run out a buy a copy. “Entertaining…” will be marketed to reference libraries and retails for $199.95 on Amazon.com. However, I thought you’d enjoy hearing the news. I was pretty thrilled!

©2008 T.W. Barritt All Rights Reserved