Champagne's role in history - a fascinating read. I learned things I never knew before.

Unfortunately, some of the "facts" presented in the book seem to be stretches. For example, here's a quote from the book:

"Champagne was a patchwork of warring fiefdoms whose leaders kept the province in constant turmoil....In 1095 Pope Urban declared "Let those who until now have been moved only to fight their fellow Christians now take up arms against the infidel." With these words, the First Crusade began. His call for a holy war struck a particularly responsive chord with his fellow Champenois, as warlords and others put aside differences and set off for Jerusalem, accompanied by their armies and retinues."

The book suggests this was the convenient excuse to invade another country -- to prevent fighting among themselves at home.

Champagne's role in history - a fascinating read. I learned a lot.

Unfortunately, some of the "facts" presented in the book seem to be stretches. For example, here's a quote from the book:

"Champagne was a patchwork of warring fiefdoms whose leaders kept the province in constant turmoil....In 1095 Pope Urban declared "Let those who until now have been moved only to fight their fellow Christians now take up arms against the infidel." With these words, the First Crusade began. His call for a holy war struck a particularly responsive chord with his fellow Champenois, as warlords and others put aside differences and set off for Jerusalem, accompanied by their armies and retinues."

The book suggests this was the convenient excuse to invade another country -- to prevent fighting among themselves at home.

Champagne's role in history - a fascinating read. I learned things I never knew before.

Unfortunately, some of the "facts" presented in the book seem to be stretches. For example, here's a quote from the book:

"Champagne was a patchwork of warring fiefdoms whose leaders kept the province in constant turmoil....In 1095 Pope Urban declared "Let those who until now have been moved only to fight their fellow Christians now take up arms against the infidel." With these words, the First Crusade began. His call for a holy war struck a particularly responsive chord with his fellow Champenois, as warlords and others put aside differences and set off for Jerusalem, accompanied by their armies and retinues."

The book suggests this was the convenient excuse to invade another country -- to prevent fighting among themselves at home.

I do love me some champagne.

Seriously, I love champagne so when I read about his book I was very excited to get a copy. I wasnt (really) let down. It's an amazingly easy read with a ton of well stocked information. Whether or not the information was completely true was a concern, but I sensed a real dedication from the writer behind the entire book, that comforted my doubts.

Buy it, read it, and pick it up from time to time afterward. The writing lags at parts, but power through it, the pay off comes from the stories and accounts of the wars and natural tribulations that Champagne had to endure to give us what we now use as celebration lubicant.

Additionally, I must say that this book is more about Champagne the region and people, then it is about the wine, however still enjoyable coming from a Champagne lover such as myself. Like I said, buy it, read it, and pick it up from time to time. I did, and will.

I found this book--which I finally threw down unfinished in irritation after the umpteenth faux "fact" was presented--trite beyond belief. I presume that a history is factual. This was not. The authors presented so much factually wrong, unsupported information and claims that I finally decided I could not justify spending more time reading it. For instance, they claim that both Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette drank champagne with a last meal before their executions. Well, Louis did enjoy a fairly good meal--without champagne--before his execution. Marie Antoinette, however, was so brutally treated and degraded by her captors as the Widow Capet before hers that there most assuredly was no "last meal" for her, much less a champagne chaser. Her maid recounted the details of her prevailing upon her to eat a few mouthfuls of some vermicelli which she warmed up on her stove in her cell. If she drank anything it was water--likely from the nearby and very polluted Seine. Anyone offering her champagne would have most certainly ended up being arrested for royalist sympathies. With all the many fine sources out there on both of these executionsw, how can the Kladstrups get away with printing such trite, factually wrong drivel merely to add some silly patina of faux glamour to their thesis? Then they go on to describe the aristocrats being guillotined, describing how the victims were forced to kneel and put their heads on the block. Have the Kladstrups even the remotest familiarity with how a guillotine works?? There is no block. There is no kneeling. There is no cooperation by the victim whatsoever. Read any source on the topic. Yet again, the Kladstrups trot out rubbish which is not even factually close to correct. Their description of the executions of Desmoulins and Danton--whom they falsely claim were drunk and singing a drinking song as they awaited their executions--round out this litany of utterly fabricated nonsense by which they attempt to link champagne to just about every event in French history. So. With so much drivel and made up "fact", how can one trust, much less enjoy, any of their other assertions in this so-called history? Definitely a candidate for recycling--or the outhouse.

A well-written and easy-to-read story of the Champagne region and its wines. My copy of this book has been enjoyed by both drinkers and non-drinkers, but if the former you're get more out of it. Best read with a glass of cold Champagne in hand!

This book is well written, informative and witty. It is well-sourced, but the actual references are relegated to the end of the book. The style is like listening to a very knowledgeable, engaging person talk about a subject he/she loves.

I wasn't certain I would like this book. On one hand, the subject matter is one of my favorites: I could easily drink champagne every day of my life - that is if it were a sensible thing to do and wouldn't pose health risks. There is another matter to the book, though, that scared me off a bit - quite a bit of talk about war. It's never been my favorite subject.

But I found here, in these pages, not stories of war, but a glowing testament to the courage of the people, not only the Champenois but so many more. They would die before allowing anyone to take both Champagne and champagne from them. I read, astonished, stories during the WWI of vineyard workers capping bottles, riddling, conducting all processes necessary to the making of champagne in deep underground tunnels, as bomb shells exploded directly above their heads.

Personally, I would have enjoyed to hear more about champagne (the beverage), but that wasn't the topic of the book. As another reviewer noted, it did end rather abruptly, but that was as it should be. The subtitle of this book is "How the World's Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times". As Champagne hasn't been attacked since WWII, there really wasn't anything more to talk about.

We were lead through all of the battles, from the Huns who lost a battle they should have handily won through World War II. We saw politicking, and also how champagne came to be the wondrous beverage it is today. Reading about the "big" houses who began so long ago and still stand tall today was fascinating reading.

I found the book an enjoyable read even though the authors' writing was a bit trite and simplistic. It did lack some flow in areas as the writers simply jumped from vignette to vignette, albeit they were all fairly entertaining. My biggest criticism is that the authors seemed to have lost interest in finishing the book. After taking us through several centuries of relevant history, approximately 60 pages was devoted to the plight of Champagne/champagne during WWI (which was, in my opinion, appropriate). However, only about 8 pages accounted for the WWII years, and then....the end! Apparently, there have been no new or interesting developments in Champagne / of champagne during the past six decades. I find this hard to believe, and is thus my biggest disappointment with the book.

Don and Petie Kladstrup's new book, "Champagne", is a serious but lively romp through the history of champagne...champagne, the drink and Champagne, the region. It is also a revealing look at the French and how they defended what became their national symbol through war and (literally) pestilence. Defend it they did, to their credit and our good fortune.

Written as a timeline, "Champagne" begins in the Middle Ages with an almost startling revelation....the bubbles in the wine, so essential to its success and taste in later years, were considered to be a flaw. The drink as we know it today must have borne little or no resemblance to what was consumed hundreds of years ago. The Kladstrups delve into many other aspects of the making and the keeping of champagne which are as engrossing as their narrative....how sediment was handled, the trials and errors of storing champagne so the bottles would not explode, the care of the vineyards, and so on. I was surprised to hear that dry champagne was a rather late development and that its initial offerings were met with resistance as most people preferred their champagne to be sweet. The transportation of champagne is one of the more humorous parts of this offering.

As much as this book concerns itself with the product, it is even more a story of people and politics. The effects that wars had on the region of Champagne (and no one really knows where those boundaries begin and end) make it all the more surprising that champagne could ever have survived the onlsaught of armies inflicting a tremendous toll, most notably during World War I, on the vineyards and the people who owned and operated them. The tragedy of the levelling of the city of Reims during the war can be coupled with the infestation of the deadly phylloxera, which ruined crops for years.

The recurring theme in "Champagne", however, is the heart of the French people, who have overcome all of these assaults to secure their national pride through champagne. According to the commander of French forces in Reims, "as long as there is champagne here, we will defend it". That quote sums it up in the best possible way.

"Champagne" is as delightful a book as the drink itself. In fact, I'd suggest the reader pour a glass or two while reading it. Thank you, Don and Petie Kladstrup for giving us this wonderful history of champagne.