Description

The delicious life of one of the most beloved figures in twentiethcentury American culture-soon to be played by Meryl Streep in a major motion picture

With a swooping voice, an irrepressible sense of humor, and a passion for good food, Julia Child ushered in the nation's culinary renaissance. In Julia Child, award-winning food writer Laura Shapiro tells the story of Child's unlikely career path, from California party girl to coolheaded chief clerk in a World War II spy station to bewildered amateur cook and finally to the Cordon Bleu in Paris, the school that inspired her calling. A food lover who was quintessentially American, right down to her little-known recipe for classic tuna fish casserole, Shapiro's Julia Child personifies her own most famous lesson: that learning how to cook means learning how to live.

About the Author

Laura Shapiro is a journalist and historian whose work has appeared in many publications, including Newsweek, The New York Times, and Gourmet. She is the author of Perfection Salad: Women and Cooking at the Turn of the Century and Something from the Oven: Reinventing Dinner in 1950s America.

Praise for Julia Child…

"Shows enormous grace and food savvy...Reading Shapiro reminds us how Julia Child taught us not just how to cook but how to think about food."
--New York Times Book Review

"Laura Shapiro's biography of Julia Child is as bright, smart, funny, charming, and companionable as Julia herself."
-Dorie Greenspan, author of Baking with Julia

"Shapiro's graceful little book should be seen as the definitive analysis of Julia Child's long career."
-Pittsburgh Post- Gazette