Everyone has a favorite drink. Everyone has a favorite author. Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers mixes the two together in a spirited and altogether original guide to cocktails and the literary life. From Hemingway's Mojito to O'Neill's Gibson, from Kerouac's Margarita to Bukowski's Boilermaker, here is the perfect blend of classic cocktail recipes, literary history, and entertaining stories of the famous and the infamous among American literati.

When Robert Benchley was asked if he knew that drinking was a slow death, Benchley took a sip of his cocktail and replied, "So who's in a hurry?" Hunter S. Thompson took Muhammad Ali's health tip to eat grapefruit every day; he just added vodka to the mix. Invited to a "come as you are" party, Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, arrived in their pajamas ready for their cocktail of choice: a Gin Rickey.

Each beautifully illustrated entry includes a literary excerpt from the writer's work alongside a drink recipe, a biographical sketch, and a telling anecdote about life off the wagon. In short, Hemingway & Bailey's delivers straight-up fun.

"Hemingway and Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers is a bracing cocktail of wit, anecdote, and practical knowledge. All your favorite literary drinkers are here along with their favorite drinks. I'm keeping one copy by the bed and one by the bar. Read responsibly — no more than three or at most four pages a night." Jay McInerney

"I like everything about this book, except that I'm not in it." Norman Mailer

"Who better to illustrate a belly-up-to-the-bar guide to American writers than Papa Hemingway's grandson? Edward Hemingway's charming caricatures of cocktail-loving writers — from his own grandpapa to Dorothy Parker to Hunter S. Thompson — add the fizz to Hemingway & Bailey's Bartending Guide to Great American Writers. Writer Mark Bailey spices things up with literary drinking anecdotes that recall the glass-clinking glory days of Parisian cafes and Algonquin Round Tables." USA Today

"A wittily illustrated rogue’s gallery of literary lushes, with cocktail recipes to let you drink in their footsteps." Men's Journal

In this entertaining homage to the golden age of the cocktail, illustrator Edward Hemingway and writer Mark Bailey present the best (and thirstiest) American writers, their favorite cocktails, true stories of their saucy escapades, and intoxicating excerpts from their literary works. Itand#8217;s the perfect blend of classic cocktail recipes, literary history, and tales of the good old days of extravagant Martini lunches and delicious excess.

When Algonquin Round Table legend Robert Benchley was asked if he knew that drinkingwas a slow death, Benchley took a sip of his cocktail and replied, and#8220;So whoand#8217;s in a hurry?and#8221; Hunter S. Thompson took Muhammad Aliand#8217;s health tip to eat grapefruit every day; he just added liquor to the mix. Invited to a and#8220;come as you areand#8221; party, F. Scott Fitzgerald and his wife, Zelda, arrived in their pajamas ready for their cocktail of choice: a Gin Rickey.

Forty-three classic American writers, forty-three authentic cocktail recipes, forty-three telling anecdotes about the high life, and forty-three samples of the best writing in literature and#8211;Hemingway andamp; Baileyand#8217;s Bartending Guide to Great American Writersdelivers straight-up fun.

Forty-three classic American writers. Forty-three classic cocktails. And a round of spirited stories of barroom bets, glamorous parties, late-night carousing, and outrageous pranks. What do William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Sinclair Lewis, Eugene Oand#8217;Neill, and John Steinbeck have in common? Theyand#8217;re all writers. Theyand#8217;re all Americans. They all won the Nobel Prize in Literature. And they all enjoyed a good, stiff drink.