Napa

by James Conaway

Book Overview

James Conaway's remarkable bestseller delves into the heart of California's lush and verdant Napa Valley, also known as America's Eden. Long the source of succulent grapes and singular wines, this... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0395468809
• ISBN13: 9780395468807
• Release Date: January 1990
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 529 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.7" x 6.5" x 9.4"

Customer Reviews

In Conaway, Veritas...

This is a masterful narrative, of interest to enophiles, wine drinkers, travellers, and cultural historians, too. Compelling personal stories, enough details about the challenges and processes of the business, and a good sense of the times in which these pioneers found themselves add up to a wonderful page turner. Read this before your first visit to Napa and your experience will be all the more wonderful...and you'll know why, for example, it's "Neibaum-Coppola" and not just "Coppola."

Napa, not Utopia

This book is a crash course in modern Napa Valley politics that reads like a novel. Conaway profiles the main characters in the Valley's battle to balance growth with preservation with both historical accuracy and insight. For anyone interested in the American wine industry, Conaway's book is a primer on how the movers and shakers got to the top and how they intend to stay there.

Connection to a Place

Especially if you're planning a visit to the California Wine Country, consider spending some time with this book. The story is fascinating and provides an almost personal connection that gives a wonderful context to one's own experience of the place. Footprints of many of the storied poineers can still be found in the Valley today, but one might miss them trusting only a tour book. Conaway is sometimes criticized for his politics shining through the latter part of the book, but (perhaps due to my on sympathies?) I would disagree. There have been dramatic changes in the American wine industry and especially in Napa Valley over the past twenty years, and hearing a well articulated commentary (at least through the first of those watershed years) detracts little from the picture Conaway evokes. Grab a glass of your favorite Napa Cabernet or Chardonnay and enjoy!

Great Read

Covers the history of the valley, mixing money, family fueds, and agriculture.I read it in one flight, couldn't put it down

Fast paced look at the people and culture of early Napa!

It is interesting to read history, whether people or events, and feel as though you were/are there as it is playing out. Napa is a book that takes you on a fast moving trak from the early days of the wine business in California;the people, the companies,the personalities, mistakes and successes and the politics. These are the stories involving some of the worlds famous wines, winemakers and wineries. The personalities of the players are interesting because the book discusses the personalities of the people involved. The Mondavi's, Charles Krug, Davies, all of the people and companies that have contributed to the Napa mystique. Fun reading, quick, easy to keep track of people and events and educational. Napa is a special place because of this book-even for those of us that are not wine connoisseurs but love the history of the West and the people that got us here.