Cocktails with George and Martha

'Well-researched ... I was fascinated' -- Roger Lewis * author of Erotic Vagrancy *
'A penetrating examination of a bold film' * Kirkus Reviews *
'Terrific! With a dynamically deft touch, Philip Gefter chronicles how a uniquely volatile mix of timing, talent, pressure, and passion turned a landscape-altering play into a cinematic detonation. Savour this juicy bit of time travel, because we'll never see the likes of these people and these circumstances again' -- Steven Soderbergh
'Delicious ... unapologetically obsessive ... [Gefter gets] to the marrow: of male ego, rushing into new projects with hubris and jostling for posterity' * The New York Times Book Review *
'A lively, well-researched book that displays great affection for the film and the highly gifted and vastly troublesome people who made it' * The Washington Post *
'... vividly captures the realities of marriage, onscreen and off, taking the reader into the fraught fictional world of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? as well as its stars' famously passionate and volatile relationship' -- Kate Andersen Brower * author of Elizabeth Taylor: The grit and glamour of an icon *
'Deftly blends social history, textual analysis, and Hollywood gossip' * The New Yorker *
'A wonderfully readable work of cultural history, sexual politics, and social comedy' -- Christopher Bram * author of Eminent Outlaws *
'[An] erudite study . . . Gefter persuasively credits the film with setting the template for more bracing Hollywood depictions of love after romance's first blush. This will renew readers' admiration for the classic film and its source material' * Publishers Weekly *
'In this well researched and deliciously dishy new book, Philip Gefter explores the world that shaped Albee and how he used it to develop his great work, and follows the ups and downs involved in creating the film-Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were just the beginning!-to paint an incredible picture of the creative process among some of the brightest minds of their time' * Town & Country *
'Gefter's account is good, harrowing fun ... Just as the extreme nature of George and Martha's all-night brawl helps us to understand all marriages, the antics of Liz and Dick and Mike and Ernie reveal the love-hate dynamic that's common to all artistic collaborations' * The Wall Street Journal *
'Multilayered and eminently revisitable (like the play and the film), Gefter's wonderful book helps readers reevaluate vis-a`-vis values prevalent half a century later' * Library Journal *
'With a critical acumen as keen as his eye for a juicy anecdote, Philip Gefter goes spelunking into the deep history of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, a work that would scandalize audiences and transform two artistic mediums during a pivotal four-year stretch of the mid-twentieth century. No one who's interested in the history of theatre, film, media censorship, or good old-fashioned celebrity gossip should miss the chance to read this book' -- Dana Stevens * author of Camera Man: Buster Keaton, the dawn of cinema, and the invention of the twentieth century *
'Combines earnest fandom with gossipy shrewdness ... Persuasive' * The Guardian *