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A Tale of Two Valleys

Wine, Wealth and the Battle for the Good Life in Napa and Sonoma

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A Tale of Two Valleys

By: Alan Deutschman
Narrated by: Michael Cerveris
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About this listen

 When acclaimed journalist Alan Deutschman came to the California wine country as the lucky house guest of very rich friends, he was surprised to discover a raging controversy. A civil war was being fought between the Napa Valley, which epitomized elitism, prestige and wealthy excess, and the neighboring Sonoma Valley, a rag-tag bohemian enclave so stubbornly backward that rambunctious chickens wandered freely through town. But the antics really began when new-money invaders began pushing out Sonoma’s poets and painters to make way for luxury resorts and trophy houses that seemed a parody of opulence. A Tale of Two Valleys captures these stranger-than-fiction locales with the wit of a Tom Wolfe novel and uncorks the hilarious absurdities of life among the wine world’s glitterati.
Deutschman found that on the weekends the wine country was like a bunch of gracious hosts smiling upon their guests, but during the week the families feuded with each other and their neighbors like the Hatfields and McCoys. Napa was a comically exclusive club where the super-rich fought desperately to get in. Sonoma’s colorful free spirits and iconoclasts were wary of their bohemia becoming the next playground for the rapacious elite. So, led by a former taxicab driver and wine-grape picker, a cheese merchant, and an artist who lived in a barn surrounded by wild peacocks, they formed a populist revolt to seize power and repel the rich invaders.
Deutschman’s cast of characters brims with eccentrics, egomaniacs, and a mysterious man in black who crashed the elegant Napa Valley Wine Auction before proceeding to pay a half-million dollars for a single bottle. What develops is nothing less than a battle for the good life, a clash between old and new, the struggle for the soul of one of America’s last bits of paradise. A dishy glimpse behind the scenes of a West Coast wonderland, A Tale of Two Valleys makes for intoxicating reading.Executive Producer: Jacob Bronstein
Producer: Robert Kessler
Original jacket design: Jean Traina
©2003 by Alan Deutschman
(P)2002 Random House, Inc. North America Politics & Government Travel Writing & Commentary United States World Funny Witty

Critic Reviews

Critics Toast
The Second Coming of Steve Jobs
“Delicious… a pleasure to read.” —Chicago Sun-Times
“Compulsively readable” —Washington Post
“Great read” —Fast Company
“A mesmerizing, outstanding read, this book crackles with energy.” —Dallas Morning News
“Get a spoon. Your deep dish treat has arrived.” —New York Post
“A fascinating book.” —Arizona Daily Star

Advance Praise for
A Tale of Two Valleys
“Intoxicating . . . Deutschman serves up the drama glass by glass . . . Rarely has such an exclusive world and its inhabitants been made so accessible.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
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