The Party: A Guide to Adventurous Entertaining

Before she married Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of the Washington Post, and became a society hostess herself, Sally Quinn made her living going to parties and reporting on them for the Post's "Style" section. Her years of experience as both guest and hostess have put Quinn in the perfect position to counsel others on the dos and don'ts of entertaining, and she does so with gusto in The Party. Granted, the average reader won't be faced with some of the problems Quinn and her beltway buddies cope with regularly--the president of the United States staying longer than expected at a pre-dinner cocktail party, for example, or the ambassador to Great Britain getting drunk and making out with a reporter (not his wife) in the spare bedroom. Still, Quinn points out, some things are universal, whether you're entertaining in an embassy ballroom or a one-room apartment in Queens: good food, good drink, and good company make for a great party. And even if you don't throw parties like Quinn does, you can still enjoy getting the dish on after-hours Washington . The Party is the next-best thing to being invited to Sally Quinn's house for dinner.