Machiavelli’s guide to throwing a killer party

In 1985, president Ronald Reagan and first lady Nancy established themselves as master party-givers by surprising the visiting Princess Diana with a dance partner – John Travolta. (Image: Getty)

Bloomberg

Sun, 21 Jan 2024

By Howard Chua-Eoan Mao Zedong was wrong: political power doesn’t come out of the barrel of a gun. Another late philosopher was closer to the truth: “Nothing is more political than food.”That was Anthony Bourdain, whose 2017 declaration in a New Yorker podcast is cited in Alex Prud’homme’s Dinner with the President: Food, Politics, and a History of Breaking Bread at the White House. The book explores the use of food in diplomacy, backroom hardball, social climbing and nation-building from George Wash...

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