Books
The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America
Forthcoming from Atria Books, May 28, 2024
Legendary editor Judith Jones, the woman behind some of the most important authors of the 20th century—including Julia Child, Anne Frank, Edna Lewis, John Updike, and Sylvia Plath—finally gets her due in this intimate biography.
When twenty-five-year-old Judith Jones began working as a secretary at Doubleday’s Paris office in 1949, she was wading through manuscripts in the slush pile when one caught her eye. She read the book in one sitting, then begged her boss to consider publishing it. A year later, Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl became a bestseller. It was the start of a culture-defining career in publishing.
Over more than half a century as an editor at Knopf, Jones became a legend, nurturing future literary icons such as Sylvia Plath, Anne Tyler, and John Updike. At the forefront of the cookbook revolution, she also published the who’s who of food writing: Edna Lewis, M.F.K. Fisher, Claudia Roden, Madhur Jaffrey, James Beard, and, most famously, Julia Child. Jones celebrated the art and pleasures of cooking and culinary diversity, forever changing the way Americans think about food.
Her work spanned the decades of America’s most dramatic cultural change. From the end of World War II through the Cold War; from the civil rights movement to the fight for women’s equality, Jones’s work questioned convention, using books as a tool of quiet resistance.
Now, her astonishing career is explored for the first time. Based on exclusive interviews, never-before-seen personal papers, and years of research, The Editor tells the riveting behind-the scenes narrative of how stories are made, finally bringing to light the audacious life of one of our most influential tastemakers.
Advance Praise for The Editor
“Buoyant… a must-read for anyone who appreciates culinary history, but it’s engaging enough to sway even those who aren’t usually drawn to nonfiction.” –Eater.com
“A thorough and humanizing portrait” Kirkus
“Sara B. Franklin pulls back the curtain and casts a penetrating light on Judith Jones, a consummate editor, a connoisseur of food and fiction, a sophisticated, determined, and secret force who worked in publishing for half-a-century, cooking up and shaping so many books that shaped us. The Editor is a surprising, granular, luminous, and path-breaking biography.”
–Edward Hirsch, Guggenheim Foundation President, former Chancellor of the American Academy of Poets
"Judith Jones has, at long last, found a worthy biographer in Sara B. Franklin. Her kaleidoscopic portrait of Jones, anchored in deep research but written with crisp clarity, honors every complication of Jones's character without losing sight of the remarkable imprint she left on America’s literary landscape—far beyond the realm of food."
— Mayukh Sen, author of Taste Makers
“Through her editorial work, Judith Jones changed the perception of what it meant to be a woman who cooks. Through The Editor, Sara B. Franklin gives shape and weight to a career that could have continued on as a footnote; in doing so, she proves Jones was too good and influential to live on like that.”
–Alicia Kennedy, author of No Meat Required
“A meticulously researched and fondly written biography.” Publishers Weekly
“Tenderly written and meticulously researched… The Editor retrieves Jones from the margins of publishing history and affirms her essential role in shaping the postwar cultural landscape, from fiction to cooking and beyond.” –The Millions
The Phoenicia Diner Cookbook: Dishes and Dispatches From the Catskill Mountains
Clarkson Potter Publishers. By Mike Cioffi, Chris Bradley, & Sara B. Franklin.
Whether you're a local or just passing through, the revamped Phoenicia Diner is an irresistible must-stop in the region, beloved for its honest cooking that seamlessly combines the best of the classics (Classic Buttermilk Pancakes, Chicken with Chive-Buttermilk Dumplings) with the multifaceted way we love to eat today (Chile-Braised Lamb Tostadas, Cider-Braised Duck and Grits). In the Phoenicia Diner Cookbook, you'll find a roster of approachable, soulful dishes that are deeply delicious and full of life-satisfying abundance. “All Day Breakfast” recipes like a Twice-Baked Potato Skillet and gold standards with a twist, such as Roasted Chicken with Tarragon-Honey Glazed Carrots, are complemented by rich essays on the region's fascinating history and the revival that defines it today, creating an evocative love letter to both the area and disappearing diners everywhere.
Praise for The Phoenicia Diner Cookbook
New York Times Book Review, Best Cookbook of the Season, "When Armchair Travel Is Your Only Option," May 21, 2020: "...I want to eat from this cookbook all the time, starting with a basic tuna salad transformed by the simple but brilliant addition of mashed avocado. I would also like to, but shouldn’t, eat the fabulous oversize oatmeal pecan cookies all the time. Likewise a boozy, rich butterscotch pudding and an even richer chocolate pudding. Then there’s the pimento cheese patty melt. Soft pimento cheese melts into the beef and caramelized onions, lavishly buttered rye toast soaking up the juices. I ate the best diner patty melt I’ve ever had in my own kitchen."
Named one of "The Cookbooks of 2020 You Need" by The Independent (UK): "Comfort food means different things to different people, but for me it’s classic diner fare: It’s everything you’ll find at Phoenicia Diner, nestled in New York’s Catskill Mountains with its swivel stools, Formica counters, leather booths, and a chalkboard with daily specials. The cookbook delivers inspired takes on the classics...that give comfort a whole new meaning."
Named a Best Cookbook of 2020 by Esquire
Bloomberg "The Secret to the Perfect Bacon, Egg and Cheese Isn't the Ingredients" March 20, 2020
The New York Times, "The Secrets of a Catskills Diner", March 2, 2020
Named a Best Cookbook of Spring 2020 by Eater: "Though it might be a while before the rest of us achieve our own version of the Phoenicia Diner, it’s at least become easier for us to pretend with The Phoenicia Diner Cookbook, a collection of comfort-food recipes that make up the Ulster County hot spot’s celebrated menu. Try to make the renowned buttermilk pancakes on lazy Sunday morning, or enjoy a cozy night in with the chicken and chive dumplings. For lighter meals, the cookbook also includes a variety of fancy salads and some delicious-sounding vegetable preparations.
We live in uncomfortable times, but we still have comfort food — and our upstate escapist fantasies — to help us cope. So serve up some Phoenicia Diner recipes on enamel camping cookware, then curl up under a Pendleton (or Pendleton knock-off) blanket. It’s almost as good as the real thing. — Madeleine Davies"
Travel & Leisure "10 Cookbooks to Satisfy your Appetite for Travel"
Edna Lewis: At the Table with an American Original
The University of North Carolina Press.
Edna Lewis (1916-2006) wrote some of America's most resonant, lyrical, and significant cookbooks, including the now classic The Taste of Country Cooking. Lewis cooked and wrote as a means to explore her memories of childhood on a farm in Freetown, Virginia, a community first founded by black families freed from slavery. With such observations as "we would gather wild honey from the hollow of oak trees to go with the hot biscuits and pick wild strawberries to go with the heavy cream," she commemorated the seasonal richness of southern food. After living many years in New York City, where she became a chef and a political activist, she returned to the South and continued to write. Her reputation as a trailblazer in the revival of regional cooking and as a progenitor of the farm-to-table movement continues to grow. In this first-ever critical appreciation of Lewis's work, food-world stars gather to reveal their own encounters with Edna Lewis. Together they penetrate the mythology around Lewis and illuminate her legacy for a new generation
Praise for Edna Lewis
Garden and Gun named it one of the best books of 2018 "A beautiful ode to a grande dame of Southern cuisine."
NewWorlder.com named it one of the best new culinary books of 2018 by New Worlder. "We treasure the deep dive into the life of Edna Lewis."
WBUR's "Here and Now" named best "stories behind the food" cookbook of 2018
Plate Magazine named it one of eight best books about food and restaurants of 2018. "Demonstrates the value of Lewis's legacy and brings to life a woman who knew the food she cooked had meaning beyond the plate."
Chosen as one of "Five Bold and Awesome Books By and About Fearless Women” by Essence, May 2018
Booklist, starred review - “This collection of essays by devotees of Miss Lewis (the title by which contemporaries showed their respect and love) serves as an appreciation of her life, her achievements, and her legacy.”
Kirkus Reviews - “A compelling examination of Lewis's identity that will appeal to food historians, racial studies scholars, and anyone seeking to learn more about Southern food. A fascinating, prismatic look at the legacy of one of America's most beloved chefs.”
Eater, Spring 2018: Ten Books About Food to Add to Your Home Library- “In this part-biography, part-homage, writer and food historian Sara B. Franklin collected some of the food world’s most prolific voices for a multi-faceted look at the woman who inspired generations of home- and professional cooks. Lewis’s sister, Ruth Lewis Smith, and niece, Nina Williams-Mbengue, contribute snippets of memories while those who knew her or are intimately familiar with her work... build out the bulk of this important look at Lewis’s culinary legacy.”
Bon Appetit, 8 Food Books to Read This Summer 2018 - “In the culinary world, Edna Lewis, born a freed slave in rural Virginia, is widely considered to be on the same playing field as Julia Child, but her life and cookbooks, including The Taste of Country Cooking and In Pursuit of Flavor, have never received the same level of publicity. Sara B. Franklin is changing that with her sharply edited collection of essays written by chefs, food writers, and scholars about the southern cook, who died in 2006 at the age of 89.”
The Local Palate - “Since Lewis was so reticent about being overly outspoken during her lifetime, the book effectively assembles a larger picture from the bits and pieces of her life that were scattered throughout her writings and transmitted by others. Though they're all very different, collectively the essays form a complete portrait of a woman who was ahead of her time — and who left an important legacy.”
Food & Wine - “Seeks to unpack the complexities surrounding Lewis's life through a series of impressions, interviews, and essays from those who encountered her during her lifetime, whether in person or only through her written word.”
“[A] perfect traveling companion,” says Southern Living
Claudia Kousoulas of Chow Line calls Edna Lewis “A readable collection of recollections, thoughts, and observations.”
Foreword Reviews says, “By combining so many perspectives about her life and her cuisine, Edna Lewis: At the Table with an American Original doubles as an effective biography and a tribute from her range of acolytes.”