Milk

"[A] serious work of history with great illustrations."—Marion Nestle, The Atlantic

~Marion Nestle, The Atlantic.com

“[A] stimulating cultural history.”—Nick Rennison, The Sunday Times

~Nick Rennison, The Sunday Times

“[A] fascinating history.”—Alex Renton, The Observer ~Alex Renton, The Observer

“Valenze’s book is an engagingly written and well-researched foray into a huge territory, pulling a mass of material into sharp focus and revealing milk as both strange and familiar.”—Nicola Humber, Times Higher Education

~Nicola Humber, Times Higher Education

"[Valenze's] documentation of milk’s transformation into the modern product that underpins today’s hugely diverse dairy products industry offers some insights and precedents useful in helping address current food supply concerns."—Mark Knoblauch, Booklist

~Mark Knoblauch, Booklist

“[C]omprehensive… covers everything from milk's role in mythology to its effects on animal husbandry to its transformation into cheese.”—Catherine Price, Slate

~Catherine Price, Slate

"An exceptionally well-crafted and intriguing history of milk's career in human societies over the last three thousand years." —Frank Trentmann, author of Free Trade Nation: Commerce, Consumption and Civil Society in Modern Britain

~Frank Trentmann

"A well-written, engaging, wry history of milk. No other book covers the territory in quite the same way."—Amy Bentley, New York University

~Amy Bentley

"Milk is the place to go to begin understanding how we got from dairy maids to industrial milk production and current debates about the value of raw."—Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, NYU; author of Food Politics and What to Eat   

~Marion Nestle

"Milk is too rich to skim. From Hinduism’s sacred Cow of Plenty through Mongol mare’s milk to the western world’s 'cow love' and industrial milk production, Deborah Valenze’s history is always engrossing and satisfying."—Elizabeth Abbott, author of Sugar: A Bittersweet History

~Elizabeth Abbott

"Simple, wholesome, daily fare? This epic saga will make you rethink everything you thought you knew about milk – from the health benefits and safety, to its nutritional value and hallowed place in the American diet. This is an enourmous gulp of a history, traversing many centuries and the myriad of attitudes toward milk that could not possibly be more different than our own."—Ken Albala, Co-Author of The Lost Art of Real Cooking

~Ken Albala

"From Ancient Egyptian cow-god worshippers and breastfeeding saints to the expansion of milk-drinking in Asia today, Valenze brings together a world history of cultures and personalities that has elevated milk to a magic substance in the Western, and Westernized, imagination."—E. Melanie DuPuis, author of Nature's Perfect Food: How Milk Became America's Drink

~E. Melanie DuPuis

“The book is detailed and engaging, with plenty of eccentric characters, from female Renaissance scholars supping with the peasants to military men fighting over condensed milk for their coffee.”—Louise Gray, The Daily Telegraph

~Louise Gray, The Daily Telegraph

"With scholarly precision, Valenze recounts the stories of such worthies as Gail Borden, who industrialized the production of condensed milk. She also quotes widely from historical and literary sources. Her documentation of milk’s transformation into the modern product that underpins today’s hugely diverse dairy products industry offers some insights and precedents useful in helping address current food supply concerns."—Mark Knoblauch, Booklist

~Mark Knoblauch, Booklist

Won Honorable Mention for the 2011 New England Book Festival in the General Non-Fiction category. This award is given by the JM Northern Media family of festivals, and sponsored by the Larimar St. Croix Writers Colony, eDivvy, Shophanista and Westside Websites

~Honorable Mention General Nonfiction , New England Book Festival