We are former journalists, longtime residents of France and authors of three books, all wine-related but based around three wars that shook the world.
Our first, Wine & War: the French, the Nazis and the Battle for France’s Greatest Treasure, is an international best-seller and tells the story of how French wine producers in World War II struggled to survive under the Nazi occupation.
Our second book, Champagne: How the World’s Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed Over War and Hard Times, revolves around World War I when nearly everything in that part of France was destroyed. Like Wine & War, it's been translated into more than a dozen languages and become a hit worldwide.
In our third book, Champagne Charlie: the Frenchman Who Taught Americans to Love Champagne, we retreated further in time to tell how a daring young Frenchman set off for America to seek his fortune but ended up being arrested as a spy for the South in the U.S. Civil War.
Don and Petie Kladstrup
Our books
Wine and War: the French, the Nazis and the Battle for France’s Greatest Treasure (Broadway Books, 2001)
Champagne: How the World’s Most Glamorous Wine Triumphed over War and Hard Times (William Morrow, 2005)
Champagne Charlie: The Frenchman who Taught Americans to Love Champagne (Potomac Books, 2021)
Forthcoming books
Still ahead are a couple of books that are completely different from those we've already written. One is Rebel Empress: the Tumultuous Life of Eugénie de Montijo, by Petie and Evelyne Resnick. Married to Napoléon III, this fiery, headstrong figure was a woman far ahead of her time, whose way of governing rocked France's Second Empire—and nearly cost her life.
Our other book is Almost Home: Playing Baseball in France. It's about Don who dreamed of playing professionally when he was young and after suffering an injury and taking a forty-five year break, took up the game again at age 64 in a country better known for soccer, tennis and bike racing. It's also about two world wars and why France, once hailed as "the next great baseball country," never quite made it to first base.
Never in our wildest dreams did we imagine that we would be in France for as long as we have. Arriving in 1978, we figured we'd be here three or four years, then head back home. Instead, France became home.
Yes, stories about wine again but not the usual kind, told in ways that will hopefully make the world of wine more interesting—and fun.