The Editors:
In his review of my book, Paul Lukacs alleges that I “invent facts,” “distort” the story of American wine, and indulge in nothing more than “wishful thinking.”1 When I wrote the book, I did not expect accolades from anyone employed by the wine industry. Indeed, some of the chapters carry difficult messages regarding wine culture’s growth in America. But the seriousness of the charges that Lukacs lodges against the book do not carry any weight.
First, notwithstanding his most inflammatory criticism—that I “invent facts to fit…[my] own political views” and that my “thesis is as much about American politics as American wine”—Lukacs does not point to a single instance of factual error in the book. If by “political views” he means Empire of Vines’ engagement with the current theory and historical work surrounding nineteenth-century U.S. colonialism and imperialism, as well as what Worster has called Americans’ “empire...