Haley's book is a lively, engagingly written, and well-researched examination of the origins of dining and the restaurant as we know it. It's a true pleasure to read.—Warren Belasco, author of Appetite for Change: How the Counterculture Took on the Food Industry



Many scholars have viewed the transformation in dining near the turn of the century as an inevitable result of modernizing attitudes, but Andrew Haley successfully argues that these changes instead represent a contest over cultural influence. Turning the Tables restores agency to the middle class, providing an insightful exploration of how middle-class consumers exerted collective cultural and economic power that shaped the commercial marketplace and the material culture of dining.—Krishnendu Ray, author of The Migrant's Table: Meals and Memories in Bengali-American Households



Haley's innovative and valuable conceptualization of the cosmopolitan restaurant contributes significantly to our understanding of the development of food, class, and culture in the United States.—Jeffrey Pilcher, author of Food in World History