In her day, Dorothy Draper was a famous interior decorator and a columnist for Good Housekeeping. In this guide to entertaining, published in 1941, she writes with absurd detail about what it takes to throw a good party, from how the cigarettes should be arranged to how to get your guests to have interesting conversations. In a chapter about entertaining one’s husband, Draper sternly advises against nagging or complaining too much about one’s day, since men don’t like that sort of thing. Needless to say, some of the pieces of wisdom in this book hold up better than others, but 100 percent of these maxims give insight into a suburban 1940s type A mindset.

If tunafish pie with grapefruit and pecans sounds up your alley, then you may want to track down a copy of this time capsule of party food from 1976. Irma Rhode’s recipes, which are perhaps a little bit heavy on the aspic and mayonnaise for this millennium, were favorites of Craig Claiborne. Rhode ran a catering business called Hors d’Oeuvres Inc. in the 1930s with James Beard, and her raw-onion sandwich even inspired the onion-and-butter sandwich that became a famous James Beard classic.

In the late 1970s, long before her media empire was launched, Martha Stewart was hired to cater a book launch party. At the party, she met the head of Crown Publishing Group, who asked her to write a book about hosting parties. The book that came of this encounter, Entertaining, was published in 1982 and became a huge hit, leading to television appearances, magazine columns, more books, and eventually Martha Stewart Living.

Sally Quinn wrote The Party in 1998, after years of covering high-profile D.C. social events for The Washington Post. The result is a combination of snippy advice on hosting and casual gossip about presidents and movie stars. Peppered with name-dropping and maxims on party throwing (always include a cocktail hour, but never after-dinner liqueurs), the book tells you everything you need to know about how the wealthy partied in the 1990s.

Ina Garten’s personal brand has always been about warm, casual hospitality. She’s worked her way into our subconscious and Liz Lemon’s dream sequences as the convivial neighbor you run into on vacation, who invites you over on a whim for white wine and canapés. Unlike some of her predecessors in the party-guide business, Garten’s attitude in this 2001 book is all about informality. Don’t want to deliver a tableful of warm plates simultaneously? Dial it back, and have your friends assemble their own sandwiches.

Amy Sedaris’s first book, I Like You, is somehow both the antithesis of an entertaining book and the ideal entertaining book. With photography styled after orange-hued 1970s magazine spreads, Sedaris takes on some unfortunate throwback recipes (like the banana-based Candle Salad) and a few of her IRL favorites (like yogurt spaghetti with lots of parsley, and vanilla cupcakes).