The spirits of America : a social history of alcohol / Eric Burns.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Burns, Eric.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Drinking of alcoholic beverages--United States--History.

Drinking of alcoholic beverages.

Drinking customs--United States--History.

Drinking customs.

Temperance--United States--History.

Temperance.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (345 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : Temple University Press, 2004.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

""Thousands of years ago, before Christ or Buddha or Muhammad...before the Roman Empire rose or the Colossus of Rhodes fell,"" Eric Burns writes, ""people in Asia Minor were drinking beer."" So begins an account as entertaining as it is extensive, of alcohol's journey through world-and, more important, American-history. In The Spirits of America, Burns relates that drinking was ""the first national pastime,"" and shows how it shaped American politics and culture from the earliest colonial days. He details the transformation of alcohol from virtue to vice and back again, how it was

Contents:

Contents; Introduction: The Spirits of the World; 1 The First National Pastime; 2 The General and the Doctor; 3 The Father of Prohibition and Other Kinfolk; 4 The Crusaders and Their Crusades; 5 The Importance of Being Frank; 6 Hatchetation; 7 The Wheeler-Dealer and His Men; 8 The Blues and How They Played; 9 Executive Softness; 10 The Hummingbird Beats the Odds; Epilogue: Strange Bedfellows; Acknowledgments; Notes; Select Bibliography; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 321-326) and index.

ISBN:

9786611093624

9781281093622

1281093629

9781592137695

1592137695

OCLC:

476075155