A Short history of drunkenness : how, why, where, and when humankind has gotten merry from the stone age to the present / Mark Forsyth.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Forsyth, Mark, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Alcoholic beverages--History.

Alcoholic beverages.

Absinthe--Social aspects.

Absinthe.

Drinking customs--History.

Drinking customs.

Temperance--History.

Temperance.

Prohibition--History.

Prohibition.

History.

Social aspects.

Genre:

Nonfiction.

Physical Description:

vi, 248 pages ; 21 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Three Rivers Press, [2017]

Summary:

"Almost every culture on earth has drink, and where there's drink there's drunkenness. But in every age and in every place drunkenness is a little bit different. It can be religious, it can be sexual, it can be the duty of kings or the relief of peasants. It can be an offering to the ancestors, or a way of marking the end of a day's work. It can send you to sleep, or send you into battle. A Brief History of Drunkenness traces humankind's love affair with booze from our primate ancestors through to Prohibition and modern Japanese Nomikai. On the way, learn about the Neolithic Shamans, who drank to communicate with the spirit world (no pun intended), marvel at the beer King Midas was buried with, and attempt to resist the urge to try the Aztecs' alcoholic hot chocolate. From Australia's only military coup - the Rum Rebellion - to the gin epidemic of eighteenth-century London, Forsyth elegantly presents a history of the world at its inebriated best."--Publisher's description.

Contents:

Introduction

Evolution

The prehistory of drinking

Sumerian Bars

Ancient Egypt

The Greek symposium

Ancient Chinese drinking

The Bible

The Roman convivium

The Dark Ages

Drinking in the Middle East

The Viking sumbl

The Medieval alehouse

The Aztecs

The Gin craze

Australia

The WIld West saloon

Russia

Prohibition

Epilogue.

Notes:

"Originally published in Great Britain by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House UK, London, in 2017."--Title page verso.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780525575375

0525575375

OCLC:

1008870627