"Alcohol is a fundamental part of Western culture. Gately gets down to that business in his opening paragraph: It can't be wished away, as should be understood by Americans above all, having suffered through Prohibition and its appalling consequences.īetter, instead, to face up to the inescapable reality of it and try to understand the many ways in which, over the ages, we have used and abused it, profited and suffered from it, refined it and been changed by it. It is likely to be enjoyed more by those who take the occasional (or more than occasional) drink than by those who do not, but a central theme should be of interest to all readers: Like it or not, alcohol has been and always will be with us, an important part of human history, culture and society. Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol, is thorough, informative, briskly readable and witty. Iain Gately, a British writer who six years ago published Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization, now turns his attention to booze, a subject, it goes without saying, of similar character but considerably larger import.
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May 2023
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