Alcohol: A History
Alcohol: A History
Cite
Abstract
Whether as wine, beer, mead, or spirits, alcohol has had a constant and often controversial role in human life. This book surveys the attitudes and consumption of alcohol and examines a 9,000 year cultural and economic history, uncovering the tensions between alcoholic drinks as a nutritious and potable staple of daily diets and as an object of political and religious regulation. It argues that brewing was one of the earliest and most common forms of water purification, which further integrated alcohol into the dense population centers in Europe and the Americas. Despite this practical use, no commodity has been more regulated by governmental and religious authorities than alcohol. As a potential source of social disruption, alcohol created volatile boundaries of acceptable and unacceptable consumption, breaking through barriers of class, race, and gender. This book follows ever-changing cultural meanings of these potent potables and makes the surprising argument that fewer people are quaffing alcoholic drinks than ever before. The book examines and explains the importance and effect of alcohol's production, consumption, and meaning across the globe.
-
Front Matter
-
Introduction
- 1 Alcohol in Ancient Worlds: Nature and the Human Hand
- 2 Greece and Rome: The Superiority of Wine
- 3 Religion and Alcohol: The Paths of Christianity and Islam
- 4 The Middle Ages 1000–1500: The Birth of an Industry
- 5 Early Modern Europe 1500–1700: Alcohol, Religion, and Culture
- 6 Distilled Spirits 1500–1750: Threats to the Social Order
- 7 European Alcohol in Contact 1500–1700: Non-European Worlds
- 8 Europe and America 1700–1800: Alcohol, Enlightenment, and Revolutions
- 9 Alcohol and the City 1800–1900: Class and Social Order
- 10 The Enemies of Alcohol 1830–1914: Temperance and Prohibition
- 11 Alcohol and Native Peoples 1800–1930: Race, Order, and Control
- 12 The First World War 1914–1920: The Battles Against Alcohol
- 13 Prohibitions 1910–1935: Noble Experiments, Ignoble Failures
- 14 After Prohibitions 1930–1945: Normalizing Alcohol
- 15 Alcohol in the Modern World: Trends in Regulation and Consumption
- Conclusion
-
End Matter
Sign in
Get help with accessPersonal account
- Sign in with email/username & password
- Get email alerts
- Save searches
- Purchase content
- Activate your purchase/trial code
Institutional access
- Sign in through your institution
- Sign in with a library card Sign in with username/password Recommend to your librarian
Institutional account management
Sign in as administratorPurchase
Our books are available by subscription or purchase to libraries and institutions.
Purchasing informationMonth: | Total Views: |
---|---|
November 2022 | 9 |
November 2022 | 4 |
November 2022 | 4 |
December 2022 | 1 |
January 2023 | 2 |
January 2023 | 1 |
January 2023 | 1 |
February 2023 | 2 |
March 2023 | 1 |
March 2023 | 1 |
March 2023 | 3 |
March 2023 | 1 |
April 2023 | 1 |
April 2023 | 1 |
April 2023 | 2 |
May 2023 | 1 |
June 2023 | 3 |
July 2023 | 1 |
September 2023 | 1 |
September 2023 | 2 |
September 2023 | 1 |
September 2023 | 3 |
September 2023 | 1 |
November 2023 | 9 |
November 2023 | 1 |
December 2023 | 3 |
December 2023 | 3 |
December 2023 | 3 |
December 2023 | 2 |
December 2023 | 7 |
December 2023 | 2 |
December 2023 | 5 |
January 2024 | 3 |
January 2024 | 1 |
January 2024 | 2 |
February 2024 | 1 |
February 2024 | 3 |
February 2024 | 3 |
February 2024 | 2 |
February 2024 | 1 |
March 2024 | 2 |
March 2024 | 2 |
March 2024 | 2 |
April 2024 | 2 |
April 2024 | 6 |
Get help with access
Institutional access
Access to content on Oxford Academic is often provided through institutional subscriptions and purchases. If you are a member of an institution with an active account, you may be able to access content in one of the following ways:
IP based access
Typically, access is provided across an institutional network to a range of IP addresses. This authentication occurs automatically, and it is not possible to sign out of an IP authenticated account.
Sign in through your institution
Choose this option to get remote access when outside your institution. Shibboleth/Open Athens technology is used to provide single sign-on between your institution’s website and Oxford Academic.
If your institution is not listed or you cannot sign in to your institution’s website, please contact your librarian or administrator.
Sign in with a library card
Enter your library card number to sign in. If you cannot sign in, please contact your librarian.
Society Members
Society member access to a journal is achieved in one of the following ways:
Sign in through society site
Many societies offer single sign-on between the society website and Oxford Academic. If you see ‘Sign in through society site’ in the sign in pane within a journal:
If you do not have a society account or have forgotten your username or password, please contact your society.
Sign in using a personal account
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members. See below.
Personal account
A personal account can be used to get email alerts, save searches, purchase content, and activate subscriptions.
Some societies use Oxford Academic personal accounts to provide access to their members.
Viewing your signed in accounts
Click the account icon in the top right to:
Signed in but can't access content
Oxford Academic is home to a wide variety of products. The institutional subscription may not cover the content that you are trying to access. If you believe you should have access to that content, please contact your librarian.
Institutional account management
For librarians and administrators, your personal account also provides access to institutional account management. Here you will find options to view and activate subscriptions, manage institutional settings and access options, access usage statistics, and more.