Drinking in America

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In DRINKING IN AMERICA, bestselling author Susan Cheever chronicles our national love affair with liquor, taking a long, thoughtful look at the way alcohol has changed our nation s history This is the often overlooked story of how alcohol has shaped American events and the American character from the seventeenth to the twentieth century Seen through the lens of alcoholism, American history takes on a vibrancy and a tragedy missing from many earlier accounts From the drunkenness of the Pilgrims to Prohibition hijinks, drinking has always been a cherished American custom a way to celebrate and a way to grieve and a way to take the edge off At many pivotal points in our history the illegal Mayflower landing at Cape Cod, the enslavement of African Americans, the McCarthy witch hunts, and the Kennedy assassination, to name only a few alcohol has acted as a catalyst.Some nations drink than we do, some drink less, but no other nation has been the drunkest in the world as America was in the 1830s only to outlaw drinking entirely a hundred years later Both a lively history and an unflinching cultural investigation, DRINKING IN AMERICA unveils the volatile ambivalence within one nation s tumultuous affair with alcohol. Read Drinking in America – kino-fada.fr There are a lot of interesting theories here, but they re mostly conjecture and extrapolated from very little real evidence It s also sloppily written, frequently repeating the same phrases or bits of information, breaking chronology in confusing ways, and burying important information in servi...I love thematic histories There is just something really awesome about having a cohesive thread connecting the individual stories eras, etc This is my second thematic history of US and the first good one, the other one connected through guns, which is arguably just as American Or not At least not according to this book, which makes drinking seemAmerican than guns, baseball and peanut butter together Cheever, who has an impressive pedigree as both writer and drinker, starts with the pi I love thematic histories There is just something really awesome about having a cohesive thread connecting the individual stories eras, etc This is my second thematic history of US and the first good one, the other one connected through guns, which is arguably just as American Or not At least not according to this book, which makes drinking seemAmerican than guns, baseball and peanut butter together Cheever, who has an impressive pedigree as both writer and drinker, starts with the pilgrims too drunk to land in a proper place and continues onto the modern times, ending around Nixon s presidency She posits at least ...This is a good book, entertaining and well written But I m sure Susan Cheever would agree that, as a historian, her first duty is to the facts A factual error, even if minor and not related to the central premise, creates a red flag, and is apt to make the reader view the rest of the work with suspicion Unfortunately, Ms Cheever makes several.Early in the book, in referring to Benedict Arnold s treason, she writes that it occurr...This wasabout alcoholics than about America s secret history about drinking in America Of course the only chapter I appreciated was The Writer s Vice.Cheever definitely has a bias and a narrow focus, based on her family and personal history, and her upfrontedness about it helps the reader keep things in perspective There were moments where I thought, Well, you could look at it this way.OR another way, but Cheever s slant that nearly everything momentous in American history was done through the bottom of a glass got a bit wearisome after awhile One could also surmise that a lot of things were done in a certain way because the actors inv Cheever definitely has a bias and a narrow focus, based on her family and personal history, and her upfrontedness about it helps the reader keep things in perspective There were moments where I thought, Well, you could look at it this way.OR another way, but Cheever s slant that nearly everything momentous in American history was done through the bottom of a glass got a bit wearisome after awhile One could also surmise that a lot of things were done in a certain way because the actors involved were constipated from a meat bread cheese diet and therefore not thinking calmly with a clean colon Thinking outside the box here.So it was definitely a subjective history, and I agree with Cheever that there is no such thing as objective history, and the ability to be 100% objective is in itself s...This book is just awful The author is relentless in attributing alcohol to every part of our history Apparently our forefathers were a bunch of inebriated sots The way she describes the American Revolution and the influence of alcohol on it, it s a wonder that we aren t still singing G d Save the Queen I gave this book 3 chapters and gave up She has a clear agenda and it colors her POV It would also be nice if she could put a coherent sentence together Some of her sentences are just a j This book is just awful The author is relentless in attributing alcohol to every part of our history Apparently our forefathers were a bunch of inebriated sots The way she describes the American Revolution and the influence of alcohol on it, it s a wonder that we aren t still singing G d Save the Queen I gave this book 3 chapters and ...Interesting and concise history of America s boozy past, filled with fascinating stories and anecdotes that propel this brisk book along from the Mayflower landing to today Who knew the U.S was at its most drunken during the colonial era and the Revolution Susan Cheever explores the fascinating mindset of these oldest of American imbibers who saw alcohol as a gift from god but believed drunkenness to be submitting to the devil Each small town started with a saloon and ended with a schoolhou Interesting and concise history of America s boozy past, filled with fascinating stories and anecdotes that propel this brisk book along from the Mayflower landing to today Who knew the U.S was at its most drunken during the colonial era and the Revolution Susan Cheever explores the fascinating mindset of these oldest of American imbibers who saw alcohol as a gift from god but believed drunkenness to be submitting to the devil Each small town started with a saloon and ended with a schoolhouse, Cheever notes in a chapter of American expansion across the west, echoing the story of the country s own formation.Cheever also interesti...Given my background as an addictions counselor and child of an alcoholic family this book resonated with me deeply.When you think about it how could alcohol NOT be a part of US history and have an impact on key decisions and events over time It is simply not possible.Alcohol is everywhere in our society and always has been and to think that our leaders at any given momenthave not been affected by it in someway is pure lunacy This book truly made me thinkdeeply again about the true natu Given my background as an addictions counselor and child of an alcoholic family this book resonated with me deeply.When you think about it how could alcohol NOT be a part of US history and have an impact on key decisions and events over time It is simply not possible.Alcohol is everywhere in our society and always has been and to think that our leaders at any given momenthave not been aff...This is an interesting thematic historical work, it reverberates on two themes America is an alcoholic wonderland where great dreams and visions are conjured up by wild eyed, drunken dreamers who could conquer the stars if they were only sober and America is a dystopian hell of ruin, decay and moral rot, due to the terrible evils of demon alcohol Sample passage George Washington, a wealthy Virginia aristocrat who loved parties and fox hunting, found out about the connection between drinking This is an interesting thematic historical work, it reverberates on two themes America is an alcoholic wonderland where great dreams and visions are conjured up by wild eyed, drunken dreamers who could conquer the stars if they were only sober and America is a dystopian hell of ruin, decay and moral rot, due to the terrible evils of demon alcohol Sample passage George Washington, a wealthy Virginia aristocrat who loved parties and fox hunting, found out about the connection between drinking and voting for the American electorate the hard way A rigorous military commander who drove his soldiers hard and expected much of them, he began to aspire to a government position after he did not get a command in the British military While seeking a seat in the Virginia Assembly in 1755, he was roundly defeated.Two years later he ran again, but this time he delivered 144 gallons of rum punch cider and wine to the polling places distributed b...I LOVED this book I m a huge fan of micro histories, and while this subject is a little broad it all come back to the booze Soo intriguing Author, Susan Cheever, does a brilliant job of cataloging many of the incidents that helped make America great and then launches in to how booze played a part Trust me, a big part Why did the...

Drinking in America
  • English
  • 27 June 2017
  • Hardcover
  • 258 pages
  • 1455513873
  • Susan Cheever
  • Drinking in America