The Spirits Of America

by Burns, Eric

• ISBN13: 9781592132690
• ISBN10: 1592132693
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-13
• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr

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 thought of as both scourge and medicine. He tells us how "the great American thirst" developed over the centuries, and how reform movements and laws (some of which, Burn s says, were "comic masterpieces of the legislator's art") sprang up to combat it. Burns brings back to life such vivid characters as Carrie Nation and other crusaders against drink. He informs us that, in the final analysis, Prohibition, the culmination of the reformers' quest, had as much to do with politics and economics and geography as it did with spirituous beverage.Filled with the famous, the infamous, and the undeservedly anonymous, The Spirits of America is a masterpiece of the historian's art. It will stand as a classic chronicle - witty, perceptive, and comprehensive - of how this country was created by and continues to be shaped by its everchanging relationship to the cocktail shaker and the keg. Author note:Eric Burns is the host of "Fox News Watch" on the Fox News Channel. He was named by the Washington Journalism Review as one of the best writers in the history of broadcast journalism. His other books include Broadcast Blues and The Joy of Books.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Spirits of the World	1	(256)
1 The First National Pastime	7	(40)
2 The General and the Doctor	47	(14)
3 The Father of Prohibition and Other Kinfolk	61	(36)
4 The Crusaders and Their Crusades	97	(14)
5 The Importance of Being Frank	111	(16)
6 Hatchetation	127	(20)
7 The Wheeler-Dealer and His Men	147	(40)
8 The Blues and How They Played	187	(40)
9 Executive Softness	227	(30)
10 The Hummingbird Beats the Odds	257	(30)
Epilogue: Strange Bedfellows	287	(14)
Acknowledgments	301	(2)
Notes	303	(18)
Select Bibliography	321	(6)
Index	327