Drinking in America : our secret history

Summary: Cheever chronicles our national love affair with liquor, taking a long, thoughtful look at the way alcohol has changed our nation's history. From the drunkenness of the Pilgrims to Prohibition hijinks, drinking has always been a way to celebrate and a way to grieve and a way to take the edge off. At many pivotal points in our history, alcohol has acted as a catalyst. Discover the volatile ambivalence within our nation's tumultuous affair with alcohol.

Record details

ISBN: 9781455513864
ISBN: 161113529X
ISBN: 9781611135299
ISBN: 1455513873
ISBN: 9781455513871
Physical Description: x, 258 pages ; 24 cm
print
Edition: First edition.
Publisher: New York : Twelve, 2015.
Copyright: ©2015

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 223-244) and index.

Formatted Contents Note:

Prologue -- The Mayflower : a good creature of God -- The American revolution, the taverns of the new world -- Paul Revere : "The British are coming!" -- Alexander Hamilton and the whiskey rebellion, John and Abigail Adams's sons and grandsons -- Johnny Appleseed, the American Dionysus -- The Civil War -- The great American west -- The end of the nineteenth century and the new temperance crusaders -- Prohibition -- The writer's vice -- Senator Joseph McCarthy and the Cold War -- A few seconds -- President Richard Nixon 1968-1973 : "our drunken friend" -- Recovery -- Conclusion.