Alcohol

Wine, beer and spirits have long been part of ordinary life, yet they have also stirred deep unease. Rod Phillips traces roughly nine thousand years of the cultural and economic history of alcohol, showing how it was once a everyday staple of diets while also becoming a source of social, political and religious worry.

In the growing cities of Europe and America, alcohol was often judged healthier than water that had not been treated, and it became the drink of choice for many. Yet authorities, both governmental and religious, have controlled it more closely than almost any other good. Because drinking could upset social order, communities kept redrawing the lines between acceptable and unacceptable use, and alcohol crossed boundaries of class, race and gender along the way.

Phillips follows how the meanings attached to alcohol have changed over time, and he argues that some societies have moved into a "post-alcohol" period. The book examines the meanings and effects of drinking in depth, approaching the subject from global and long-term perspectives.