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The politics of alcohol: A history of the drink question in England
James Nicholls
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Questions about drink — how it is used, how it should be regulated, and the social risks it presents — have been a source of sustained and heated dispute in recent years. This book puts these concerns in historical context by providing a detailed and extensive survey of public debates on alcohol from the introduction of licensing in the mid-sixteenth century through to recent controversies over 24-hour licensing, binge drinking, and the cheap sale of alcohol in supermarkets. In doing so, it shows that concerns over drinking have always been tied to broader questions about national identity, individual freedom, and the relationship between government and the market. The book argues that in order to properly understand the cultural status of alcohol, we need to consider what attitudes to drinking tell us about the principles that underpin our modern, liberal society. It presents a wide-ranging guide to the social, political, and cultural history of alcohol in England, covering areas including law, public policy, medical thought, media representations, and political philosophy.
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Cover Page
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Title Page
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Copyright Page
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Contents
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Introduction
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1 A monstrous plant: alcohol and the Reformation
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2 Healths, toasts and pledges: political drinking in the seventeenth century
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3 A new kind of drunkenness: the gin craze
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4 The politics of sobriety: coffee and society in Georgian England
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5 A fascinating poison: early medical writing on drink
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6 Ungovernable passions: intoxication and Romanticism
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7 Odious monopolies: power, control and the 1830 Beer Act
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8 The last tyrant: the rise of temperance
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9 A monstrous theory: the politics of prohibition
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10 The State and the trade: the drink question at the turn of the century
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11 Central control: war and nationalisation
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12 The study of inebriety: medicine and the law
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13 The pub and the people: drinking places and popular culture
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14 Prevention and health: alcohol and public health
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15 Beer orders: the changing landscape in the 1990s
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16 Drinking responsibly: media, government and binge drinking
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Conclusion: the drink question today
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Bibliography
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Index
Citable Link
Published: 2011
Publisher: Manchester University Press
- 978-1-84779-707-0 (ebook)
- 978-0-7190-8637-3 (paper)