21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Were the Founding Fathers Blotto?, May 31, 2008
This review is from: The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition (Paperback)
Given the drinking habits of Americans of all social classes in the 18th Century, as described by Prof. Rorabaugh, there's a good chance that some or many of the leaders who gathered in Philadelphia for various momentous decisions were "under the influence" a good part of every day. But then, so was everyone, man, woman, and child, with the probable exception of slaves. No stigma attached to the drinking of mild alcoholic beverages, such as the universal hard cider, although a few smart fellows - Ben Franklin and Ben Rush inter alia - had come to recognize some of the health issues of drinking hard liquors. There are amusing tales about the drinking habits of Chief Justice John Marshall. Before he took his seat on the Court, a tradition had been established of allowing an open bottle of fortified wine on each justice's desk on cold and rainy days. Supposedly Marshall, a life long heavy drinker, declared 'the USA is a large enough country that it must be raining somewhere every day' and thereafter allowed the bottles at all times.
Rorabaugh's writing style is a blend of down-home aw-shucks anecdote and solid scholarship, a combination that makes his book highly enjoyable but that somewhat distracts attention from the serious social history he is delivering. Changes in drinking habits, and in attitudes toward drinking, had a lot more to do with increasing hostility to certain immigrant populations - German and Irish - and with rapidly increasing class consciousness and economic inequality. Those are very significant threads in the social history of ante-bellum America, and Prof. Rorabaugh's account of the temperance movement can be seen as a synechdoche for the polarization of all American public lief and politics. In the long run, the same impulses that led earnest citizens to campaign for temperance were also the impulses that led to abolition, women's suffrage, civil service reforms, sanitation committees, and the "Social Gospel" movement - every progressive reform, in short, in American history before the repeal of Prohibition.
Don't let the cover of this book deceive you! This is substantial historiography, well researched and more insightful than inebriating.
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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
You think Americans drink a lot now? Just wait..., July 28, 2006
This review is from: The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition (Paperback)
The United States has long had a reputation for heavy drinking. Guzzling to the point of intoxication still reigns as a favorite pasttime for high school and college students, and even for some adults. Banning liquor on college campuses can lead to riots (a lesson learned the hard way even recently), and some people will jump through any impossible hoop to ensure their portion of the communal keg. Though alcohol still creates problems for the current generation, what were the attitudes of Americans towards it historically? Has drunkedness always been an issue in America? Not much literature existed on the subject in the 1970s, which the author noticed while researching nineteenth century temperance pamphlets. He then found that drinking weaves a deep and unpredictable path through United States history. But he found some unexpected things along the way. These findings led him to write "The Alcoholic Republic".
An eye-widening surprise opens the book: Americans actually drank more liquor between the years 1790 and 1820 than ever before or since. We actually drink half as much alcohol today as our post Revolutionary ancestors. A chart in the first chapter shows consumption peaking at over 5 gallons per capita in the early 1800s as contrasted with approximately 2 gallons in 1970. A sharp drop occurred in the 1840s and the rate hovered around 2 gallons going forward. Looking at data published by the National Institutes of Health after the book's 1979 publication shows that the rate peaked at only 2.7 gallons in the early 1980s and leveled off at 2.2 gallons in 2002. So the early nineteenth century rate of 5 gallons per capita still remains shocking even with current data. This leads to the inevitable question of why Americans used to drink so much.
To answer this vexing question the author delves into the history of alcohol in Colonial and Revolutionary America. Suprisingly, in the seventeeth century alcohol was seen as "A Good Creature" and as healthful and nutritious to drink. But slowly, by the 1720s, some suspected that alcohol contributed towards reprehensible behavior and disease. Unfortunately, access to alcohol, especially rum, increased as the price dropped (due to more efficient methods of production). So all classess could imbibe with near impunity. By the late eighteenth century some physicians such as Benjamin Rush (still practising the Galenic theory of medicine) began to publish anti liquor tracts condemning it as dangerous. Most were ignored (which invites a comparison to today's anti-smoking literature). But by the 1820s a national temperance movement had gathered momentum. Still, consumption continued, and rum even became a medium of exchange in early America. Water, by sharp contrast, was not drunk by most Americans because it was seen as unhealthy (except for rain water, which didn't contain thick sediments). Copious alcohol stood as the most palatable option for drinks. And everyone drank, including women, children, politicians, clergy, slaves, judges, juries, etc.
But, as the author explains, just because alcohol remained cheap doesn't mean that people had to drink it. What accounted for the 5 gallon consumption rate per capita? Here the discussion becomes more speculative but nonetheless remains fascinating. The author reflects on the upheavals caused by America's transition from an agrarian to an industrial society. Many people undoubtedly became displaced and confused as tradition gave way to commerce. Such travails led to anxiety, and these anxieties thus led people to drink in mass quantities (Appendix four provides more detailed support for this theory). In effect, early nineteenth century Americans were driven to drink by the astonishing changes of their time. Intuitively this sounds like a tenable theory, but finding conclusive evidence for it obviously remains difficult.
As the book progresses, it slowly expands beyond the subject of drinking and onto American society itself. Elements such as the conflict between egalitarian ideals and the reality of inequality get discussed, as well as the pressures to succeed in early industrial America. By the final chapter, the author expostulates on the balancing influences of American life and society, or the material versus the religious elements, and how we're currently out of balance. These subjects grow out of material related to the temperance movement, which gets credited, at least partially, for the drastic reduction of alcohol consumption between 1820 - 1840. The author dismisses various theories for the origins of the movement, and claims that people just needed an alternative to drinking, and abstinence fed their religious and moral sides (the "Second Great Awakening" had emerged in the early 1800s).
Regardless of its highly speculative nature, the book manages to provide loads of fuel for thought. Also, the author clearly states in the preface that he's not out to "prove" anything: "It matters less that my speculations are correct, although I hope that some of them will be proved in time, than that I have provoked the reader to think and explore for himself. That is why I wrote the book." In this the author definitely succeeds. The book will likely leave curious readers loaded with questions and attempting to test some of the theories the author evokes. And some of the sections dealing with disappointment and inflated expectations may even allow some to reflect on their own place in society. Also, a tenable picture of early American life emerges from the text along with glimpses of the evolution of America and its attitudes towards drinking (the section on elections will elicit gasps or bitter laughter). Lastly, perhaps the theories in this book, if solidified, could potentially point to societal warning signs by examining the the levels of alcohol consumption (along with other chemicals). In the end, the book will leave readers hoping that America will never see such heights of intoxication as it did in its early stages.
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23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
good smart book about how colonial Americans drank like fish, June 28, 1996
By A Customer
This review is from: The Alcoholic Republic: An American Tradition (Paperback)
If you don't understand drinking, you don't understand
American history. Colonial Americans drank like fish ‹
average whiskey consumption one pint daily. In the early
1800s they went on a bigger binge, mostly on hard liquor and
drinking alone, rather than sociably like in the old days.
Rorabaugh says this explains how the temperance movement
came up just then, & it was the stress of industrialization &
frontier loneliness & inflated dreams for the new nation.
Readable & smart & has the good modern historical perspective
on ³alcoholism² but¹s still skeptical of heavy intoxicant use.
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