The Book of Absinthe: A Cultural History [Paperback]

Phil Baker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2003

La Fee Verte (or "The Green Fairy") has intoxicated artists, poets, and writers ever since the late eighteenth century. Stories abound of absinthe's druglike sensations of mood lift and inspiration due to the presence of wormwood, its infamous "special" ingredient, which ultimately leads to delirium, homicidal mania, and death. Opening with the sensational 1905 Absinthe Murders, Phil Baker offers a cultural history of absinthe, from its modest origins as an herbal tonic through its luxuriantly morbid heyday in the late nineteenth century. Chronicling a fascinatingly lurid cast of historical characters who often died young, the absinthe scrapbook includes Paul Verlaine, Arthur Rimbaud, Charles Baudelaire, Oscar Wilde, Ernest Dowson, Aleister Crowley, Arthur Machen, August Strindberg, Alfred Jarry, Vincent van Gogh, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Alphonse Allais, Ernest Hemingway, and Pablo Picasso. Along with discussing the rituals and modus operandi of absinthe drinking, Baker reveals the recently discovered pharmacology of how real absinthe actually works on the nervous system, and he tests the various real and fake absinthe products that are available overseas. The Book of Absinthe is a witty, erudite primer to the world's most notorious drink.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Grove Press (July 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802139930
• ISBN-13: 978-0802139931
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #597,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Viva La Fee Verte!, September 13, 2006

By 

Samuel Wells "'Pataphysician, Absintheur" (Denver, CO) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Book of Absinthe: A Cultural History (Paperback)

If you are interested in reading about the cultural and artistic history of the Green Fairy this book should be on your shelf right next to Barnaby Conrad's book. Baker has a fine sense of humor and narrative that fills the book with a memory of fin-de-siecle style decadence. Do yourself a favor, skip the Adams text, grab both this and Conrad and pour yourself a measure of liquid delight. You won't be sorry.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Everything you didn't know you wanted to know about Absinthe, August 23, 2006

By 

Bryan Bowden "a salmagundi of a man" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Book of Absinthe: A Cultural History (Paperback)

What I like about this book is Baker's approach and all the information he gives the reader. I really enjoyed reading this book, and do, in fact, now know very much about absinthe. Baker covers: how it came about, how it influenced artists and thinkers, to how it became vilified. There are some great anictdotes about artist such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and their drinking habits that were laugh out loud funny.

I did not give the book 5 stars because it is so historical and filled with information that the book does sag a bit at points. But that does not take away terribly from the overall enjoyment I had reading it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Goes down Smooth, December 24, 2008

By 

Alice in Dallas (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Book of Absinthe: A Cultural History (Paperback)

Baker has written a devilishly dark and entertaining account of that Wormwood-based drink which has recently come out of almost a century of obscurity.

Science and biography are mixed in perfect proportions to make an informative and engaging read that, though somewhat limited in scope, is still refreshing at every page.