History of Vodka (Interverso) [Paperback]

William Pokhlebkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1992 | ISBN-10: 0860913597 | ISBN-13: 978-0860913597

Savoured by peasants and Tsars, condemned by clerics and the architects of perestroika - vodka has been the joy and scourge of the Russian nation for centuries. But what are the origins of the Russians' favourite drink? Did vodka emerge as an authentic national discovery from the brewing-shops of the monasteries of medieval Russia, or was the secret of its preparation imported from elsewhere? When was it that people first experienced vodka's now famed property of 'knocking drinkers off their feet'? With formidable scholarship and considerable dry wit, William Pokhlebkin, one of Russia's best-known historians sets out on the detective trail. His aim: to reveal the strange truth about his country's most famous tipple. The result is a triumph of historical deduction. As he uncovers the social economic and technical background to the emergence of vodka, and indeed tells us how and with what the spirit should be drunk, the author creates and unconventional but true-to-life portrait of the society and society and social psychology that gave birth to today's Russia. He argues that those who have controlled the vodka stills have controlled the density of Russia - first the Boyars, then the Tsars, and in this century the Bolsheviks. In Pokhlebkin's view Gorbachev unwisely attempted to suppress vodka, allowing the Mafia to seize control of its production and distribution. Perestroika was thus doomed. Pokhlebkin believes that both prohibitionism and drunkenness are scourges which encourage one another. He insists that vodka itself doesn't make people drunk, only irresponsible and uncultured ways of consuming it. A History of Vodka is the work not only of a fine scholar but of a passionate advocate of the virtues of vodka and a stern critic of those who have misused it.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

``This text was never intended for publication,'' Pokhlebkin solemnly warns us in his foreword. It is pretty much downhill from there, which is something of a shame, given the intriguing premise of the book. The author notes that he undertook writing this history as a ``civic duty'' when asked by the Russian government to establish the legitimacy of the Russians' claim to the invention of vodka. It seems that in the late 1970s, a number of countries began challenging not only whether Russia was indeed vodka's homeland, but even whether the nation's distilleries had a right to use the name vodka (the Russian diminutive for water) on their bottles of the colorless spirit. ``The laws of the world capitalist market are ruthless,'' Pokhlebkin reflects, ``they take neither emotion nor tradition into account.'' While convincing on the veracity of vodka's Russian heritage (it was invented, he says, between 1440 and 1478, probably in a Moscow monastery), he is such a humorless and ponderous writer that the book becomes unintentionally funny. Vodka should be imbibed straight, and only with ``exclusively Russian national dishes,'' Pokhlebkin intones. What about cocktails? ``Cocktails are merely a means of getting drunk, not a gastronomic category,'' he sniffs, ``and in any case Russians would never abuse vodka in this fashion.'' The reader is frequently reminded of a misguided Nabokov narrator--or perhaps of Greta Garbo's Ninotchka.

Copyright 1992 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Alcohol has been a far more important part of human history than most historians have recognised, potent for good and ill. Russia has known it under the name of vodka, and has been second to no other country for feeling its influence. Anyone wanting to learn about how and where its distilling began, about how production became a monopoly of the nobility and finally of the government, and about how perestroika tried to put stop to alcoholism, and why it has failed, must turn to this very learned, very informative book." - Victor Kiernan

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Verso (April 1, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0860913597
• ISBN-13: 978-0860913597
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 8.2 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #973,795 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars amazing historical treatise, October 14, 2003

By 

Phil (Greenwich, CO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: History of Vodka (Interverso) (Paperback)

A very comprehensive survey of Russia's most popular drink. Reads like a fine novel, intelligent and charming. Every detail is put into historical perspective. Although Pokhlebkin did not drink himself, he managed to pur just the right emphasis on the importance of the drink in the russian culture viewed through the prism of historical events. Highly recommended to all.

2 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A poor, propagandistic book on the development of vodka., April 24, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: History of Vodka (Interverso) (Paperback)

This is a book that purports to tell the history of vodka. It was originally undertaken to prove that 'vodka' was invented first in Russia in an attempt to fight off attempts by Poles to usurp the name 'vodka' in international trade.

Though there is undoubtedly much research that went into this work, the author does his readers a great disservice by his arrogance and cultural prejudices. Though his facts seem solid, his interpretation tends to be circular and often one conclusion is built on a whole chain of very shaky intermediate claims. His main conclusion, that vodka was invented not only soley by Russians, but in Moscow as well, is reached, by among other devices, carefully defining the product first.

Nonetheless, the work is of some interest, but it really does need to be taken with more than a grain of salt. It will have to do until a more comprehensive and fair work is produced in the English language.