The Spirits of America: A Social History of Alcohol [Hardcover]

Eric Burns (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2003

'Thousands of years ago, before Christ or Buddha or Muhammad...before the Roman Empire rose or the Colossus of Rhodes fell', Eric Burns writes, 'people in Asia Minor were drinking beer'. So begins an account as entertaining as it is extensive, of alcohol's journey through world and, more important, American history. In "The Spirits of America", Burns relates that drinking was 'the first national pastime', and shows how it shaped American politics and culture from the earliest colonial days. He details the transformation of alcohol from virtue to vice and back again, how it was thought of as both scourge and medicine. He tells us how 'the great American thirst' developed over the centuries, and how reform movements and laws (some of which, Burns says, were 'comic masterpieces of the legislator's art') sprang up to combat it. Burns brings back to life such vivid characters as Carrie Nation and other crusaders against drink.He informs us that, in the final analysis, Prohibition, the culmination of the reformers' quest, had as much to do with politics and economics and geography as it did with spirituous beverage. Filled with the famous, the infamous, and the undeservedly anonymous, "The Spirits of America" is a masterpiece of the historian's art. It will stand as a classic chronicle witty, perceptive, and comprehensive of how this country was created by and continues to be shaped by its everchanging relationship to the cocktail shaker and the keg. Author note: Eric Burns is the host of "Fox News Watch" on the Fox News Channel. He was named by the Washington Journalism Review as one of the best writers in the history of broadcast journalism. His other books include "Broadcast Blues" and "The Joy of Books".

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Burns, a self-described "non-academic historian" and host of Fox News Watch, takes readers on a romp with boozers and teetotalers in this high-spirited history of alcohol in America. Prohibition comes and goes throughout his narrative but tippling, "the first national pastime," is constant. Jefferson had his "three glasses a day," Hancock his beer, and the Supreme Court Justices their madeira. For the colonists, Burns writes, alcohol served as "aspirin and penicillin, cortisone, and antibiotic, all rolled in one-the first wonder drug." And so, though Doctor Benjamin Rush tried the threat of "spontaneous combustion" as early as 1772, real strides toward prohibition had to wait until 1851, when Neal Dow's efforts led to Maine state law. Burns takes his readers through the transformations and reversals of the Civil War, Prohibition and its repeal, pausing whenever a good story comes his way and punctuating his observations with bursts of comedy club humor. Best of all are his lively portraits of mostly-forgotten historical figures, such as Diocletian Lewis, who, with his mother Delecta, formed the Visitation Bands, which gathered outside barrooms "communicating their displeasure to the heavens." In spite of the Temple University Press imprimatur, Burns offers up no pretensions to heavy scholarship. Academic historians and scholars will likely flee at his declaration that "there are fictions that make up for the inaccuracy of their details by the truth of their general impressions." But readers who like informative fun need not be so straight-laced-there are plenty of solid facts here and the Emmy-winning author clearly knows how to spin a good yarn.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Humans have lapped up alcohol since the Babylonians began brewing beer. Americans, says Burns, have done so with special abandon, from colonial days, when harsh living conditions perhaps contributed to a regimen that included beer-soaked toast for breakfast, to the early twentieth century, when immigrants' tenement miseries made booze an appealing escape. The book's subtitle is somewhat misleading as, aside from a 15-page epilogue, Burns (host of Fox News Watch) ends his story with the repeal of Prohibition. And, while his strong focus on the many attempts to legislate sobriety reveals much about the American character, it's not a full social history. There are intriguing lifestyle facts from the early days, but in other eras, social data take a backseat to politics and players. Burns sometimes uses speculative detail to set scenes, and his prose can be hyperbolic. He doesn't shy from sharing apocryphal material, either, or quoting works he identifies only in the endnotes. Still, as a primer to U.S. temperance movements, the book (apparently researched from secondary sources) is informative and engaging. Keir Graff
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr (September 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1592132146
• ISBN-13: 978-1592132140
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,587,429 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Entertaining, lucid, and very well researched, August 29, 2007

By 

Cody Kittle (Greenwich, CT USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Spirits Of America: A Social History Of Alcohol (Paperback)

This book has a perfect balance between in depth reaserch and entertainment. It is like Barbara Holland's "Joy of Drinking" with more in depth research. Burns does an excellent job of illustrating the joys of American spirits throughout our country's history. I found the book very enteraining, especially the passages about the founding fathers and the way they used to drink. It was very helpful with the research I was doing as well. If anyone has an interest in the subject or is curious about the roll alcohol played in our country (its a lot larger than you'd guess), then they should defineitley chose this book over the others.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Informative, Informal History of Alcohol use in America, March 12, 2006

By 

C. Griffith - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Spirits Of America: A Social History Of Alcohol (Paperback)

"The Spirits of America" covers alcohol use in the United States from roughly colonial times to the end of prohibition, with some coverage of latter developments, such as Mothers against drunk driving. I enjoyed Burn's writing style.
I was surprised at how much drinking people in colonial times did, and how early in life they began.
Burns devotes much attention to the several waves of temperance and prohibition movements that began in about the 1820s and eventually culminated in prohibition.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Charming, Entertaining and Somewhat Sobering, December 2, 2006

By 

Cooper 'n me (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Spirits of America: A Social History of Alcohol (Hardcover)

Burns has produced a fascinating book and demonstrated that alcohol, as well as Americans' ambivalent attitudes towards it, has been an important subtheme in American history. Breezy and energetic, the book is well organized and moves briskly through many good stories of temperance wars. A fascinating read and a reliable historical reference.