Taverns and Drinking in Early America [Hardcover]

Ms. Sharon V. Salinger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 2002

Sharon V. Salinger's Taverns and Drinking in Early America supplies the first study of public houses and drinking throughout the mainland British colonies. At a time when drinking water supposedly endangered one's health, colonists of every rank, age, race, and gender drank often and in quantity, and so taverns became arenas for political debate, business transactions, and small-town gossip sessions. Salinger explores the similarities and differences in the roles of drinking and tavern sociability in small towns, cities, and the countryside; in Anglican, Quaker, and Puritan communities; and in four geographic regions. Challenging the prevailing view that taverns tended to break down class and gender differences, Salinger persuasively argues they did not signal social change so much as buttress custom and encourage exclusion.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The most comprehensive survey to date of this curiously underinvestigated aspect of early American social life... [Contains] a wealth of illustrative and amusing anecdotes... Well researched and informative." -- Simon Middleton, William and Mary Quarterly

"Offers a fresh perspective on one of the colonial period's most important social institutions and the drinking behavior that was central to it... Salinger's work is compelling throughout... A significant and satisfying book." -- Mark Edward Lender, American Historical Review

"A richly detailed study that helps us understand popular and genteel culture in early America, the place of drink in everyday life, and the relationship between law and perceptions of disorderly behavior." -- Paul G. E. Clemens, Journal of American History

"Taverns and Drinking in Early America pulls together the results of many other works focused more narrowly on particular colonies or regions and provides a much greater synthesis than we have ever enjoyed before... A well-written, very entertaining overview of an important subject." -- Daniel B. Thorp, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography

"A thorough overview of this often overlooked institution in early America." -- George Brown, North Carolina Historical Review

"Salinger gives us the best description yet available of the nature of tavern life and the efforts of colonial governments to manage it." -- Elaine Frantz Parsons, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography

"Salinger's book offers the broadest study yet of the role of taverns in colonial life, and readers will find a good deal of useful information presented in clear and accessible prose." -- Matthew Mulcahy, South Carolina Historical Magazine

"This important book offers the first recent attempt at a comparative synthesis combined with a general interpretation of tavern life." -- Richard P. Gildrie, Journal of Southern History

Review

"Full of information and bristling with insights, this fine book on the many functions of alcohol and taverns in early America deserves a place on the bookshelf of every American historian. Working from a variety of sources, Salinger sweeps across all the mainland British colonies and shows the centrality of taverns in the conduct of colonial life." -- Gary B. Nash, UCLA

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 328 pages
• Publisher: The Johns Hopkins University Press (2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801868785
• ISBN-13: 978-0801868788
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,875,337 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I have not read the entire text, but no one had written anything., May 12, 2006

By 

Jason Shepard "littlehut" (Ozarks) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Taverns and Drinking in Early America (Hardcover)

Sharon Salinger explores taverns and drinking in Britain's North American colonies. Her primary focus is on the socializing functions of taverns at a time when nearly every one frequented them as the common house of the community. The book examines the tavern's political, economic, and religious functions in mainland communities. She explores the variation and inevitable presence of laws and rules of conduct within drinking houses. The settlements themselves are divided into four geographic regions and examined in the context of their primary religion; Anglican, Puritan, and Quaker. The book delves into the different expectations of drunkenness for and between men, women, Indians, and even children. Different establishments often served different clientele divided on a strictly class based hierarchy. Prostitution and taverns are examined in this light. While there is ample new research, Taverns and Drinking in Early America is largely a synthesis of earlier works that focused more narrowly on a specific region or group. Salinger maintains that taverns were not a place where social norms broke down but one of the primary institutions where they were enforced and maintained.