The politics of alcohol a history of the drink question in England - Nicholls, James (Manchester University Press, 2009)
9780719077050; 9780719077050; Copyright; Contents; Introduction; 1 A monstrous plant: alcohol and the Reformation; 2 Healths, toasts and pledges: political drinking in the seventeenth century; 3 A new kind of drunkenness: the gin craze; 4 The politics of sobriety: coffee and society in Georgian England; 5 A fascinating poison: early medical writing on drink; 6 Ungovernable passions: intoxication and Romanticism; 7 Odious monopolies: power, control and the 1830 Beer Act; 8 The last tyrant: the rise of temperance; 9 A monstrous theory:the politics of prohibition
10 The State and the trade: the drink question at the turn of the century11 Central control: war and nationalisation; 12 The study of inebriety: medicine and the law; 13 The pub and the people: drinking places and popular culture; 14 Prevention and health: alcohol and public health; 15 Beer orders: the changing landscape in the 1990s; 16 Drinking responsibly: media, government and binge drinking; Conclusion: the drink question today; Bibliography; Index
Questions about drink? how it is used, how it should be regulated and the social risks it presents? have been a source of sustained and heated dispute in recent years. In The politics of alcohol, Nicholls puts these concerns in historical context by providing a detailed and extensive survey of public debates on alcohol from the introduction of licensing in the mid-sixteenth century through to recent controversies over 24-hour licensing, binge drinking and the cheap sale of alcohol in supermarkets. In doing so, he shows that concerns over drinking have always been tied to broader questions ab