Good Spirits: A New Look at Ol' Demon Alcohol Book

For a book all about alcohol, it was pretty dry. (Hardy har.) It's a world history through the lens of alcohol. According to this book, every major human event was motivated by alcohol. Roman empire? Expanded to find more alcohol. The Christian Eucharist? An excuse to drink wine. The American Revolution? A reaction to bans on rum imports. And so on.



The book starts with ancient civilizations like Greece, Rome, Egypt and China. Each discovered alcohol independently. So I thought this was a world history but it's really a Western Civ history. Nearly all the book focuses on England and the United States, with an occasional reference to the rest of Europe and a mention of Asia near the end.

I was more interested in the different types of drinks and how they affected people. I could not care less about the drinking opinions or habits of Samuel Coleridge or Picasso or anyone else.



It took until the 1850s for the world to discover that alcohol was the same ingredient in all these drinks. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome wasn't addressed until the 1970s, and drunken driving didn't get much attention until the 1980s. Yikes. There is no mention of domestic violence related to drunkenness, and the author pretty casually dismisses all these other concerns. By the end it's pretty clear he adores alcohol:

Alcohol has been one of the building blocks of Western civilization and continues to be an important ingredient of both our diet and our culture. While its contribution to nutrition is often overlooked, it is nonetheless significant. ... In addition to sustenance, alcohol also provides an aesthetic experience'drinking is an affair of the palate, as much as of the stomach or the head. ... Moreover, the power of alcoholic drinks to lessen inhibitions and facilitate self-expression continues to associate their consumption with friendship, and artists in every medium still page homage to their liquid muses. Finally, there is yet a place for intoxication in modern society. We resort to the bottle when our passions are high'we drink to celebrate and to drown our sorrows. ... Moderate tippling has a positive effect on health. ... Its beneficial side effects are readily apparent: It eases the stresses of coexistence, it helps us to relax when we are tense, it restores life's luster when we feel sad.

I feel I should add that studies promoting health benefits have been disputed recently, and medical experts say such benefits do not outweigh the risks. Any health benefits from alcohol are easily obtained from other dietary sources. About 93,000 Americans a year die from alcohol; worldwide it is several million.

The author has about five or ten favorite words (per annum, tippling, eponymous), and eventually I got really sick of them. There is also a serious lack of copy editing in this book. Commas are thrown about completely randomly and often show up between a subject and verb.