A Short History of Drunkenness

Our species’ history would have turned out completely differently if not for a happy genetic mutation that allowed our bodies to break down alcohol. Since then, humanity hasn’t let go of the bottle: for millennia, drinking has brought joy and comfort to people; helped them talk with the gods and create culture. “A Brief History of Drunkenness” is a story of Homo sapiens’ long romance with alcohol. In every era—from the Stone Age to the days of Prohibition—we can find answers to specific questions: what did they drink? how much? who and in what mixture? And most of all—why and on what occasion?

Along the way, we’ll meet the shamans of the Neolithic who turned spirits into a channel of communication with the ancestors; we’ll be present at feasts of ancient Greeks and Romans; and we’ll find out how real saloons of the Wild West differed from Hollywood. It’s a history of mankind in its happiest state—getting tipsy. Unlike most books about alcohol, this one doesn’t talk about production technologies and the drinks themselves, but about the place of drinking in the culture of different peoples: how, with whom, and why people drank. The author has a typically English sense of humor and a wide range of knowledge; facts and quotations are selected to be engaging—and overall, the book reads effortlessly. As Mark Forsyth brilliantly demonstrates, alcohol raised civilization. Neither the people of Ancient Egypt without beer nor the people of Ancient Greece and Rome without wine would have created their greatest works. Where there is drinking, there is prosperity—and vice versa.

So let’s raise our glasses to this sparkling, glittering, and sparkling-with-spark satire. Harry Mount, editor of The Oldie.

I thought I understood a thing or two about drinking, but “A Brief History of Drunkenness” made me look at drunkenness from a different angle. Each chapter amazed me, set riddles before me, and inspired me so much that by the end of reading, I desperately wanted to take a stronger sip. Henry Jeffreys, author of Empire of Booze.

This wonderful book captivated me so much that while reading, without noticing it, I drank two bottles of wine. Rob Temple, author of Very British Problems.