Drinking in America: Our Secret History by Susan Cheever
Drinking in America: Our Secret History by Susan Cheever, faculty, MFA in Creative Writing at The New School.
Grand Central Publishing, 2015
Barnes and Noble: “A fascinating look at the place and function of alcohol throughout American history…[Cheever] offers a colorful portrait of a society that, like her own family, has been indelibly shaped by its drinking habits. An intelligently argued study of our country’s ‘passionate connection to drinking.'”—Kirkus Reviews”
Susan Cheever offers a humane but unsentimental view of our nation’s inebriated past in DRINKING IN AMERICA. To excuse the pun, it’s an addictive read full of wit and verve, revealing the deep influence of alcohol on many of our country’s most significant moments, from the landing at Plymouth Harbour, to the Kennedy Assassination and Watergate. This is terrific social history but not as it’s usually told, and all the better for it.”—Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire (winner of the Whitbread) and A World on Fire: Britain’s Crucial Role in the American Civil War”
Cheever’s central observation is fascinating…The melting pot, it seems, was also a mixing bowl.”—Publishers Weekly”
Insightful…well-researched and well-developed…An engrossing, in-depth examination of the profound ways alcohol and drinking have shaped and contributed to American history.”—Shelf Awareness”
Cheever offers up sideways views that are intriguing.”—Associated Press”
I can’t stop raving (soberly!) about Susan Cheever’s new book… It is both enlightening and frightening. A brilliant and important addition to our understanding of what goes wrong and what can continue to go wrong in a world dominated by the most deadly legal liquid ever invented.”—Judy Collins