Drunks: An American History

by Christopher M. Finan

BOOZE AND ITS Explore the history of the United States’ struggle with alcoholism—and the emergence of a search for sobriety as old as our nation.

“An interesting read for fans of American history.” —Library Journal

Christopher Finan introduces a colorful cast of characters who were integral in America’s moral journey to understanding alcoholism. Discover a lesser-known side of American history as you
 
• Iroquois leader Handsome Lake, a drunk who stopped drinking and dedicated his life to helping his people achieve sobriety
• The “Washingtonians” of the early 19th century, a group of reformed alcoholics who led the first national movement to save men like themselves
• Dr. Leslie Keeley, who invented a “gold cure” for chronic drunkenness that was dispensed around the country
• Carrie Nation, the wife of drunk who destroyed bars with a hatchet, furious about what alcohol did to her family
• Men and women of the Prohibition-era, when even the law couldn’t stop the drinking
• Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, founders of Alcoholics Anonymous—who finally proved alcoholics could stay sober for a lifetime

Drunks is narrative history at its best. Entertaining and authoritative, it’s at once an important portrait of one of America’s great liberation movements and essential reading for American history nerds, the sober curious, and anyone involved in the addiction recovery community.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, American History, Ebooks, Addiction

346 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 27, 2017

About the author

Chris Finan is executive director of the National Coalition Against Censorship, an alliance of 56 national non-profits that defends free speech. A native of Cleveland he is a graduate of Antioch College. After working as a newspaper reporter, he studied American history at Columbia University, where he received his Ph.D. in 1992.

Reviews

[Ellen Gail]

DNF and currently ratingless.

I give up. I'm so bored I would honestly rather vacuum the curtains right now.



Thanks to Edelweiss and Beacon Press for the digital arc.

[Jeanne]

I don’t mind the dry textbook style of writing. I do however dislike the gross colonial Christian anti-native bullshit in the beginning. DNF

[Erin Cataldi]

I was expecting a more light hearted funny non fiction book about the history and plight of the American drunks, but instead got the in-depth history of drunks (starting with American Indians) trying to reform and become sober. It's my bad for not reading the complete description! Every chapter goes into detail about a different method of obtaining sobriety from gold cures to workhouses to temperance society to prohibition to the birth of AA. It's pretty interesting actually and I learned quite a lot, even if it did get a little too bogged down in details. There is a small insert with some pictures and drawings to shed light on some of the different cures and methods discussed. An interesting read, but will mostly be useful for college students, those interested in the history of alcoholism, and those trying to stay sober.

[Denny]

2.5 stars. Finan's account is good history but is a little bit dry. More than anything else, it's a history of the abstinence movement in Colonial through mid-20th century America with a heavy reliance on the sensational literature of personal revelations of the ravages of alcoholism, which become rather tedious and repetitive. Although I suspect Drunks: An American History will not appeal to a broad audience, it is worth reading for professionals in the field of recovery. To his credit, Finan includes an expansive bibliography and endnotes, but I suspect one of his more heavily-referenced works, William L. White's Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America, may be a better read. I know I intend to read it. Eventually. Probably while enjoying a glass of whiskey on the rocks. Cheers!

[Israel Drazin]

Drunks is an important and very interesting and informative book. Much of it is written so well that it reads like a novel. We not only learn about the effects of alcoholism, but how it impacted the history of America. There is a rather long fascinating disturbing narrative of how alcohol destroyed the Native Americans, how the whites used it to steal from the Indians. It also destroyed families. President Adams had a son who also became a president and another who became a very good historian. But there was another son who was afflicted by alcoholism and despite all they tried to do, the presidents were unable to save the son who died from alcoholism at age 30.
Besides many stories, the book points out that today we know that alcoholism is a disease and there are ways to treat it. One of these, considered by many to be the best, is AA.
A couple of decades ago, I was the Army officer who handled all matters related to religion and law. I was asked to comment upon an army regulation that required alcoholic soldiers to attend AA. I saw that AA is based on religion, giving one’s self over to a higher power. I was interested in protecting the First Amendment to the Constitution’s free exercise rights of every American and felt that atheists would not feel comfortable with this approach, even though it has value for religiously-minded people. So I changed the regulation to allow any soldier to go to a program such as AA including programs that do not require adherents to believe in a higher power.

[Don]

Actually a history of how to treat alcoholism. It starts with the Native American, Handsome Lake, in 1799 and ends with the Affordable Care Act and its requirements to treat addicts and alcoholics. A thorough history.

[Gina Marcelin]

It’s an okay read, but I thought it would be amusing tales of famous things that were done by drink people, such as, The Boston Tea Party. This book was about the establishment of AA. So the description was misleading, or I completely misunderstood,

[Preston Caddell]

Unfortunately this book doesn't live up to its potential. Alcohol consumption in America and the ongoing struggle to battle alcoholism is a story worth telling, but the dry writing style fails to draw the reader's attention. The main story is the eventual development and growth of Alcoholics Anonymous, but the first few chapters centered around various people who struggled with alcoholism don't tie into the greater story. The devastating impact that alcoholism had on Native American Tribes is underwritten. The story of Handsome Lake is interesting but didn't sufficiently tie into the overarching theme. There's also not enough spotlight on how alcohol got to the new world from Europe and how it was often a coping mechanism to deal with the hard lives of the earliest immigrants. However, the worst part of the book is the writing style, which reads like a school grade textbook with no touch of personality, humor, or warmth. Unless this is a topic that the reader is emotionally drawn to, I would give this a pass.

[Jon Wlasiuk]

This is an excellent chronicle of the birth and evolution of temperance organizations like AA up to about the 1970s. The author, who admits to having a connection to AA, uses several stigmatizing terms that went out of fashion decades ago. Although the author describes the scientific study of alcohol use, he uses the term "alcoholic" and "alcoholism" throughout the text. These terms were dropped by the DSM in the 1980s in favor of more precise language that doesn't apply the disorder to the very identity of the individual. The reader would benefit from context about the changing perception of those terms, but wont find that here. More problematic still is the use of "clean" to describe states of recovery.

For a history about the science and culture of alcohol use and recovery, this book offers AA orthodoxy concerning criticism of the program. You also wont find any discussion of how AA became a default, court-mandated recovery program throughout the US. This is a serviceable, if uncritical, reference text.

[Ben]

You can read our full review here: https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/01/...

An excerpt from our review:
Sadly though, the book is just too boring to have much weight to it – besides its actual heavy physical weight. I think some might have picked this up expecting to hear great or funny stories of drunks over time, but its more a telling of moments, blips, throughout American history, of select people who got super drunk, what happened to them, and how they and America responded to this. Calling this “An American History” feels a bit dubious. Sure its a history of drunks in America, but the way this is told isn’t defining it as something that defined America. He doesn’t treat this like Alcohol and Alcoholism defined America and made America.

For more - read the review here: https://thebeerthrillers.com/2023/01/...

[Lorraine Groom]

I expected more anecdotal stories of people who were figures in American history. Still, this was an interesting book focusing more on the recovery movement in America. I found the format a little "textbooky" for my taste and a bit of dry read. but it was very informational and presented a lot of history that I did not know. I will hang onto this and reread it later. I will certainly refer to it again as a useful reference source and I will also recommend it to a couple of friends who work in recovery.

[Andy Cantrell]

A meticulously researched book with excellent primary sources detailing America's love (and hate) affair with alcohol and the changing attitudes towards alcoholism and sobriety.

The books starts off kind of slow and I almost didn't finish, but it got better about halfway through. I would have liked a discussion/analysis of why America chose alcohol as it's vice and the social factors that differntiate those attitudes compared to other countries. Overall I would rate it 3.5/5

[Lauren]

Skimmed but won’t finish. More about recovery than alcoholism, from what I could tell. Chock full of history, a little slow. But some fascinating data points - for instance, the impact of the temperance movement at one point cut whiskey sales in the US in half and shut down a large percentage for bars & pubs. Pretty powerful!

[Jess | dapper.reads]

I enjoyed this look into the creation of AA (Alcoholics Anonymous). I can’t say I’ve really thought about how groups like that get started before and it was interesting to see the process that those that started it went through and the struggles they faced getting it together and then the comparisons to AA today vs then.

[Kate]

The first chapters kind of rush through the Colonial to the early 1900s, and then the last half of the book is spent on AA and its related recovery programs, so the "history" part of the title feels a little uneven.

[Brian Beatty]

I’m usually interested in histories like this, but it was unnecessarily bland and though some of it was sequential, the beginning was temporally odd enough that I always felt like I had to pay attention to the era being discussed just in case.

[Rk Stark]

This more of a history of America attempts to address alcoholism than the social history of alcohol. I did learn some interesting things, but mostly I skipped a lot of this book. I suppose if you are interested in the history of cure/treatment/care plans for alcoholism, this is a good read.

[Dkolacinski]

A history of alcohol abuse and treatment over the course of American History. A valiant but losing battle, controlled by managed care and religious condemnation, hating the sinner but embracing the sin.

[Sarah]

This is not a history of drinking in America, or even a history of alcoholics in America, but of the recovery movement in America. Additionally, it is more a history of Alcoholics Anonymous than of the broader movement. That doesn't make it bad, but it does feel unbalanced.

[Susan]

I won this book through Goodreads. Really interesting and insightful. Lots of helpful information

[Diana]

Book received from Edelweiss.

The book started out ok, but after about 150 pages I had to give up, it didn't keep my attention.

[Karla]

From religious fear to prohibition and beyond- the narrative gives way to some interesting stories. It wasn't super wonder and grand, but it hit the target as a light historical read while waiting.

[Steve Showalter]

If you’re a recovering alcoholic, this is a comprehensive history of the recovery movement in
America. Best book on this subject that I have read.

[Alanna Maddox]

Interesting and informative. I had no idea how many sober groups existed besides AA. Definitely had some dry parts but I still looked forward to listening to it.

[Miki Hodge]

Many interesting facts about America and how we treat alcohol and addiction. Yet again, women seem to be an after thought when it comes to providing help.

[Zola de los Santos]

Too textbook-esque

[Michael Delaware]

A fascinating history of alcohol, and its impact on society from colonial times forward to present day. Very well researched.

[Kes]

This is a fantastic book. It's engaging, focusing on people and their perspectives. I enjoyed how it was sprinkled liberally with quotes - allowing the individual described to speak with their own voice, but also a good insight into the sheer amount of research that went into this. I enjoyed how the book showed the rise and fall of various wave of fighting alcoholism, and the changing attitudes towards people. I liked how it tied alcoholism and the economy together. A minor flaw might be that themes (or call-backs across waves) could have been brought out more clearly (e.g. how AA differed from the Washingtonians, and what caused the fall of the latter). I also felt that Prohibitionism (how it came about and what caused the fall) could have been more detailed.

[Jamie Fuller]

Interesting and informative.

[Toni Coleman]

This was an awesome book. So many interesting things. I so much enjoyed reading this book. I'm going to tell all my friends about this book!!!!!