States of Intoxication

This book provides an illuminating perspective on alcohol use, drawing on approaches from both anthropological research and historical sociology to examine our ambivalent attitudes to alcohol in the modern West. Tracing the contradictory position occupied by alcohol over the course of history and civilisation – as an unproblematic and even sacred element of ritual, as a source of revenue, as central to the formation of political communities, and a source of fear for ruling groups – States of Intoxication sheds light on the manner in which we have arrived at the very peculiar modern perspective on alcohol.