Name: Drunks
Price: 9.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Author: Christopher Finan
ISBN: 9780807001806

BOOZE AND ITS DISCONTENTS: 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 meet:

• 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.

“An appropriately harrowing account of booze and its discontents…A worthy treatment of recovery movements in American history, unsung heroes and all.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“A spirited look at the history of drinking and alcoholism in America… offers captivating stories in a well-researched, in-depth manner, shining a light on a topic well worth exploring in detail.”
—Publishers Weekly

“The vignettes Finan selected provide relevant facts about important players associated with the history of alcoholism and how it has been treated in the United States. An interesting read for fans of American history.”
—Library Journal

“Drunks is a lively, engaging, and enlightening account of a major strain (in several senses of the word) of the American character. We drank our way to nationhood, and some of us drank too much. Cheers!”
—Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize recipient for The Making of the Atomic Bomb

“Drunks is a fascinating history of the recovery movement that allowed me to consider my own sobriety in a broader context. Chris Finan recounts in entertaining and compelling style the experiences of those who fought to have alcoholism recognized as an illness and broke barriers in trying to treat it. I was transported throughout this journey and would like to think I might have joined the ‘Marthas,’ a group of mid-nineteenth-century women who were on the front lines of the battle against the deadly ravages of alcoholism. Finan has written an outstanding book that should take its place alongside the definitive texts detailing other medical and cultural issues in American society.”
—Lisa Smith, author of Girl Walks Out of a Bar

“Alcohol, prescription meds, marijuana: addiction has been a problem for centuries in America. But as Chris Finan’s inspiring book chronicles, people helping people is the solution. Millions of alcoholics and addicts are living sober lives. And so there is hope for those who are still suffering.”
—William C. Moyers, author of Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption and vice president at Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

Drunks

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By Christopher Finan

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