| Author | Finan, Christopher M., 1953-
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| Title | Drunks : an American history / Christopher M. Finan.
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| Published | Boston : Beacon Press, c2017.
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| Description | 326 pages, [8] pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
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| ISBN | 9780807001790 |
| ISBN | 0807001791 |
| Bib. Note | Includes bibliographical references (pages 292-311) and index.
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| Formatted Note | Contents: Mountain of bones -- Out of the gutter -- Discovery of the disease -- Search for higher power -- False dawn -- Two drunks -- The birth of Alcoholics Anonymous -- Rise of the sober drunk -- Boom and bust -- Waves of sobriety.
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| Summary Note | Summary: The author recounts the nation's history with alcohol and its search for sobriety, which began among Native Americans in the colonial period when liquor was used to cheat them of their property. He introduces us to the first of a colorful cast of characters, a remarkable Iroquois leader named Handsome Lake, who dedicated his life to helping his people renounce hard liquor. And we meet Carrie Nation, the wife of an alcoholic who destroyed bars with an ax in her anger over what alcohol had done to her family, as well as the idealistic and energetic Washingtonians, reformed drunks who led the first national movement to save men like themselves. Also included is the dramatic story of Bill Wilson and Dr. Bob Smith, the two drunks who helped each other stay sober and then created AA, which survived its tumultuous early years and has made it possible for millions of men and women to quit drinking.
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| Subjects | Alcoholics -- Rehabilitation -- United States -- History.
Alcoholics -- United States -- History.
Alcoholism -- Treatment -- United States -- History.
Alcoholism -- United States -- History.
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| LC Card Number | 2016-48807 |
| Call Number/Copies | |
| | WRHS Research Library: HV 5292 F491 2017
CA-2005717: LC class, closed stacks [status: NON-CIRCULATING] |
| [Record 139894] |
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