As an American who writes mostly about the United Kingdom I have been
perplexed by a contrast in historical scholarship.  For the USA there is an
extensive and lively literature on the temperance movement but relatively
little on the alcoholic drinks industry (with the interesting exception of
city-focused histories of defunct breweries).  For the UK there is a
moderately extensive and fairly lively literature on the alcoholic drinks
industries (including innumerable semi-antiquarian pamphlets on local pubs)
but relatively little on the temperance movement since the publication of
Brian Harrison's big book in 1971.  Most of what has been published in the
last thirty years on UK temperance has been by Americans, Australians,
Canadians, and British emigrants.  The UK temperance movement did not come
remotely close to matching the American success in enacting legislation,
while the American saloon never was romanticized like the English
pub.  Despite these obvious differences, I am--as I already have
mentioned--perplexed by the degree of contrast in published historical
scholarship.  Any suggestions?

David M. Fahey, Miami University, Oxford, Ohio, USA <[log in to unmask]>