That reminds me, what about Martha Grimes' crime series?  Each one is named
after a pub in England, and the story, in part, revolves around interactions
in the pubs.

Gretchen

On Wed, Feb 25, 2009 at 2:51 PM, Dubiel, Rich <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>  All:
>
> Detective heroes who are recovering alcoholics (and members of AA):
> Lawrence Block has the main character Matt Scudder and James Lee Burke has
> Dave Robicheaux. Both are prolific authors. Block’s *When the Sacred Gin
> Mill Closes* sets the stage for Matt Scudder’s joining AA and getting
> sober. But before the end of the book he really hammers ‘em back.
>
>
>
>  (I have a paper on these two characters on my UWSP Web page.)
>
> Univ. of Wisconsin –Stevens Point
>
> http://www.uwsp.edu/comm/faculty/rdubiel/index.shtm
>
>
>
> Rich Dubiel
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> *From:* Alcohol and Drugs Historhttp://
> www.uwsp.edu/comm/faculty/rdubiel/index.shtmy Society [mailto:
> [log in to unmask]] *On Behalf Of *Dan Malleck
> *Sent:* Tuesday, February 24, 2009 8:51 AM
> *To:* [log in to unmask]
> *Subject:* Re: Under the Literary Influence
>
>
>
> Being terribly neurotic, I try to steer clear of blatantly alcohol and drug
> related literature for my personal reading.
>
> Nevertheless, there is a section of Ann-Marie Macdonald's *Fall on your
> knees* (1997) that is particularly memorable for me.  The book is an epic
> story about a poor family in Nova Scotia, beginning in the early part of the
> 20th century.  For one section, a young girl in the family becomes an
> entertainer at a backwoods blind pig during prohibition.  Macdonald's
> ability to describe what seemed to me to be a likely much more realistic
> impression of the rough backwoods illegal drinking space altered my
> perception of illegal drinking during prohibition.  Later the story moves to
> Harlem during the 20s and 30s, but the blind pig is my favourite bit.
>
> She's a brilliant writer in any case, but this is especially evocative for
> those of us who are preoccupied, one way or another (or in many ways), with
> alcohol and drugs.
>
> Dan Malleck
>
>
> At 05:09 PM 2/21/2009, Bradley Kadel wrote:
>
>  Given our round table last month on writers and alcohol, I thought the
> following from Brian McDonald<http://proof.blogs.nytimes.com/author/brian-mcdonald/>might be of particular interest.  Be sure to look at the comments, for
> you'll find many more suggestions of titles wherein alcohol plays a
> prominent role, as the author's trusty muse or the subject for exploration
> through characters and places.
>
>  http://proof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/under-the-literary-influence/?emc=eta1http://proof.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/under-the-literary-influence/?emc=eta1
>
> Would it be too much to ask list members for their own favorite authors and
> titles?
>
> For my part, I don't think anyone in the twentieth century described gritty
> barroom intoxication better than James Farrell, especially in the last
> volume of his Studs Lonnigan trilogy. Of course Farrell's writing is quite
> dark, and certainly the tone of most writers describing drunkenness shifts
> considerably by the early 1960s. Ideas?
>
> Brad Kadel
> Fayetteville State University
>
> *************************************************
>
> A writer, I think, is someone who pays attention to the world. That means
> trying to understand, take in, connect with, what wickedness human beings
> are capable of; and not be corrupted - made cynical, superficial - by this
> understanding.
>
> Literature can tell us what the world is like.
>
> Literature can give us standards and pass on deep knowledge, incarnated in
> language, in narrative.
>
> Literature can train, and exercise, our ability to weep for those who are
> not us or ours.
>
>
> From Susan Sontag's acceptance speech on the occasion of being awarded the
> Friedenspreis des Deutschen Buchhandels,
> the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade.
>
>
>
>
>
> Dan Malleck, PhD
> Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
> Editor-in-chief, *Social History of Alcohol and Drugs: An
> Interdisciplinary Journal*
> http://historyofalcoholanddrugs.typepad.com
>
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>



-- 
Gretchen Pierce, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor
Latin American History
Northern Illinois University