(1) I suspect historians may have some reservations about it, but for an ambitious synthetic effort take a look at Mariana Valverde, Diseases of the Will: Alcohol and the Dilemmas of Freedom, Cambridge University Press, 1998.
 (2)   As an overview of its territory, it seems to me hard to beat Blocker's American Temperance Movements: Cycles of Reform.
 (3)   For a good discussion which argues that the positive side of drinking is intrinsically bound up with the negative, see later chapters of:
    Juha Partanen, Sociability and Intoxication: Alcohol and Drinking in Kenya, Africa, and the Modern World.  Helsinki: Finnish Foundation for Alcohol Studies, vol. 39, 1991. (I think still distributed in US by Rutgers Center for Alcohol Studies).  
    As the title suggests, this is in a context of a review of the cultural history and position of drinking in sub-Saharan Africa.  Robin Room
 
-----Original Message-----
From: Frederick H. Smith <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: den 11 september 1999 22:48
Subject: Re: course on alcohol


>In response to Dan Malleck's request:
>        I'm currently teaching a course "A cultural history of alcohol" in
>the Honors department at the University of Florida. The course combines
>anthropological and historical approaches to drinking. Emphasis is on
>traditional uses of alcohol in the developing world. Geoffrey Giles'
>"Alcohol in history" course provided a good foundation and would be an
>excellent model for any social history of alcohol course. So far, the
>cross-cultural perspective has been well received. Although we have not yet
>reached the week, Emmanuel Akyeampong's recent social history of drink in
>Ghana has already generated some good discussion outside of class. I have
>also received positive feedback from students about W. Taylor's Drink,
>homocide... and M. Powers Faces along the bar. Many of the readings are
>articles from Barrows and Room (unfortunately out-of-print), as well as the
>readers from M. Marshall (1979) and M. Everett, J. Waddell, and D. Heath
>(1976). The students in the Honors program are at an advanced academic
>level and preliminary responses suggest they have embraced the broad
>cross-cultural perspective. They are using this course as an opportunity to
>explore a broad range of cultural ideas and to examine non-western uses of
>alcohol traditionally overlooked.
>
>                                                        Frederick H. Smith
>
>
>
>
>>I'm proposing a course on the history of alcohol, broadly construed (I'll
>>narrow it down soon enough) and am looking for decent general histories, or
>>collections.  I know of "The changing face of drink" and earlier
>>collections ("Alcohol, Reform and Society" for example.. part of my
>>personal Jack Blocker library!) but could use a few more suggestions...
>>especially something that is accessible for non-historians.
>>
>>The course I'm proposing is for general students, but especially students
>>of viticulture, so wine history would also be useful.
>>
>>I know similar questions have been asked of this list before, but they were
>>a while back, and new material might be available (for example, I seem to
>>recall Rod Phillips was talking about developing such a course or text a
>>few months ago).  So any suggestions will be appreciated.
>>
>>Cheers.
>>
>>Dan Malleck
>>================================================================
>>[log in to unmask]
>>
>>"It is not because things are difficult that we do not try them, it is
>>because we do not try them that they are difficult."  --Seneca
>
>
>Frederick H. Smith
>University of Florida
>Department of Anthropology
>1116 Turlington Hall
>Gainesville, Fl 32611
>[log in to unmask]