>I think it's an interesting idea and from my research 1970 is an especially
>appropriate year.  Throughout the 1960s, sociologists, following the Howard
>Becker theory of social deviance, began to go into the ghettos and ask heroin
>addicts how <they> perceived their life.  Ron Roizen quite correctly notes
>Spradley's <You Owe Yourself A Drunk> for alcoholics but there were even
>earlier studies of opiate addicts: Isidor Chien, et. al's <The Road to H>
>(1964); Allan Sutter's "The World of the Righteous Dope Fiend" (1966); Edward
>Preble and John Casey's "Taking Care of Business: The Heroin User's Life in
>the Street" (1969).  Another significant contribution forcing Americans to
>look at addiction as something that happens to real people was Claude Brown's
>eloquent autobiography <Manchild in the Promised Land> (1965).  A little bit
>later (1974) was Robert Straus' amazing <Escape Into Custody> on
>institutionalization and alcoholism.  From my perspective, these works
>represents a symbolic end to an era of dehumanization and provides the real
>possibility of asking the types of questions your conference is seeking to
>ask.
Best of luck.
 
 
 
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender:       Alcohol and Temperance History Group <[log in to unmask]>
>Poster:       "<[log in to unmask]>"
>              <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:      1970/1995/2020
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>I'm doing a teaching session soon where I'm going to ask participants
>(mainly drug/alcohol clinicians/researchers/planners) to look back to 1970
>(approx.) and identify significant events/trends in the D&A field (and
>society at large), then to put a 1995 perspective on them - wisdom in
>hindsight etc.
>Then jump to 2020, speculate about what's happening then, then try to get
>some 2020 hindsight on 1995).
>I'd welcome any ideas about:
>1. What was really important c.1970 (e.g. Vietnam, the U.S. Controlled
>Substances Act...)
>2. What might be happening in 2020
>3. How 1995 will look from 2020.
>All contributions welcome!
>
>Melissa Raven
>National Centre for Education & Training on Addiction [NCETA]
>Flinders University BEDFORD PARK  SA  5042 AUSTRALIA
>Telephone  61(0)8 201 7557 Fax  61(0)8 201 7550
>Email  [log in to unmask]
 
Mark C. Smith
University of Texas at Austin