Drinking cultures : alcohol and identity /

This welcome addition to the small corpus of books that deal with alcohol consumption both cross-nationally and cross-culturally discusses the benefits as much as the harms that result from drinking. The editor's introduction neatly summarizes controversies that make such books important. Ethnographic case studies from around the world nicely demonstrate how drinking often relates to ethnicity, identity, and other sociocultural features that are important to individual adjustment. Topics include sociability, egalitarianism, national and ethnic identity, parties, changing patterns of wine drinking, and gang values; venues include rural Japan, urban Germany, the Czech Republic, Norway, Hong Kong, France, southeastern Mexico, Malta, the Basque country in Spain, and the urban US. The emphasis on social interaction assures that these essays will be of interest to not only anthropologists and those in alcohol studies, but also many social scientists who have never before focused on alcohol as a window on culture. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. All levels/libraries. D. B. Heath Brown University