A SHORT HISTORY OF DRUNKENNESS
Viking, 256pp, £12.99, Oldie price £7.96 inc p&p ‘My favourite book of this and possibly any other Christmas,’ declared Marcus Berkmann in the
Spectator. He had already reviewed it for the Daily Mail: ‘Sometimes you see a book title that simply gladdens the heart. Everyone I showed this book to either smiled broadly or laughed out loud… This is a book of some brilliance – probably best consumed with a restorative glass of something by your side.’
From our primate ancestors to Prohibition in early 20th-century America and beyond, drunkenness and attitudes towards it have varied enormously in practically every age and human culture. ‘This entertaining study of drunkenness makes for a racy sprint through human history,’ wrote Christopher Hart in the Sunday
Times. The ‘heart of Forsyth’s thesis’ is that ‘drunkenness hasn’t been pursued by mankind merely for pleasure or escapism, but also for authentic spiritual insight… It is this, often thought-provoking angle on the subject that makes Forsyth’s account something more than just a jolly romp through the ages, with a focus on how often alcohol and religious feeling go together.’
Hart continued: ‘Forsyth struggles to maintain his jaunty tone when evoking the horrors of the 18thcentury gin craze, though, after which the high-minded teetotalism of the Methodists and the Victorians comes as a relief.’
Oldie editor Harry Mount was another enthusiast: ‘As Mark Forsyth brilliantly shows, civilisation is built on booze. Egypt (beer), Greece and Rome (wine) depended on alcohol to create their mighty works. Where man drinks, he prospers, and vice versa.’ The Mail
on Sunday’s Craig Brown liked the fact that ‘Forsyth’s jokes are snappy and well delivered’ and that ‘unlike most comical writers he never falls into the trap of confusing longwindedness with irony’.