Introduction

The following articles are selected from the papers presented at the International Congress on the Social History of Alcohol in 1993. In their focus either on drinking practices or on social responses to drinking, they exemplify the primary concerns of alcohol history. Approaches are often interdisciplinary, exploiting new types of sources such as material culture and oral history as well as exploring new uses of traditional documentary sources. These studies invite comparison among the experiences with alcohol of various societies and suggest the utility for social historians of examining international discourses over the use and governance of a set of substances persistently intertwined in human affairs.Les articles suivants ont été choisis parmi ceux qui ont été présentés à l'occasion du International Congress on the Social History of Alcohol, en 1993. Ils portent sur les habitudes de consommation d'alcool ou les réactions de la société face à la consommation d'alcool et illustrent ainsi les principales préoccupations de l'histoire de l'alcool. Les auteurs adoptent souvent une démarche pluridisciplinaire et exploitent de nouvelles sources, telles que la culture matérielle et l'histoire orale, et examinent de nouvelles façons d'utiliser les sources documentaires traditionnelles. Ces études incitent à comparer les expériences vécues par diverses sociétés au chapitre de l'alcool et démontrent l'utilité pour l'historien social d'étudier les traités internationaux sur la consommation et la gestion de substances qui ont toujours été intimement liées à la vie des hommes

Did Prohibition Really Work? Alcohol Prohibition as a Public Health Innovation

The conventional view that National Prohibition failed rests upon an historically flimsy base. The successful campaign to enact National Prohibition was the fruit of a century-long temperance campaign, experience of which led prohibitionists to conclude that a nationwide ban on alcohol was the most promising of the many strategies tried thus far. A sharp rise in consumption during the early 20th century seemed to confirm the bankruptcy of alternative alcohol-control programs. The stringent prohibition imposed by the Volstead Act, however, represented a more drastic action than many Americans expected. Nevertheless, National Prohibition succeeded both in lowering consumption and in retaining political support until the onset of the Great Depression altered voters’ priorities. Repeal resulted more from this contextual shift than from characteristics of the innovation itself