Warsh, Cheryl Krasnick

English

Histoire sociale / Social History (E-Journal, York University)

                         ÉTUDE CRITIQUE / REVIEW ESSAYAlcohol and TemperanceCHERYL KRASNICK WARSH*Emmanuel Akyeampong  Drink, Power and Cultural Change: A SocialHistory of Alcohol in Ghana, c. 1800 to Recent Times. Portsmouth, N.H.:Heinemann, 1996. Pp. xxiii, 189, illustrations, maps, notes, index, bibli-ography.Sharon Anne Cook  “Through Sunshine and Shadow”: The Woman’sChristian Temperance Union, Evangelicalism, and Reform in Ontario,1874–1930. Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1993. Pp. xi,281, illustrations, appendix, notes, index, bibliography.David M. Fahey  Temperance and Racism: John Bull, Johnny Reb, andthe Good Templars. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1996. Pp.xii, 209, illustrations, appendices, notes, index.David W. Gutzke, comp.  Alcohol in the British Isles from Roman Times to1996: An Annotated Bibliography. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood, 1996.Pp. xvii, 266, index.IN ALCOHOL in the British Isles from Roman Times to 1996: An AnnotatedBibliography, David Gutzke has compiled a very informative overview forscholars. As he states in the introduction, the text is the first comprehensivelist of historical studies on alcohol, and the first to annotate critically theirtheses (p. ix). He cites not simply the work of historians, but that of sociol-ogists, anthropologists, architects, archaeologists, political scientists, geog-raphers, and economists. He references nearly 2,200 entries, mostlysecondary sources. His subjects range from Brewing Ingredients to Con-sumption Trends, Science and Technology to Inn Signs and Temperance,with specialized headings for Beer, Whisky, Wine, and Cider. The entries areexhaustive, from A Directory of Aston Pubs and their Licensees to Ether* Cheryl Krasnick Warsh is a member of the History Department of Malaspina University College inNanaimo, British Columbia.104 Histoire sociale / Social HistoryDrinking in Ulster and Drinking with Pepys, but also include seminalworks such as Peter Mathiass The Brewing Industry in England, 1700–1830. The annotations are predominantly pithy, useful, and occasionallyentertaining. Under the topic Biographies, Autobiographies and Memoirs:Publicans, we learn of the colorful but snobbish Oxford-based JohnFothergill; Norman Balon, the Jewish publican to the theatre crowd whoselegendary rudeness made him the Fothergill of London; and Thomas Lay-ton, the updated, less obnoxious version of John Fothergill, insensitive andshort-tempered. We also learn that Lady Astor, despite four entries underher name, could use a good biography.Social historians will encounter a methodological weakness. It is unclearwhat constitutes Social History, and the titles scope is misleading. Itappears to refer to women, labour, and popular culture, but all of these topicshave been included under other subject headings. Furthermore, the lack of acategory termed Women is puzzling (Women is an entry in the index).Several entries can be found under  Pubs, Inn and Beerhouses as well asunder Regulation, Crime and Medicine. These minor reservations aside,Alcohol in the British Isles will be a welcome resource to researchers ofdrink, British history, and popular culture.Sharon Anne Cooks “Through Sunshine and Shadow”: The Woman’sChristian Temperance Union, Evangelicalism, and Reform in Ontario,1874–1930 fulfils the worst fears of the temperance advocates: a little tasteleaves the imbiber wanting more. Cooks argument is that the culture characterizing the women of the Ontario WCTU in the late 19thand early 20th centuries was based on an evangelical vision for society, whichin turn created a liberated climate for women that some scholars have termedevangelical feminism. It was evangelicalisms emancipating theology thatoriginally empowered women and caused them to approach temperance as amoral and religious issue, not simply a social one. (p. 7)Where the text is strong, it is very strong. The first chapter provides a veryuseful and succinct summary of evangelical thought, and Cooks commentson education are interesting, reflecting her own background in education, butfrustratingly few. Her discussion of the Young WCTU is thoughtful and ani-mated. Cooks sources  minute books of individual rural, town, and urbanWCTU unions  display the common strengths and weaknesses of suchmaterial. They are strong on administrative detail yet repetitive, are con-sciously formal, and require extensive contextual analysis for the purposesof social history. The statement, for example, that an alcoholic woman sentto the YWCTU Friendless Home and greatly concerned about the fate of herchildren was an unworthy mother is presented without comment (p. 163),yet it begs gender analysis. Furthermore, the testimonial and sentimentalrhetoric of evangelicalism is evident in the minutes but not always helpful tothe historian. The morality tales and inspirational songs scattered throughoutÉtude Critique / Review Essay 105the text add little after the first few. The logic of the division of chapters isnot always clear and reflects the limited nature of the sources. For instance,the chapters on Ideas and Strategies tend to be repetitive and the distinctionsforced. Why were the Social Purity, Education, and Dress Reform cam-paigns not discussed as units?Cook describes temperance lodge life, differentiating it from the fraterni-ties of the time, which favoured ritualism. Perhaps the women avoided ritu-als because they were attempting to appear businesslike; also, comparativemedieval ritualistic imagery of women as serving wenches or princesses inthe towers was unlikely to be appropriate for fledgling feminist organiza-tions. The insistence that temperance leader Lady Henry Somerset never beidentified with a first name of her own is a minor quibble. Cooks criticalcomments concerning other historians interrupt the flow of the text andshould have been in the introduction, but this too is a minor complaint.“Through Sunshine and Shadow” is a useful contribution to the fields ofCanadian temperance and womens history.David M. Faheys Temperance and Racism: John Bull, Johnny Reb, andthe Good Templars examines the Independent Order of Good Templars, aninternational fraternal temperance society which provides a new perspec-tive for investigating racism in North America and transatlantic racial atti-tudes after the Civil War (p. 1). Based upon the Proceedings of the IOGTsGrand Lodges (international conferences), Temperance and Racism doesprovide fascinating insights into the empire-building ambitions and bitterpolitics of the organizations leadership. Faheys study reveals the validity ofthe theory that the male struggle for bourgeois status necessitated the elbow-ing out of women and non-whites, and his international perspective  therewere Good Templar lodges in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and Hawaiias well as the United States and Great Britain  demonstrates regional vari-ations in this struggle. Women in the IOGT were elected to higher offices,but not the highest, and were relegated to supervising childrens lodges insome jurisdictions, but the British were most reluctant to allow female lodgeleaders.The pivotal event in Faheys book was the Great Schism of 1876 to 1887,which was the culmination of years of conflict over the admissibility andstatus of black lodges. The Kentucky Grand Lodge, headed by John Hick-man and allied with the Canadian leadership, called for a separate black fra-ternal temperance society to avoid the de facto integration of southern U.S.lodges. This prospect, along with the Templars identification with prohibi-tion and the northern womens rights movement, rendered it difficult toattract white male members in the reconstruction southern states. The Hick-manites were opposed by the British Templars, led by Joseph Malins, whowanted racial equality; along with being a laudable ideal, this stance was farless controversial in Britains industrial cities. The Malinites also were sup-ported in the northeastern United States, particularly the abolitionist strong-hold of Boston.106 Histoire sociale / Social HistoryFahey writes a moving chapter on the black Templars: their commitmentto sustaining lodges amidst grinding poverty and illiteracy and their exulta-tion at interracial comradeship at the Grand Lodges. Another article remainsto be written on the Canadian leader, Oronhyatekha, an Ontario Mohawkand a physician who supported the southern lodges and refused to sit for aphotograph with a black leader. Faheys coy question  was he a racist? is not the interesting one. Rather, a more complex enquiry would be whataspects of Oronhyatekhas struggle for bourgeois status in racist Canadawere reflected in his subsequent attitudes and behaviour. If the WCTU soci-ety records are sweetened with the cordial of evangelicalism, the Good Tem-plar papers are soured (but in a lively way)  by self-righteous machismo andpersonal attacks of the lowest nature. However tempting it might be toexplain the differences by reference to gender or religiosity, the spectre ofthe bleeding wounds of the Civil War, reflected in segregation and battles ofwords instead of bullets, cannot be ignored. The narrative in Temperanceand Racism occasionally gets lost in the morass of details regarding votes,lodges, and dates, and a few too many references are made to the GreatSchism, but this is an important book, crossing the disciplines of temper-ance, class, and gender studies.We have to go beyond Great Britain and North America to examine one ofthe most structurally imaginative recent works, Emmanuel AkyeampongsDrink, Power and Cultural Change: A Social History of Alcohol in Ghana,c. 1800 to Recent Times. Akyeampong successfully integrates both anthro-pology and politics in his study of the meaning of alcohol in Ghanaian soci-ety from its ancient roots to the post-colonial period. He states that withpolitical authoritarianism and economic decline in independent Ghana, alco-hol remained a symbol of protest while offering an exit option (p. xv).Akyeampong relates the ritualistic significance of  fluids such as water (rep-resenting purity and the spirit of the Supreme Being) and blood (representingfertility and power); alcohol served as a bridge with both elements, specifi-cally as a facilitator of communication between the spiritual and physicalworlds. In Ghanaian society, alcohol was linked to power due to its values asa cultural artifact, a ritual object, an economic good, and a social marker(p. 14). Male elders attempted to control the use of wine to preserve itssacred links but also their authority over younger men and all women. Dur-ing the colonial period, with the growth of towns and alternative economicopportunities, young men and women travelled to the towns, got drunk, andno longer were deferent to their elders. The chiefs joined the Christian mis-sionaries in utilizing Victorian temperance strategies to take back their tradi-tional authority. Akyeampong renders his social control argument withclarity and logic. Drink, Power and Cultural Change is highly recommendedfor its cross-disciplinary insights.

Alcohol and Temperance

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Alcohol and Temperance

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Histoire sociale / Social History (E-Journal, York University)