Olsen, Gerald Wayne

English

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

200 mSTOIRE SOCIALE - SOCIAL mSTORYChapter 9 is a brief conclusion to the book in which he recapitulates his themesof religious diversity and complex evolution of Catholicism.Gibson includes in his book sorne valuable aids to the study of nineteenth-century Catholicism: a bibliography of 100 titles, 30 pages of notes, six maps(e.g. French dioceses in 18608 and the Boulard map of Catholic practiee post-WorldWar il), and several charts (e.g. Easter Communion and Boulard's graph of ordina-tions to priesthood). A minor criticism 1have is the absence ofa list of tables includedin the book, especia11y for Chapters 4 and 6.As 1have tried to indicate, Gibson provides much food for thought in this book.He covers a broad topie and indicates potential areas for research. For example, hepoints out that there are "only five available diocesan studies of recruitment of theregular clergy" (114) and acknowledges, "no work exists to show that Marian devotionappealed more to one sex than to the other" (153).This book is a wonderful addition to the study of nineteenth-century FrenchCatholicism. Gibson bas a mastery of current historical research and clearly syn-thesizes and analyzes evidence on attitudes and behaviors of Catholic men andwomen.M. Patricia Dougherty, O.P.Dominican College ofSan Rafael***David W. Gutzke - Protecting the Pub: Brewers and Publicans AgainstTemperance. London: The Royal Historical Society, 1989.The pub, the focus of this book, is, with the home and the parish, the oldest andmost durable and one of the most beloved of Bristish local institutions. During theVietorian and Edwardian periods, the era which Gutzke examines, the pub's veryexistence was threatened by temperance movement, an amalgam of Evangelical andutilitarian, puritan and melioristic currents. Temperance reformers blamed theirfailure to destroy the pub, or at least to diminish greatly the role it played, on thesuccessful efforts or brewers and publicans, the hated "trade", to protect their invest-ments. Gutzke's book is the latest and one of the most important contributions to adebate among historians about the validity of this assessmentAt least since 1936, when R.C.K. Ensor, in his volume of the O;4ord History ofEngland (England 1870-1914), described "nearly every public-house in the UnitedKindom" from 1871 to 1874 as "an active committee room for the conservative party"(21), historians have attempted to measure the political influence of the British liquortrade. Recently, detailed and perceptive studies of the temperance movement initiatedby Brian Harrison's seminal Drink and the Victorians: The Temperance Question inEngland, 1815-1872 (London, 1971); and continued in A.E. Dingle's The Campaignfor Prohibition in Victorian England (New Brunswick, New Jersey, 1980); LilianShiman's Crusade AgainstDrink in Victorian England (New York, 1988); and articlesin several journals (including this one) by David Fahey bave introduced a revisionistinterpretation of relations between British political parties, on the one hand, andCOMPTES RENDUS - BOOK REVIEWS 201conflicting drink and temperance interests, on the other. They generally see Ensor'sview as exaggerating both politica1 influence of the drink trade and its overlyexclusive connection with Conservative party; or they concentrate more on theprohibitionists, United Kingdom Alliance and other political temperance activists.Gutzke's book, the first to present statistical and anecdotal evidence based on athorough examination of the extensive records of defence organizations mounted bybrewers and publicans to save the pub, steers a middle course between traditional andrevisionist views - between the judgment of Ensor and pre-World War 1temperanceenthusiasts that the trade exerted such great political power that it was able to defeatlegislative attacks on demon drink and the contrary interpretation that the influenceof the trade has been largely exaggerated, as compared with formidable foes such asthe United Kingdom Alliance and its allies.Agreeing to sorne extent with the revisionist interpretation, Gutzke notes theregionalism, intemecine rivalries and poor organization from which liquor tradepressure groups suffered, especially before 1890, as well as the refusal of sornepoliticians, despite investrrients in the liquor trade, to sever altogether traditionallinkswith the Liberal party. London and regional brewers resisted the growingpredominance ofcompetitors from Burton-upon-Trent; publicans, increasingly "tied"by financing arrangements to exclusive use of the products of particular companies,took different positions than the brewers on such political questions as the sale ofliquor in grocery stores and in clubs; and the approach of the trade defence organiza-tions was often amateurish and under-financed.Having admitted the validity of sorne revisionist arguments, Gutzke, nonethe-less, cautions against accepting a "new myth of a continuously beleaguered trade",maintaining that "at sorne points, the trade's organizations, funds and allies ensureddominance over its opponents" (230). In the comprehensive approach, which is oneof this book's most valuable characteristics, Gutzke concludes that the "influence ofthe trade, far from being static, thus fluctuated within the changing, political,economic and social context" (230). Especially after 1890, fewer Liberals could befound willing to support the liquor interests, leaving the task to Conservatives; thetrade, by that time, had become somewhat better organized and (contradictingrevisionist interpretations) trade defence funds fmally exceeded those of the UnitedKingdom Alliance.The many historians and scholars from a wide range of other disciplinesworking in the expanding field of drink and temperance will express their ownconcurrence and reservations concerning this book. As a student of the relationshipbetween the British pub and the prestigious Church of England Temperance Society,this reviewer would take exception to Gutzke's statement, which reflects the inter-pretations of several historians of anti-drink movements, that the C.E.T.S. was "politi-cally less important" than other temperance organizations (54). The political influenceof the C.E.T.S. has been under-estimated because more attention has been paid to themore innovative and radical prohibitionist United Kingdom Alliance, financed andoperated as it was much like a modem pressure group, and to the Liberal Party withwhich it was closely allied from about 1883 to 1895. The prohibitionist aims of theAlliance were, however, never enacted and this was in great part because of theopposition of high-placed associates of the Church of England Temperance Society.The political approach to the licensing question after the failure of prohibition was202 mSTOIRE SOCIALE - SOCIAL mSTORYshaped by the Peel Commision (the Royal Commision on Liquor Licensing Laws,1896-1899), which was largely conducted and implemented by C.E.T.S. sympathizers,in co-operation with progressive elements from the liquor trade and more flexibleConservatives.No one working in this area, however, can deny the great value of this book inunderstanding the durability of the pub, the nature of the temperance movement'sattacks on it and the success of the trade's efforts to save it. Social, political andbusiness historians in other fields can also learn much from this highly recommendedwork.Gerald Wayne OIsenNipissing University College***Serge Laurio - Histoire des Laurentides, Québec, Institut québécois de recherche surla culture, 1989,892 p.C'est le troisième et plus récent volume de la collection Histoire des Régionsdu Québec. Il a demandé plus de six années de travail à son auteur qui a pu comptersur la collaboration des chercheurs de l'Institut québécois de recherche sur la culture,de ses collègues du Cégep de Saint-Jérôme, des membres de plusieurs sociétéshistoriques locales, des archivistes des évêchés de Saint-Jérôme et de Mont-Laurier.Un anthropologue et un géographe ont également participé à la rédaction. de ceremarquable ouvrage de près de 900 pages.La première partie - il Yen a quatre de longueur inégale - est en fait une sorted'introduction. Le premier chapitre présente, en effet, le cadre spatial. Il est signé parle géographe Gilles Boileau, de l'Université de Montréal. Ses dix-neuf pages sontessentielles pour la compréhension de l'ouvrage; elles sont très denses et rendenthommage non seulement aux premiers géographes scientifiques de la région, maisaussi à l'illustre ministre de la colonisation, signataire d'un important rapport daté de1888, Antoine Labelle, curé de Saint-Jérôme. Suit un chapitre qui fait le point sur ceque nous connaissons de« l'occupation amérindienne».La seconde partie aborde la période qui va de 1673 à 1850. Les Basses-Laurentides, seules habitées alors, sont étudiées sous les aspects démographique,économique et social; mais une place importante est accordée à la mise en œuvre durégime démocratique après 1790.Les Hautes-Laurentides font principalement l'objet de la troisième partie(1850-1920), leur développement suivant le dépeuplement (relatif) des Basses-Laurentides (chap. 7). Les chapitres 8 et 9 traitent bien de l'économie de cette époque,liée au développement des moyens de communication, de l'agriculture et principale-ment de l'exploitation forestière; et en toute fm de période, du tourisme. Le domainereligieux et l'organisation sociale (y compris l'extension du système scolaire et lesdéficiences des services de santé) sont aussi couverts de facon réaliste et objective. Lerôle de l'église catholique, en particulier, est bien mis en valeur.

David W. Gutzke - Protecting the Pub: Brewers and Publicans
Against Temperance

https://hssh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hssh/article/download/16462/15321

David W. Gutzke - Protecting the Pub: Brewers and Publicans Against Temperance

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

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