Alcohol and Opium in the Old West

Use, Abuse and Influence

Jeremy Agnew (Autor)

Buch | Softcover

260 Seiten

2013
McFarland & Co Inc (Verlag)
978-0-7864-7629-9 (ISBN)

Artikel merken

This book explores the role and influence of drink and drugs (primarily opium) in the Old West, which for this book is considered to be America west of the Mississippi from the California gold rush of the 1840s to the closing of the Western Frontier in roughly 1900. This period was the first time in American history that heavy drinking and drug abuse became a major social concern.

Drinking was considered to be an accepted pursuit for men at the time. Smoking opium was considered to be deviant and associated with groups on the fringes of mainstream society, but opium use and addiction by women was commonplace. This book presents the background of both substances and how their use spread across the West, at first for medicinal purposes--but how overuse and abuse led to the Temperance Movement and eventually to National Prohibition. This book reports the historical reality of alcohol and opium use in the Old West without bias.

Jeremy Agnew, a biomedical electronics consultant, holds a Ph.D. in engineering and has been involved in the design and manufacture of medical devices for more than 30 years. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and has written several books on the Old West.

Table of Contents

Preface

Timeline

One. The Demon Rum and Other Drinks of Choice

Two. The Convoluted History of Opium

Three. A Motley Mix of Indigenous Brews

Four. Medical Use of Opium and Alcohol

Five. “Those Heathen Chinee”

Six. Boozers, Users and Abusers

Seven. Saloons and Other Parlors of Iniquity

Eight. Opium Dens

Nine. The Horrors of Addiction

Ten. Inebriety

Eleven. The Pathway to Prohibition

Postscript

Appendix I. Apothecaries’ Weights and Measures

Appendix II. Common 19th Century Medicines

Chapter Notes

Bibliography

Index

Zusatzinfo	42 photos, appendices, notes, bibliography, index
Verlagsort	Jefferson, NC
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	358 g
Themenwelt	Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► Regional- / Landesgeschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
	Geisteswissenschaften ► Psychologie ► Sucht / Drogen
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
ISBN-10	0-7864-7629-X / 078647629X
ISBN-13	978-0-7864-7629-9 / 9780786476299
Zustand	Neuware