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A Short History of Drunkenness
- How, Why, Where, and When Humankind Has Gotten Merry from the Stone Age to the Present
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 5 hrs and 34 mins
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Publisher's Summary
From the internationally best-selling author of The Etymologicon, a lively and fascinating exploration of how, throughout history, each civilization has found a way to celebrate, or to control, the eternal human drive to get sloshed
Almost every culture on Earth has drink, and where there's drink there's drunkenness. But in every age and in every place drunkenness is a little bit different. It can be religious, it can be sexual, it can be the duty of kings or the relief of peasants. It can be an offering to the ancestors, or a way of marking the end of a day's work. It can send you to sleep, or send you into battle.
Making stops all over the world, A Short History of Drunkenness traces humankind's love affair with booze from our primate ancestors through to the 20th century, answering every possible question along the way: What did people drink? How much? Who did the drinking? Of the many possible reasons, why? On the way, learn about the Neolithic Shamans, who drank to communicate with the spirit world (no pun intended), marvel at how Greeks got giddy and Sumerians got sauced, and find out how bars in the Wild West were never quite like in the movies.
This is a history of the world at its inebriated best.
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What listeners say about A Short History of Drunkenness
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Performance
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- Ryan L. Waggoner
- 02-03-23
Wow!!
Mixing this material and humor with Simon Vance’s narration is better than a well-made Manhattan!
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- alionkinkead
- 12-30-21
Fun, informative & interesting
This book was a lot of fun! Fascinatingly educational with lots of humor sprinkled in. Perfect for a history buff with a taste for a good cocktail.
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- Farmers daughter
- 09-24-21
Informative and fun
It was informative and fun.
I love culture difference and similarities, and this highlights some of those.
the narrative was also very expressive
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- Anonymous User
- 04-24-21
in the 'spirt' of this novel It made me want to dr
I read this novel over a period of 2 day, so for my college I currently had to take a general educations credit so I chose to take the course regarding the archeology of beer. as someone who now has an extensive knowledge of the antient pasts of beer I found that I had a lot of respect for this authors attempt to write such an extensive history in such a short form novel. however I also found that a bit more information on actual methods used to brew some of the first beer or alcohols would have supplied the reader with some genuinely interesting information and would have been a much welcomed addition.... Now for the bad, there are so many joke in this novel, I was hoping to have a semi serious novel on the topic of alchols history, but after the 20th joke regarding "ohh drunk people forget because their drunk" it really wears you down. I think it definitely can leave the reader exhausted if it is read over a short period of time, and is definitely a book which should be read over a month not over a few days. Second bad part. Honestly I think this novel may win the award for worst ISIS name drop. Why did the author feel the need to drop an ISIS joke that completely draws the reader out, while also being in horrible taste. Watch out for that' joke' in the Egypt section, even the narrator lowers his voice and barley speaks the joke its so bad. Besides my gripe with the absolute magnitude of jokes and 1 horrible joke it was a good read and I may recommend it to someone who finds drunk and debauchery hilarious
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- Americana
- 04-13-21
Double Whammy!
Awesome author, Awesome narrator, Awesome content...
Win, win!
Listen to this audiobook. Highly recommend this to anyone looking for a humorous, honest and lighthearted listen.
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- Jeffrey
- 01-05-21
Another triumph by Mark Forsyth!
Following the amazingly wonderful "Entymologicon", Forsyth's "A Short History of Drunkeness" is a witty and deliciously entertaining and informative romp through the history of Drinking and the role of drinking throughout history! Simon Vance's velvety narration is spot-on for the material. While perfect in it's length, the reader cannot but lament coming to the end of the fun. The good news is that this audiobook holds up remarkably well for repeated listenings. A must for any audiobook library.
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- MaryClare
- 07-25-20
Great history, brilliant narrator!
I loved this book! The history is not in depth, but that’s not the point. The writing is lively and hilarious, and Simon Vance absolutely nails the narration.
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- Alec Hankins
- 01-23-20
Absolutely hilarious. Smart and funny.
Thoroughly amusing and well researched book. Loved it. Recommend it widely. The narrator does an excellent job delivering the humor, too.
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- MW
- 11-13-19
Forsyth never disappoints
I have all of his books and will buy anything he writes! worth a listen
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- Ambariffic
- 12-17-18
Humorous and interesting!
I'm a fan of Forsyth's other books, and A Short History of Drunkenness does not disappoint!
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By: Robert Evans
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The Horologicon
- A Day's Jaunt Through the Lost Words of the English Language
- By: Mark Forsyth
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 6 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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The Horologicon (or book of hours) contains the most extraordinary words in the English language, arranged according to what hour of the day you might need them. From Mark Forsyth, the author of the number-one international best seller The Etymologicon comes an audiobook of weird words for familiar situations. From ante-jentacular to snudge by way of quafftide and wamblecropt, at last you can say, with utter accuracy, exactly what you mean.
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So nerdy!
- By Carrie on 04-02-17
By: Mark Forsyth
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The Etymologicon
- A Circular Stroll Through the Hidden Connections of the English Language
- By: Mark Forsyth
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 7 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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The Etymologicon is a completely unauthorized guide to the strange underpinnings of the English language. It explains: How you get from “gruntled” to “disgruntled”; why you are absolutely right to believe that your meager salary barely covers “money for salt”; how the biggest chain of coffee shops in the world (hint: Seattle) connects to whaling in Nantucket; and what precisely the Rolling Stones have to do with gardening.
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Maddening! Does not work as an audiobook!
- By James on 01-05-16
By: Mark Forsyth
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The Time Traveller's Guide to Medieval England
- A Handbook for Visitors to the Fourteenth Century
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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Imagine you could travel back to the 14th century. What would you see? What would you smell? More to the point, where are you going to stay? And what are you going to eat? Ian Mortimer shows us that the past is not just something to be studied; it is also something to be lived. He sets out to explain what life was like in the most immediate way, through taking you to the Middle Ages. The result is the most astonishing social history book you are ever likely to read: evolutionary in its concept, informative and entertaining in its detail.
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Detailed, Interesting and Entertaining
- By Marc-Andr? on 05-13-10
By: Ian Mortimer
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America and Americans and Selected Nonfiction
- By: John Steinbeck
- Narrated by: Henry Strozier
- Length: 17 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
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More than three decades after his death, John Steinbeck remains one of the nation's most beloved authors. Yet few know of his career as a journalist who covered world events from the Great Depression to Vietnam. Now, this original collection offers a portrait of the artist as citizen, deeply engaged in the world around him. In addition to the complete text of Steinbeck's last published book, America and Americans, this volume brings together for the first time more than 50 of Steinbeck's finest essays and jouralistic pieces.
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Really good Steinbeck journalism.....no kidding!
- By Doug on 07-26-14
By: John Steinbeck
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The Book of Gin
- A Spirited World History from Alchemists' Stills and Colonial Outposts to Gin Palaces, Bathtub Gin, and Artisanal Cocktails
- By: Richard Barnett
- Narrated by: Richard Shelton
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Book of Gin, Richard Barnett traces the life of this beguiling spirit, once believed to cause a new kind of drunkenness. In the 18th century, gin-craze debauchery (and class conflict) inspired Hogarth's satirical masterpieces "Gin Lane" and "Beer Street". In the 19th century, gin was drunk by Napoleonic War naval heroes, at lavish gin palaces, and by homesick colonials, who mixed it with their bitter anti-malarial tonics.
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Great history on my favorite drink
- By Lucas Samples on 10-18-20
By: Richard Barnett
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A Brief History of Vice
- How Bad Behavior Built Civilization
- By: Robert Evans
- Narrated by: Tristan Morris
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Guns, germs, and steel might have transformed us from hunter-gatherers into modern man, but booze, sex, trash talk, and tripping built our civilization. Cracked editor Robert Evans brings his signature dogged research and lively insight to uncover the many and magnificent ways vice has influenced history, from the prostitute-turned-empress who scored a major victory for women's rights to the beer that helped create - and destroy - South America's first empire.
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Funny and somewhat informative
- By Neuron on 08-20-16
By: Robert Evans
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The Edge of the World
- A Cultural History of the North Sea and the Transformation of Europe
- By: Michael Pye
- Narrated by: Steven Crossley
- Length: 15 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Saints and spies, pirates and philosophers, artists and intellectuals: They all crisscrossed the grey North Sea in the so-called "dark ages", the years between the fall of the Roman Empire and the beginning of Europe's mastery over the oceans. Now the critically acclaimed Michael Pye reveals the cultural transformation sparked by those men and women: the ideas, technology, science, law, and moral codes that helped create our modern world.
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Super enjoyable
- By beakt on 10-01-19
By: Michael Pye
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God Is Disappointed in You
- By: Mark Russell, Shannon Wheeler
- Narrated by: James Urbaniak
- Length: 5 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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God Is Disappointed in You is for people who would like to read the Bible...if it would just cut to the chase. Stripped of its arcane language and interminable passages, every book of the Bible is condensed down to its core message, in no more than a few pages each. Written by Mark Russell with cartoons by New Yorker cartoonist Shannon Wheeler, God Is Disappointed in You is a frequently hilarious, often shocking, but always accurate retelling of the Bible, including the parts selectively left out by Sunday School teachers.
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IT'S BETTER TO BE A LIVING DOG, THAN A DEAD LION
- By Jim "The Impatient" on 08-18-17
By: Mark Russell, and others
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Iberia
- By: James A. Michener
- Narrated by: Larry McKeever
- Length: 37 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Spain is an immemorial land like no other, one that James A. Michener, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and celebrated citizen of the world, came to love as his own. Iberia is Michener's enduring nonfiction tribute to his cherished second home. In the fresh and vivid prose that is his trademark, he not only reveals the celebrated history of bullfighters and warrior kings, painters and processions, cathedrals and olive orchards; he also shares the intimate, often hidden country he came to know.
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Outdated and no storyline.
- By john lundberg on 08-05-17
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A Million Years in a Day
- A Curious History of Everyday Life from the Stone Age to the Phone Age
- By: Greg Jenner
- Narrated by: Matthew Lloyd Davies
- Length: 11 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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Who invented beds? When did we start cleaning our teeth? How old are wine and beer? Which came first: the toilet seat or toilet paper? What was the first clock? Every day, from the moment our alarm clock wakes us in the morning until our head hits our pillow at night, we all take part in rituals that are millennia old. Structured around one ordinary day, A Million Years in a Day reveals the astonishing origins and development of the daily practices we take for granted.
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Super interesting!
- By Brandon on 07-07-16
By: Greg Jenner
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The Ancient Guide to Modern Life
- By: Natalie Haynes
- Narrated by: Dan Mersh
- Length: 9 hrs
- Unabridged
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It's time for us to re-examine the past. Our lives are infinitely richer if we take the time to look at what the Greeks and Romans have given us in politics and law, religion and philosophy and education, and to learn how people really lived in Athens, Rome, Sparta, and Alexandria. This is a book with a serious point to make, but the author isn't simply a classicist but a comedian and broadcaster who has made television and radio documentaries about humour, education, and Dorothy Parker.
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Flawed recording
- By Sean on 10-09-12
By: Natalie Haynes