The paradoxical hallmarks of American culturepuritanical restraint
and excessive consumptionare evident in this nations long
and historically conflicted relationship with alcohol. The crusades of
19th century temperance leaders to make alcohol illegal; the
underground drinking clubs generated by Prohibition (19201933);
the free and celebratory cocktail culture that dominated in the United
States through the 1970s; the more serious view of drinking and alcoholism
beginning in the 1980s; the culture of binge drinking on college campuses
todayall reflect our national ambivalence toward this most common
of drugs.