Smoking and Drinking

James PartonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.5

Word count: 219K words
Chapters: 22

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Smoking and Drinking by James PartonAuthor: Parton, James, 1822-1891,Language: English, Class: RC: Medicine: Internal medicine, Release Date: Aug 15, 2013

Editor's review

James Parton's Smoking and Drinking is part of Project Gutenberg and classified under internal medicine. It is a text of public debate from the late nineteenth century. In essayistic argument, the author examines the social phenomenon, bodily effects, and moral controversies of smoking and drinking, in a language marked by the polemical temper of the age, combining observation with exhortation. For today's readers its value lies not in modern medical conclusions but in showing how the public of the time understood addictive habits, health, and personal responsibility; it can serve as supplementary material for the social history, history of medicine, and background of the temperance movement. Read with historical distance, distinguishing period views from contemporary research, and do not take the book's judgments as direct health guidance. Suitable for readers interested in nineteenth-century social issues and the evolution of public health ideas.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in nineteenth-century social history and the evolution of public health ideas
Scholars and students studying the history of the temperance movement and discourses of addiction
Readers who need free English historical sources to supplement course reading
Readers who enjoy essayistic argument and can discern period limitations

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking modern medical advice on quitting smoking and limiting alcohol
Readers expecting systematic clinical data and reviews of contemporary research
General readers impatient with nineteenth-century polemical prose

Reading tips

Begin with the introduction or background material to establish the text's date and polemical stance.
Record the book's judgments separately from contemporary public health consensus to avoid confusion.
Excerpt representative passages as samples for analyzing nineteenth-century social discourse.
Read alongside materials on the temperance movement or the history of medicine to understand the context.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can this book serve as a modern health guide?

No. It is a polemical text from the late nineteenth century, reflecting the social observations and moral judgments of its time about smoking and drinking, not a modern medical guide. Readers should treat it as historical material, not a source of health advice.

What subject classification does this book belong to?

Project Gutenberg classifies it under internal medicine, but its content is closer to social commentary and exhortative essays. Read it with the perspectives of social history and medical history to understand the mismatch between its classification and its content.

How difficult is the English, and is it suitable for non-native readers?

The text is in nineteenth-century English polemical style, with long sentences and considerable rhetoric; non-native readers may need a dictionary or annotations. Those with upper-intermediate to advanced English reading ability will find it easier to grasp its arguments and period tone.

Comments

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About the author

James Parton Author · American · 1822–1891

James Parton (1822–1891) was a nineteenth-century American biographer. Born in Canterbury, England, he moved to the United States as a child. He made his living by writing for a general readership, covering historical figures, social customs, and figures of industry and commerce. His biographies often employ a novelistic narrative style, emphasizing character and historical setting, and his vivid prose won him a wide readership in his day. The library holds five of his works, including Famous Americans of Recent Times, Caricature and Other Comic Art in All Times and Many Lands, Revolutionary Heroes, and Other Historical Papers, Captains of Industry or, Men of Business Who Did Something Besides Making Money, and Smoking and Drinking. Captains of Industry was written for young readers, using the achievements of business figures to inspire them, while Smoking and Drinking discusses the social customs of the time. Overall, his writing combines popular appeal with historical substance and offers a window into nineteenth-century American historical writing.