American Drunkenness

Peeke, Hewson L. (Hewson Lindsley), 1861-1942Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.9

Word count: 148K words
Chapters: 15

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.Americana Ebrietatis by Hewson L. PeekeAuthor: Peeke, Hewson L. (Hewson Lindsley), 1861-1942,Language: English, Class: GT: Geography, Anthropology, Recreation: Manners and customs, Release Date: Mar 20, 2014

Editor's review

This is an English-language reference work on drinking customs and alcohol culture. Under the title "Americana Ebrietatis," author Hewson L. Peeke surveys American and broader Western drinking fashions, customs, and related social phenomena. As a free Project Gutenberg ebook, it preserves the original form of an early electronic text, and its length and structure suit either subject-based browsing or continuous reading. Its value lies not in a systematic general history of drinking culture but in offering a documentary slice of drinking customs from a particular perspective, suitable for comparative reading alongside folklore, social history, and food-culture studies. The book contains numerous historical anecdotes and custom records, making it useful to readers seeking to understand the origins and development of drinking customs in the English-speaking world. Read it with a questioning mind, treating it as a source collection rather than popular nonfiction; taking notes as you go yields better results.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in the history of drinking customs and alcohol culture in Europe and America
Scholars in folklore, social history, or food-culture studies
Students of literature and history needing English primary sources for reference
Readers accustomed to public-domain ebooks who enjoy reference-style works

Not a good fit for

General readers expecting a systematic general history of drinking culture or a popular story collection
Readers with weak English proficiency who need a Chinese translation
People who only want quick conclusions and are unwilling to consult source materials

Reading tips

Begin by browsing the table of contents and chapter titles, then read by topic of interest rather than straight through
Keep a notebook handy and jot down the names of drinking customs and their historical contexts for later verification
Read alongside general histories of food culture or folklore to fill in background knowledge
When encountering unfamiliar custom terms in the English text, infer from context first, then look them up systematically

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

Is this book a novel or an academic reference?

It is not a novel but a reference work on drinking customs and alcohol culture, folkloric and social-historical in nature. Treat it as documentary reference rather than narrative reading; it suits topic-based browsing or selective reading.

There is no Chinese translation—can I read it if my English is poor?

This is an English public-domain ebook with no known Chinese translation. Readers with weak English will find it difficult; consider using dictionary tools first, or start with a Chinese general history of drinking culture before returning to this book.

Is this book meant to be read from cover to cover?

The content is more of a documentary compilation, and the chapters do not necessarily form a strongly connected narrative. Reading selectively by topic from the table of contents, with note-taking, is more efficient than page-by-page reading.

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About the author

Peeke, Hewson L. (Hewson Lindsley), 1861-1942 Author · American · 1861–1942

Hewson L. Peeke (1861–1942) was an American writer, usually referred to by his surname in Chinese-language materials. Public information about his life is limited, and details of his education, career, and writing life are difficult to trace. The library currently holds only one work by him, Americana Ebrietatis. Judging from the title and the existing description, he wrote mainly on historical and local subjects, focusing on specific phenomena and anecdotes in American history and culture. Such writing tends to rely on the arrangement of historical sources and thematic accounts, with a factual style aimed at readers interested in the nation's history and local life. Although his output was small, his work remains a useful reference text for enthusiasts and researchers of the relevant subjects.