A Review of….”Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced and Stumbled our Way to Civilization”
Drunk: How We Sipped, Danced and Stumbled our Way to Civilization, by University of British Columbia professor of philosophy, Edward Slingerland is a history demonstrating the positive contribution of alcoholic beverage to the growth of civilization. I could imagine this subject and the treatment in this book having a broader appeal than most non-fiction.
The book reflects a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde dichotomy almost throughout with crescendoes on both sides at different points. This schizophrenic split seems a valid reflection of the back and forth feelings societies have had and still do about the good and bad of drinking.
However Slingerland blames the recent, as in the last 500 years, swing to the negative, on distillation and isolation, essentially drinking high concentration alcohol by oneself. The positive interpretation of the value relies more on imbibing low concentration of beer and wine over a longer period of time in a social setting. The evil is primarily in distilled liquor with the rapid progression beyond benefit to detriment.
While a reader could imagine him launching the book by enumerating the negatives then dispelling them and building to a pinnacle with the redemption of boozing. But that is not his approach. In what seems like a twist, the author starts the book on a mainly positive note about the contribution of alcoholic beverage to society, with an explanation of why, and in his last chapter, ‘The Dark Side of Dionysus’, he details the horror and harm.
The author weaves a lot of humour into the early part of the book, but that wanes with a more serious academic tone as he comes to grips with the central thesis of good or bad.
The primary good he hangs his contention on is the holiday alcohol gives to the prefrontal cortex of the adult brain. This part of the brain asserts itself with development beginning in the early teens and concluding in the mid-20s.
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is the responsible, concentrating, executive and the directed portion of the brain. And of course it is ultimately essential to survival of the race and of the individual.
However, as the PFC matures it takes over a part of the brain which in children supplies fantasy, fancy, creation, trust and absorption of new material and information. Essentially adult is time to get serious and responsible about the business of surviving and living.
Enter alcoholic beverage to the adult brain and the PFC gets a temporary holiday and some childlike qualities of trust and creation reassert themselves, ideally in a context where they are again useful.
Where the handshake is symbolic of one physically disarming, inebriation is a sign of mentally disarming (the chemical handshake).
The author bolsters his contentions with regular reference to distant past and different cultures where alcohol was used and recognized as a lubricant to community, tribal and international relations.
He relies, not surprisingly, on ancient Greece, but equally, and somewhat unexpectedly, on ancient China. It is not that one couldn’t imagine a lot of material on the subject from ancient China, but western scholars have not traditionally had much fluency with it.
As a student of Chinese history I may be more sensitive and surprised by this inclusion. Toward the end he mentions that he had been a Chinese studies student, which put this into context.
Generally history and prehistory has contended, or assumed, that alcohol use and production was a feature of the move into settled agricultural societies, variously from 10,000 to 2,000 BCE, depending on location.
Slingerland suggests that high and drunk may have been features of societies earlier and maybe more causal in civilization than a product of it.
One facet he hangs this on is the building of large early stone monuments that predate historical reference. He cites one that is now in Turkey and although he doesn’t mention it, Stonehenge in England could be an example.
The author marvels at how men could have moved such large stones such great distances with limited technology and only human power and further how the people could have been motivated. Enter a good and continual ‘buzz’. Maybe the workers would need a few drinks or a continuous night to entertain the idea of working so hard.
Slingerland further speculates on the chain of command for such enterprises. He seems to settle on the idea that the one who supplied the booze was the boss. The efforts and injuries of the workers on the job may have been more easily overlooked when anticipating ‘the next round of motivation’.
In his survey, the author dismisses most of the rationalizations that alcohol is healthy physically or of much good for maladies. He acknowledges that there may be a few lingering beliefs to the contrary, but although manageable in small amounts, it is pretty much poison to the human body.
But on balance, that is the starting point, not the finishing presented here.
One weakness I see in his comparison with animals their behaviour and intelligence, is as it relates to chimpanzees. He does not mention bonobos as a ‘variant’ at least in culture, from chimpanzees.
Chimpanzees function in a patriarchal society and generally react with violence to outsiders. Bonobos have a matriarchal society and are inclined to be more friendly. possibly focussing on sex with strangers.
He relies fairly heavily on the work of Alison Gopnik into the brains of children and the subsequent maturation and changes, which is integral to the case he makes. “Truth is revealed by wine and children.”
For a precis of the rest of the book go to…http://www.bookreviewsbyalex.com/review/drunk-how-we-sipped-danced-and-stumbled-our-way-civilization
