Love on the Rocks

“This book fills an important but neglected niche in the literature on American drink culture and temperance reform. . . . Rotskoff brings the analysis forward to the mid-twentieth century, showing how post-World War II drink culture retained some traditional aspects but also changed dramatically with the maturation of the middle-class suburban lifestyle. Well researched, well written, and packed with original insights, Rotskoff’s book is a must for those interested in the social history of alcohol in America.” — American Historical Review

“Rotskoff offers a provocative analysis of the alcoholism movement, which illuminates the gender and family dynamics surrounding alcoholism and the larger historical context in which these issues took shape.” — H-Women

“Original and perceptive. . . . Rotskoff has given us a wonderful book showing that it is possible to study family and gender relations dynamically and interactively while also illuminating other fields, in this case the cultural history of consumption practices.” — Women’s Review of Books

“[A] well-researched, well-written book. . . . Rotskoff uses stories, advertising, scientific studies, and movies to show how the relationship between men and women in the marital state is infused, informed, and interwoven with scientific, moral, and social beliefs about the use of alcohol.” — New England Journal of Medicine

“Rotskoff has written much more than a treatise on postwar American alcoholism and gender. Her brilliant analysis of the culture of alcohol is firmly set in its 19th-century roots. She is a master of the records of Alcoholics Anonymous and all the related literature on alcoholism. As a cultural historian, nothing escapes her eye. . . . Highly recommended. A brilliant read for all.” — CHOICE

“A lively account of the culture of drink — and the gendered tensions it encoded — across the twentieth century. Rotskoff shows that even as excessive drinking was defined as a disease, social drinking — 'cocktail culture' — by both men and women became an integral part of the middle-class experience. Wide-ranging, engaging, and informative.” — Elizabeth Lunbeck, Princeton University The Psychiatric Persuasion: Knowledge, Gender, and Power in Modern America — ->

“Lori Rotskoff, who writes wonderfully well, has filled a blank in the (gendered) social history of American drinking and sobriety from Prohibition through the fifties: a subtle, engaging, and now indispensable study.” — John W. Crowley, Syracuse University