Synopses & Reviews
Drinking Matters offers the first comparative survey of public houses in preindustrial Europe. Drawing on a vast range of primary sources, this long-term study establishes inns and taverns as principal communication sites in local communities. Perennially contested and continuously renegotiated, they catered for basic human needs as well as infinite forms of social exchange. Close scrutiny of regulation, premises and socio-cultural services sheds new light on key processes like state building, confessionalization and the emergence of a public sphere.
Review
"Drinking Matters is a well-crafted, clearly structured, and very clever book that is, moreover, a delight to read. Its examination of a particular locality succeeds in reconciling current methodologies of cultural studies with traditional historical approaches and questions, in resolving seeming contradictions between short- and long-term perspectives in historiographies, and in using micro- and macro-historical angles in equal measure, all in order to create an impressive piece of early modern history that will no doubt be of great value to research and teaching alike." —Michaela Hohkamp, Freie Universitat Berlin "In this clearly written study of the public house in early modern Europe, the author sets out to illustrate the 'infinite versatility of tavern space, which was never predetermined or inherently biased, but always the result of momentary social construction'. In doing so, Kumin's balanced study examines the social topography, material culture, communicative functionality, and the construction of social space inherent in pub culture." —Central European History
Synopsis
This book is a comparative study of drinking establishments as the principal social sites in preindustrial Europe.
About the Author
BEAT KÜMIN was born and educated in Switzerland. Following research fellowships at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and the University of Bern, he is now Associate Professor in History at Warwick University. Publications include The Shaping of a Community (1996) and the co-edited collection The World of the Tavern in Early Modern Europe (2002).
Table of Contents
Preface * Abbreviations and measures * Glossary * Introduction * PART I: THE CONTEXT OF PUBLIC DRINKING * Settings * Types of drinking establishments * Agents and interests * PART II: FUNCTIONS OF THE EARLY MODERN PUBLIC HOUSE * Subsistence * Communication * PART III: PUBLIC HOUSES IN EARLY MODERN SOCIETY * Interpretations * Interactions * Conclusions