Faces along the bar
Subtitle: lore and order in the workingman's saloon, 1870-1920
By: Madelon Powers.
Series: Historical studies of urban America
Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Chicago
Language: eng
Number of pages: 323
Subjects: Bars (Drinking establishments) -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; Bars (Drinking establishments) -- United States -- History -- 20th century.; Drinking customs -- United States -- History -- 19th century.; Drinking customs -- United States -- History -- 20th century.; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century.
Description: Madelon Powers recreates the daily life of the barroom, exploring what it was like to be a "regular" in the old-time saloon of pre-prohibition industrial America. Powers concentrates on the turbulent years from 1870 to 1920 when the industrial revolution wrenched and reshaped American society and its working-class institutions.

Powers examines the lives of saloongoers across America, including those in major cities such as New York, Chicago, New Orleans, and San Francisco as well as smaller cities such as Sioux City, Shoshone, and Oakland.

Powers concludes that an underlying code of reciprocity and peer group honor in saloon life unified the regulars and transformed them into a voluntary association. Thus, amid the fumes of beer and cigars, the regulars were able to cultivate the dual benefits of communal companionship and marketplace clout, making the old time saloon one of the most versatile, ubiquitous, and controversial institutions in American history.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [237]-305) and index.