Russia Goes Dry
Subtitle: Alcohol, State and Society
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: November 24, 1995
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 264
ISBN-13: 9780521558495
Subjects: Alcoholism; Politics/International Relations; History; Political Science; History - General History; Temperance; Substance Abuse & Addictions - Alcoholism; Russia (Federation); Europe - Russia & the Former Soviet Union; General; Alcoholism--Russia (Federation)--History; Political Science / Government / International; Soviet Union
First sentence: 'Drinking is the joy of the Russes', Grand Prince Vladimir is supposed to have remarked in the tenth century; 'we cannot do without it'.
Description: Russians today are the world's heaviest drinkers. The consumption of alcohol permeates family life, shapes the economy and plays an occasional but striking role in presidential politics. And it was in Russia in the 1980s that the most sustained attempt of its kind was made to eliminate alcohol abuse, even drinking itself. Drawing upon a wide range of original sources, including interviews, surveys and the local press, Stephen White provides the first full-length study of this extraordinary campaign.

He traces the profound influence of alcohol through Russian history, and charts the campaign from its initiation under Mikhail Gorbachev to its disappointing aftermath in the post-communist 1990's. Attractively written and fully illustrated, Russia goes dry is an entertaining as well as instructive guide to a changing society and a classic case study of the limitations of politically directed social reform.