In public houses
Subtitle: drink & the revolution of authority in colonial Massachusetts
By: David W. Conroy.
Contributors: Institute of Early American History and Culture (Williamsburg, Va.)
Publisher: Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture, Williamsburg, Virginia by the University of North Carolina Press
Published: 1995
Place of publication: Chapel Hill, N.C
Language: eng
Number of pages: 351
Subjects: Popular culture -- Massachusetts -- History -- 18th century; Popular culture -- Massachusetts -- History -- 17th century; Bars (Drinking establishments) -- Massachusetts -- History -- 18th century; Bars (Drinking establishments) -- Massachusetts -- History -- 17th century; Taverns (Inns) -- Massachusetts -- History -- 18th century; Taverns (Inns) -- Massachusetts -- History -- 17th century; Massachusetts -- Social life and customs -- To 1775
Description: Through an innovative examination of inventories, licensing records, petitions, newspapers, sermons, and diaries, Conroy explores the development of tavern culture over time. As provincial society became more complex in the eighteenth century, so, too, did tavern life. In Boston different types of public houses emerged as society became more stratified, and in country towns taverns multiplied as population dispersed.

Specifically, Conroy illuminates the role played by public houses as a forum for the development of a vocal republican citizenry in conflict with royal rule. In doing so, he also highlights the connections between the vibrant oral culture of taverns and the expanding print culture of newspapers and political pamphlets in the eighteenth century.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 327-340) and index.