Discussion topics

 

Your theses on general insights to be gained from the materials studied in this module, e.g. with regard to:

• The role of public houses in early modern society;
• Range and characteristics of primary sources;
• Regional and confessional varieties;
• Change over time;
• Potential to illuminate 'larger' debates in early modern history (such as state building, confessionalization, social polarization, civilizing process, modernization, secularization, consumer / communication revolutions ...).

 

Food for thought

• Andrew Anthony, 'In search of the perfect pub', The Observer (30 June 2019), 19-21
• Public houses join palaces and churches on the UK's register of listed historic buildings (BBC website, 7 February 2020)
• 'Lessons to be learned from the past' - how pubs coped with 20thC crises, The Morning Advertiser (2 May 2020)
• Michael Segalov, ‘Last Orders: How we fell out of love with alcohol’, in: The Guardian (15 January 2023)
• The Drinking Archive - Instagram site curated by Tarangini Sriraman, showcasing examples of drinking cultures from across the world, with special attention to India / South Asia.

 

Suggested Further Reading [bibliographyLink opens in a new window]

 

• Blocker, Jack S. Jr, ‘Drinking in the United States: A kaleidoscope in motion 1600-2000’, in: M. Holt (ed.), Alcohol: A Social and Cultural History (2006), 225-40
• Brennan, Thomas, Public Drinking and Popular Culture in Eighteenth-Century Paris (Princeton, 1988) [HF 2322.B7], ‘Conclusion’
• Clark, Peter, The English Alehouse. A Social History 1200-1830 (London, New York, 1983) [GT 3843.C5], ch. 14
• Kümin, Beat, Drinking Matters: Public Houses and Social Exchange in Early Modern Central Europe (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2007), ‘Conclusions’
• Roberts, Julia, In Mixed Company: Taverns and Public Life in Upper Canada (Vancouver, 2008) [review on H-CanadaLink opens in a new window]
• Tlusty, B. Ann., Bacchus and Civic Order: The Culture of Drink in Early Modern Germany (Charlottesville: U. of Virginia Press, 2001) [GT 2883.G3], ‘Conclusion'