Recommendation: Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason

I just wanted to highly recommend a book that this group may be interested in. Craze: Gin and Debauchery in an Age of Reason by Jessica Warner is a fantastic history of the English Gin Acts passed between 1729 and 1751. I have posted a link to my review below for anyone interested.

review

Excellent review, fannyprice!

Excellent review, fannyprice. Another must read on my list.

Thanks for the review - Fannyprice. I have now pulled that book out from under my huge TBR pile to nearer the top!

VERY delayed response, but thanks for letting us know! I have that book on my bookshelf. Somewhere :-)

Excellent review of Craze. Warner also wrote a book called The Incindiary, about an 18th century 'terrorist' which provides an interesting window into the times. This is not just crass promotion, but I also write non-fiction books set in the Royal Navy during the 18th century, in particular Scurvy, about the quest to solve the great medical mystery that killed hundreds of thousands of sailors, and Madness, Betrayal and the Lash, a biography of Captain George Vancouver. The class issue in Great Britain at this time, always a common theme from this era, is very prominent in Vancouver's life. After crossing an aristocratic midshipman, middle class Vancouver was challenged to a duel had his career destroyed when the aristocray closed ranks to protect one of heir own. It is hard to appreciate how that could happen from our modern point of view, but 18th century society in Britain it was not uncommon, a theme I always come across in many books fom the era.

Thanks for mentioning your book, Stephen. It is one of the subjects my significant other is very interested in, and I will mention it to him.
:-))

I haven't read the book but I would thoroughly concur in recommending gin (well, maybe whisky then) and debauchery in any age.