Water went from being a free natural resource to one of the most successful commercial products of the last one hundred years. That's a big story, and water is big business. Gleick exposes the true reasons we've turned to the bottle, from fear mongering by business interests and our own vanity to the breakdown of public systems and global inequities.

This book considers the problem of excessive drinking and the ‘drink crisis’ which apparently hindered the British war effort during the First World War.

The Taste of Water explores the increasing erasure of tastes from drinking water over the twentieth century. It asks how dramatic changes in municipal water treatment have altered consumers' awareness of the environment their water comes from. Through examination of the development of sensory expertise in the United States and France over the twentieth century, this unique history uncovers the foundational role palatability has played in shaping Western water treatment processes. By focusing on the relationship between taste and the environment, Christy Spackman shows how efforts to erase unwanted tastes and smells have transformed water into a highly industrialized food product divorced from the natural environment. The Taste of Water invites readers to question their own assumptions about what water does and should naturally taste like while exposing them to the invisible--but substantial--sensory labor involved in creating tap water.

A 2017 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title award winner *********************************************** This book is an introduction to the history of alcoholic drink in England from the end of the Middle Ages to the present day. Treating the subject thematically, it covers who drank, what they drank, how much, who produced and sold drink, the places where it was enjoyed and the meanings which drinking had for people. It also looks at the varied opposition to drinking and the ways in which it has been regulated and policed. As a social and cultural history, it examines the place of drink in society and how social developments have affected its history and what it meant to individuals and groups as a cultural practice. Covering an extended period in time, this book takes in the important changes brought about by the Reformation and the processes of industrialization and urbanization. This volume also focuses on drink in relation to class and gender and the importance of global developments, along with the significance of regional and local difference. Whilst a work of history, it draws upon the insights of a range of other disciplines which have together advanced our understanding of alcohol. The focus is England, but it acknowledges the importance of comparison with the experience of other countries in furthering our understanding of England’s particular experience. This book argues for the centrality of drink in English society throughout the period under consideration, whilst emphasizing the ways in which its use, abuse and how they have been experienced and perceived have changed at different historical moments. It is the first scholarly work which covers the history of drink in England in all its aspects over such an extended period of time. Written in a lively and approachable style, this book is suitable for those who study social and cultural history, as well as those with an interest in the history of drink in England.

This is the first exploration of the relationship between the abdomen and British society between 1800 and 1950. Miller demonstrates how the framework of ideas established in medicine related to gastric illness often reflected wider social issues including industrialization and the impact of wartime anxiety upon the inner body.