Susan Cheever discusses "Drinking in America: Our Secret History"

“An addictive read full of wit and verve, revealing the deep influence of alcohol on many of our country's most significant moments.”--Amanda Foreman, author of A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War

Bestselling author Susan Cheever’s Drinking in America: Our Secret History (on sale October 13, 2015) chronicles the lively history of spirits and American culture in this unflinching investigation which dares ask the question: When are we going to wake up and smell the whiskey?

From its beginning, the American character has oscillated between temperance and drunkenness, between the inebriated and the teetotalers. Covering everything from Paul Revere stopping off to drink on his famous ride to Joe McCarthy’s aggressive blustering, Cheever takes a long, thoughtful look at the way alcohol has transformed our nation's history—both for the good and for the bad.

From the drunkenness of George Washington to the inadequacy of the American health care system, drinking has always been part of American culture. Although the details of how alcohol has changed our history has been ignored by past historians, Drinking in America examines American history in the light of this silent third partner.

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Susan Cheever is the author of E.E. Cummings: A Life, My Name is Bill: A Biography of Bill Wilson, and 13 other books. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker and The New York Times among other magazines and anthologies, has been nominated for a National Book Circle Award and won the Boston Globe Winship medal. She attended Brown and has taught at Yale, Brown, Columbia, Bennington and elsewhere.