Hi David, and All --

With Ron, I am interested in 1979 as a "particular year" in a sense 
similar to the labeling of 1934 as "annus mirablis" by Sidney Ahlstrom 
in his *A Religious History of the American People*.  No denial implied 
of the many good points you make about some perils of date-fixation.

ernie kurtz

David Fahey wrote:
> I can't see the importance of a single year except to dramatize 
> something larger than that year.  The lapse between the completion of a 
> book manuscript and its publication can be short or long, so it is an 
> accident whether it appears in 1978 or 1979 or 1980.  The bigger problem 
> is that alcohol (and drugs) historical studies overlap with diverse 
> fields and approaches that have their own trends: for instance, pressure 
> group politics, social control, evangelical Protestantism, women's 
> history, studies of masculinity, business history, urban history, 
> working class history, and so forth, and for the history of different 
> countries and internationally.  There is also the contrast between 
> academic and popular history.  At the moment I am writing what may best 
> be described as a review essay on old-time breweries and saloons, with 
> emphasis on my adopted state of Ohio.  In doing so, I have blundered 
> into an alternative "breweriana" universe with its own organizations 
> publishing their own journals and holding their own conferences.  For 
> these non-academic collectors, at least in the USA,  the years 1970-1980 
> seem crucial.  Bet that few of you have encountered an organization 
> called (for good reason) Just for Openers.
> 
> David Fahey