Gefährlicher Genuss?

Drinking is essential for life. However, who, how, where, what, and when one was allowed and able to drink has been subject to continuous negotiation and transformation throughout history. The meanings of beverages—whether beer or wine, coffee or tea—have fluctuated between everyday drinks, medical remedies or addictive substances, and prestigious luxury goods. Their consumption could be seen as socially desirable or dangerous. The contributions in this volume bring together studies of drinking practices and the contemporary debates surrounding them; in this way, they provide insights into social, political, cultural, and economic concepts of order from the Early Modern period to the present day. They also demonstrate that questions of identity, belonging, and distinction, as well as issues of race, class, gender, and other categories of difference, have been negotiated across different eras through drinking practices.