Voodoo Vintners: Oregon's Astonishing Biodynamic Winegrowers

does provide the context in which to think about it. My only complaint with The politics of alcohol is that some chapters contain redundant material and Nicholls at times repeats himself within the same chapter. But that is ultimately a minor drawback to the book as a whole. There are, however, a few things that could have made the book even better. For instance, graphs showing consumption levels of different types of alcohol at different times, even if only estimates, would have helped to illuminate the connection, or lack thereof, between the intensity of the drink question and the actual amount of drinking that was occurring. Likewise, comparative graphs showing consumption levels in England and the other constituent nations of the UK, as well as to various other European countries would have given greater context to the drink question in England, and helped to show how the debates surrounding alcohol are often about the perception of drunkenness (especially among the young or the lower classes) more than any quantifiable reality. More significantly, Nicholls may have missed an opportunity in his conclusion to offer more policy advice. As an historian that is not the point of his book, but certainly he knows more than most about which policies have and have not worked in the past and, therefore, which policies might work best in the future. What little guidance he does offer is tantalizing for those who hope that the drink question in England will become, as in most liberal democracies, a less fraught issue. But changing a culture wherein drinking and anti-social behavior are inveterately linked, and to this author’s mind far too accepted by the populace at large, will not be easy whatever the policy changes. Overall, this is an excellent book, and anyone interested in England’s drink question, the contradictions of capitalism, and the limits of liberty, would do well to read it. Charles Ludington ccluding@ncsu.edu # 2012, Charles Ludington http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09571264.2012.692667