Patricia Herlihy begins her book with an attention grabbing quote from a Russian temperance priest stating that “There is nothing in the world worse than drunkenness.” (1) This blunt phrase sets the tone of the book and prepares the reader for an up close and frankly detailed look at the role of alcohol in Russian history in all areas, including the economic, religious, social and political realms. Herlihy explains how all social problems and “bad things” in general were attributed to alcohol and expounds upon this by looking at how the state, military, church, doctors and the czar all tried to deal with the problem of excessive alcohol consumption. Of those who fought for prohibition and strict limits on alcohol consumption, many believed that the only way for this was through extreme change. Consequently, as vodka was one of the biggest forms of revenue for the Russian government, it was inevitable that this change would be in the form of governmental revolution.

Throughout the book, Herlihy did a good job of showing a wide variety of different viewpoints and stances on alcohol from different social classes, areas and groups of people. This broad overv

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