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Article: Remission of Gin: what 18th-century London can teach us about fighting vice.(Book Review)
- Article from:
- The Washington Monthly
- Article date:
- April 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 Washington Monthly Company. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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GIN: The Much Lamented Death of Madam Geneva by Patrick Dillon Norton & Co., $26.95
LIKE GIN. ALWAYS HAVE. IT REMINDS ME of Christmas, and the elderly. I once got laughed out of a trendy Dupont Circle bar for ordering a gin and tonic, but I can't help it: While others of my generation prefer drinks that sparkle and taste of fruit, I'm stuck on that tried-and-true standby.
Perhaps I was just born 300 years too late. In the early 1700s, every Tom, Dick, and Harriet in London was downing gin night and day. The gin craze that swept through the city resulted in such demagoguery, prohibition, rioting, and morning-after headaches that author Patrick Dillon ...