American politics and culture have been greatly influenced by alcohol since colonial times. Eric Burns’s witty and comprehensive book, The Spirits of America, looks at what he calls the first national pastime, and details the transformation of alcohol from virtue to vice and back again. Burns describes how liquor was thought of as both scourge and medicine. Bringing such vivid characters as Carrie Nation and other crusaders against drink back to life, Burns explains how and why Prohibition - the culmination of the reformers’ quest - had as much to do with politics and economics and geography as it did with spirituous beverage.