Fall Americana Lecture, Cocked and Boozy: An Intoxicating History of the American Revolution

Join historian Brooke Barbier for a lively talk about the influence of tavern and drinking culture on the American Revolution.

Eighteenth-century Americans consumed a staggering amount of alcohol compared to us today. Drink influenced their politics, built and sustained their relationships, and drove the economy.

Booze was not a small part of colonial society, nor covertly consumed in private spaces—it was integral to American life. When the colonists rebelled against the British Empire, this culture of drink and taverns helped foster revolution.

Brooke Barbier is a public historian who received her PhD in American history from Boston College, researching Boston’s social and cultural life during and after the American Revolution. Two of Brooke's favorite things are history and beer, so in 2013 she founded Ye Olde Tavern Tours, which offers tours of Boston’s historic sites and taverns (beer is included!).

She is the author of the award-winning King Hancock: The Radical Influence of a Moderate Founding Father and Boston in the American Revolution: A Town Versus an Empire. Her latest book, Cocked and Boozy: An Intoxicating History of the American Revolution examines the influence of alcohol on the founding generation and received a starred review from Booklist and positive reviews from the The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.