Out of It: A Cultural History of Intoxication
by Stuart Walton.

“In this accessible, entertaining and scholarly book, Stuart Walton takes on Nietzsche’s challenge in “The Gay Science”: “who will ever relate the whole history of narcotica”? It is almost the history of “culture” – from Greek and Roman antiquity, through the middle ages, the English Restoration, to the 21st century. This text guides the reader through the western history of intoxication and examines its implications for society, culture, religion and the corporeal individual. this is the first complete account of how and why human beings in all ages have had recourse to altered states of consciousness (whether through drugs or alcohol) as a primary requisite of daily life”.

Ive only just started reading it, but it seems like it may answer a lot of questions…

[URL=”http://%5BURL=%22http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/product-description/0140279776/sr=1-6/qid=1201094794/ref=dp_proddesc_0?ie=UTF8&n=266239&s=books&qid=1201094794&sr=1-6%22″%5D%5B/URL%5D Book is here

ps dont judge a book by the cover! 😉