Taverns and Drinking in Early America. By Sharon V. Salinger. (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press, c. 2002. Pp. xiv, 309. Paper, $24.95, ISBN 0-8018-7899-3; cloth, $42.00, ISBN 0-8018-6878-5.)

Taverns were crucial and ubiquitous arenas of sociability in the early modern

Atlantic world, and, since the 1970s, there has been a spate of studies of their social, economic, and cultural functions in Britain and in its colonies. However, in colonial American historiography, these works have tended to concentrate on particular provinces, ports, or ethnic groups. This important book offers the first recent attempt at a comparative synthesis combined with a general interpretation of tavern life.

In keeping with the transatlantic theme, Sharon V. Salinger begins the book with an account of English and Dutch custom and law. The argument then proceeds comparatively by colonial region through the seventeenth century. Essentially the same topics are recapitulated for the eighteenth century, allowing Salinger to highlight elements of change and continuity in tavern regulation and mores over the whole colonial era. For readers of this journal, a particularly nice feature is the attention to the southern colonies in comparative context. However, there is no discussion of Georgia or the West Indies, which seems a sin of omission given Georgia's original reform purposes and the importance of the West Indies to the economy and culture of the British Atlantic. Nonetheless, the synthesis is sweeping and rests on impressive, conveniently cited research in primary and secondary sources.

The general interpretation emerging from the synthesis is clearly stated: "The emphasis here highlights the ways the tavern preserved traditional culture, rather than identifying the public house as a site implicated in the transformation of society" (p. 5). This view has merit but requires clarification. It is true that tavern mores did not effectively undermine such things as expected gender roles. However, elements of tavern life were often disorderly, sometimes criminal, and occasionally subversive, at least in the eyes of civil and ecclesiastical authorities. Those tensions provoked the drama central to the book. Generally, colonial drinking places remained arenas for a semiautonomous antiauthoritarian popular culture, including, as Salinger points out, an "extensive underground economy," particularly in cities (p. 133).

This well-structured comparative approach over both time and space emphasizes two other important points. First, increased population density in varying locales allowed specialization by function and clientele, while rural drinking places remained more inclusive; there is a good chart on page 185 illustrating the trends in major ports. Second, there was a significant shift over time as fashion and official pressure encouraged "refinement." The culmination, as Salinger notes, came after the American Revolution, when "elites channeled their effort to segregate public drinking by economic status into a new architectural shape, the hotel" (p. 244).

In conclusion, this is a valuable book with broad implications for the study of early American cultural and social history.

RICHARD P. GILDRIE

Austin Peay State University