Profs and Pints Annapolis presents: “Nation of Drunkards,” a history of alcohol in America, with award-winning historian Matthew R. Pembleton, adjunct professorial lecturer at American University and author of Containing Addiction: The Federal Bureau of Narcotics and the Origins of America’s Global Drug War.

The United States is sometimes described as a “nation of drunkards,” and the (often excessive) consumption of alcohol is about as American as apple pie. Yet so, too, are intense arguments about the harm and impact of drink on American life. The same nation that once consumed an average of five to seven gallons of liquor per person per year also embarked on the hopeless quest of Prohibition and launched a War on Drugs.

How do we make sense of these contradictions in the American character? Discover American history through the saloon door and the bottom of a bottle as we learn about the rise, fall, and return of alcohol in America.

Historian Matthew Pembleton will discuss how drinking patterns and public attitudes toward booze and intoxication have changed dramatically over time and can teach us a lot about the many competing currents in American culture and society.

We’ll visit George Washington’s distillery and the orchards of Jonny Appleseed, witness the chaos of the Great Whiskey Binge and the Lager Beer Riots, smash up a few saloons with Carrie Nation, probe the contradictions of Prohibition, and rejoice in the renaissance of American brewing! (Advance tickets: $12. Doors: $15, or $13 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later. Please allow yourself time to place any orders and get seated and settled in.)

Image: Chicagoans celebrate the 1933 repeal of Prohibition at the Congress Hotel (John Binder Collection).