Kindle Price: $19.99

Save $9.96 (33%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

These promotions will be applied to this item:

Some promotions may be combined; others are not eligible to be combined with other offers. For details, please see the Terms & Conditions associated with these promotions.

eBook features:
  • Highlight, take notes, and search in the book
Read with our free app
You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.
Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

Buy for others

Give as a gift or purchase for a team or group.
Learn more

Buying and sending eBooks to others

  1. Select quantity
  2. Buy and send eBooks
  3. Recipients can read on any device

These ebooks can only be redeemed by recipients in the US. Redemption links and eBooks cannot be resold.
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs

Follow the author

Jeremy Agnew
Follow
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

Alcohol and Opium in the Old West: Use, Abuse and Influence Illustrated Edition, Kindle Edition

by Jeremy Agnew (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 16 ratings
See all formats and editions

This book explores the role and influence of drink and drugs (primarily opium) in the Old West, which for this book is considered to be America west of the Mississippi from the California gold rush of the 1840s to the closing of the Western Frontier in roughly 1900. This period was the first time in American history that heavy drinking and drug abuse became a major social concern.

Drinking was considered to be an accepted pursuit for men at the time. Smoking opium was considered to be deviant and associated with groups on the fringes of mainstream society, but opium use and addiction by women was commonplace. This book presents the background of both substances and how their use spread across the West, at first for medicinal purposes--but how overuse and abuse led to the Temperance Movement and eventually to National Prohibition. This book reports the historical reality of alcohol and opium use in the Old West without bias.

Previous page
  1. ISBN-13
    978-0786476299
  2. Edition
    Illustrated
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    McFarland
  5. Publication date
    October 17, 2013
  6. Language
    English
  7. File size
    16548 KB
  8. See all details
Next page
Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download

Editorial Reviews

Review

“clearly written, rich in anecdote, and amply illustrated. Agnew has written prolifically about the Old West. Recommended”―Choice.

About the Author

Jeremy Agnew, a biomedical electronics consultant, holds a PhD in engineering and has been involved in the design and manufacture of medical devices for more than 30 years. He lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and has written several books on the Old West.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00FW6HSKC
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ McFarland; Illustrated edition (October 17, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ October 17, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 16548 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 260 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 16 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Jeremy Agnew

Jeremy Agnew

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
16 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

isolotus
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome book, required reading for cultural historians of the US
Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2017
Verified Purchase
I would really like to meet the author of this book. I don't know what I expected, probably a sensationalized collection of tall tales but I was dead wrong. Agnew's tone is very measured, his aim is to educate on a topic he obviously knows very well. Most of the photos included that depict artifacts and ephemera of the dopin' and boozin' Old West come from the author's own collection. I have a degree in history, I specialized in 19th century American history but there is a lot of history in this book that dumbfounded me, particularly about the treatment of Chinese and the practice of Shanghai-ing in the Pacific Northwest. Agnew tends to repeat information a lot but he does it in a subtle way that aids memorization. If you ever wanted to know the REAL history behind shows like Deadwood, The Knick, Kung Fu, etc, etc...this book is not to be missed.
Helpful
 Report
Randi A Samuelson-Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommened book written with detailed research
Reviewed in the United States on October 29, 2015
Verified Purchase
This is a great book on vices in the Wild West. I would highly recommend this as a resource book - the writer clearly did a lot of research. Gives another perspective of what life was like in the "old" west - definitely not like the 1950's movies! I bought this book because I was working on a western novel that needed some details on vice during that time - and this certainly fit the bill! An entertaining romp through vice...
Helpful
 Report
lyndonbrecht
5.0 out of 5 stars Highly unusual topic worth reading about, but also a rather good book.
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2015
This is an intriguing aspect of the old west. Alcoholic cowboys? Opium addicted ranchers? It may sound as if Agnew is attempting to point out that some iconic American legends have feet--or is it boots?--of clay. This is however a serious study and seems quite well researched. While the focus in the trans-Mississippi West, it could in some respects be anywhere in the US in the era 1850-1900. Some context is provided about how the usages began and moved West.

Americans then drank prodigious amounts of alcohol, while in the same era concern with its impact arose and became quite formidable, ending of course with the Prohibition era not long after this period. Opium was surprisingly common, often in the form of laudanum, a tincture of opium, commonly used in medical practice but also as a tonic and period equivalent to today's over the counter medication. Alcoholics and addicts were more common than one might think, and users included some rather notable people.

The book looks in particular at Denver and San Francisco and a number of boom towns. San Francisco brings in the Chinese community, and a frisson of Orientalism in the then commonly held association of Chinatown and drugs. Alcohol consumption was a part of male bonding and the saloons usually male preserves, with a scattering of women, who were often entertainers or sex workers.
One person found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Report an issue

Does this item contain inappropriate content?
Report
Do you believe that this item violates a copyright?
Report
Does this item contain quality or formatting issues?
Report