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Habit Forming explores American drug addiction and recreational drug use from 1776 to 1914, providing important historical context for the ongoing War on Drugs.
List of contents
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Terminology
- Introduction
- Part I: Hidden Drug Use in America
- Chapter 1: American Use of Opiates, 1776-1842
- Chapter 2: American Drug Use Quietly Escalates, 1842-1867
- Chapter 3: The Vogue for Hashish, 1832-1884
- Part II: Learning from a World of Users
- Chapter 4: The Global Context, 1774-1862
- Chapter 5: Habitual Opiate Use in Great Britain, 1821-1877
- Chapter 6: The Drug Trade and Habitual Use in China, 1804-1881
- Part III: An Open Problem
- Chapter 7: American Opium Dens, 1850-1910
- Chapter 8: A Public Problem, 1867-1905
- Chapter 9: Federal Regulation Begins, 1875-1914
- Conclusion: The Hydra Emerges
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
About the author
Elizabeth Kelly Gray is Associate Professor of History at Towson University.
Summary
Habit Forming explores American drug addiction and recreational drug use from 1776 to 1914, providing important historical context for the ongoing War on Drugs.
Additional text
Habit Forming is an addictive read that keeps the reader hooked to the various destinies of habitués whose life stories and experiences support Gray's argument. While it is accessible to a wide audience, it will primarily appeal to students and scholars interested in the history of drug use and enforcement in the United States, as well as in scientific and psychological terminologies and theories of addiction. A crucial contribution to the fields of history and medical sciences, Habit Forming also offers a compelling portrayal of average people whose voices and experiences inform our understanding of the cultural and social dimension of addiction.
