America’s relationship with alcohol is a fraught and inconsistent one. While many other nations and cultures have stable attitudes toward drinking, the American perspective on alcohol has been volatile, vacillating wildly from the gallon-a-day beer rations on the Mayflower to nationwide prohibition and back again. Why are Americans so ambivalent about alcohol? What can we learn about the past and the American character through these extreme fluctuations between alcoholism and sobriety across the centuries?

Join author Susan Cheever to explore 400 Years of Drinking in America. Across six lectures, Susan will trace the ever-changing attitudes toward alcohol in the United States, beginning with the colonists and tracing the patterns of habits and opinions to the rise of a thriving rehab industry in the 21st century. As you explore the ebb and flow of drinking in America, you’ll revisit moments that were deeply impacted by our complex relationship with alcohol.

The Pilgrims embraced beer while the Puritans wrestled with the sin of excessive drinking. The major wars fought on American soil were sometimes fueled as much by alcohol as by patriotism. Prohibition produced a generation of famously drunken writers and artists. From “the drunkest country in the world” to Alcoholics Anonymous, you’ll see what America’s love-hate relationship with booze can tell us about the growing pains of a young nation and the complexities of a diverse and ever-changing society.