THURNELL-READ, T., 2015. An introduction to drinking dilemmas: space culture and identity. IN: Thurnell-Read, T. (ed.). Drinking dilemmas: space, culture and identity. Abingdon: Routledge, pp.1-12.
This book explores the social and cultural significance of alcohol, its consumption and its various effects and impacts at a time when alcohol is said to cost the British National Health Service £2.7 billion a year (The NHS Information Centre 2011) and to annually account for 3.3 million deaths globally (WHO 2014). Yet, the chapters that comprise this volume do not position alcohol as exclusively negative. Throughout the volume, we see drinking as a means of forging personal identity, solidify friendships and finding release from the pressures and anxieties of modern life.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of a book chapter published by Routledge in Drinking dilemmas: space, culture and identity on 18/12/2015, available online: http://www.routledge.com/9781138931145.