The Saloon and the Mission: Addiction, Conversion, and the Politics of Redemption in American Culture

About the Author, Back Cover

EOIN F. CANNON is the assistant director of Studies for the America Field in History and Literature at Harvard University. A graduate of Harvard University (AB, 1995) and Boston University (MA, 2002; PhD, 2010) and a former newspaper reporter, he has published scholarly articles on urban literature , ethnicity, and boxing, and a series of online essays on addiction and culture. He serves as the managing editor of Points, the Blog of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society. “This page intentionally left blank” UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS PRESS Amherst & Boston www.umass.edu/umpress Cover art: All my drinks three cents” appears in Helen Stuart Campbell, Darkness and Daylight; or, Lights and Shadows of New York Life: A Woman’s Story of Gospel, Temperance, Mission, and Rescue Work “In His Name” (1892). Since the middle of the nineteenth century, sobriety movements KDYHÁRXULVKHGLQ$PHULFDGXULQJSHULRGVRIVRFLDODQGHFRQRPLFFULVLV )URPWKHERLVWHURXVZRUNLQJFODVVWHPSHUDQFHPHHWLQJVRIWKH VWRWKHTXLHWEHJLQQLQJVRI$OFRKROLFV$QRQ\PRXVLQWKHV DOFRKROLFVKDYHEDQGHGWRJHWKHUIRUPXWXDOVXSSRUW(DFKWLPHWKH\ KDYHGHYHORSHGQHZZD\VRIWHOOLQJWKHLUVWRULHVDQGLQWKHSURFHVV they have shaped how Americans think about addiction, the self, and society. (RLQ &DQQRQ LOOXPLQDWHV WKH UROH VREULHW\ PRYHPHQWV KDYH SOD\HG LQ SODFLQJ QRWLRQV RI SHUVRQDO DQG VRFLHWDO UHGHPSWLRQ DW WKHKHDUWRIPRGHUQ$PHULFDQFXOWXUH+HDUJXHVDJDLQVWWKHGRPLnant scholarly perception that recovery narratives are private and DSROLWLFDOVKRZLQJWKDWLQIDFWWKHJHQUH·VFRQYHQWLRQVWXUQSULYDWH experience to public political purpose. Further, the New Deal–era $OFRKROLFV $QRQ\PRXV UHÀWWHG WKH ´GUXQNDUG·V FRQYHUVLRQµ DV D PRGHO RI VHOIKRRG IRU WKH OLEHUDO HUD DOORZLQJ IRU D VSLULWXDO UHdemption story that could accommodate a variety of identities and FRPSXOVLRQV&DQQRQFRQFOXGHVE\FRQVLGHULQJKRZFRQWHPSRUDU\ recovery narratives represent both a crisis in liberal democracy and DSRWHQWLDOIRUUHGHPSWLYHVRFLDOSURJUHVV “The Saloon and the Mission offers a unique contribution for hisWRULDQV RIQXPHURXVVSHFLDOWLHV FXOWXUDOOLWHUDU\UHOLJLRXV DV ZHOODVWKRVHVSHFLDOL]LQJLQDOFRKRORUGUXJVWXGLHV,NQRZRIQR RWKHUZRUNWKDWRIIHUVVXFKDVZHHSLQJV\QWKHVLVRIWKHHYROXWLRQ RIWKHDGGLFWLRQUHFRYHU\QDUUDWLYHDQGKRZLWHPHUJHGIURPDQG has evolved within particular historical contexts.” —William L. White, author of Slaying the Dragon: The History of Addiction Treatment and Recovery in America (2,1)&$1121 serves as assistant director of Studies for the America Field in History and Literature at Harvard University. ...