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Annelie Geissler
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GIRLY DRINKS

Mallory O'Meara

A World History of Women and Alcohol

From Los Angeles Times bestselling author Mallory O'Meara comes a lively and engrossing feminist history of women drinking through the ages.
Strawberry daiquiris. Skinny martinis. Vodka sodas with lime. These are the cocktails that come in sleek-stemmed glasses, bright colors and fruity flavors - these are the Girly Drinks. From the earliest days of civilization, alcohol has been at the center of social rituals and cultures worldwide. But when exactly did drinking become a gendered act? And why have bars long been considered "places for men" when, without women, they might not even exist? With whip-smart insight and boundless curiosity, GIRLY DRINKS unveils an entire untold history of the female distillers, drinkers and brewers who have played a vital role in the creation and consumption of alcohol, from ancient Sumerian beer goddess Ninkasi to iconic 1920s bartender Ada Coleman. Filling a crucial gap in culinary history, O'Meara dismantles the long-standing patriarchal traditions at the heart of these very drinking cultures, in the hope that readers everywhere can look to each celebrated woman in this book - and proudly have what she's having. Mallory O'Meara is the award winning and bestselling author of The Lady from the Black Lagoon and GIRLY DRINKS. Every week, she co-hosts the literary podcast Reading Glasses. She lives in the mountains near Los Angeles with her two cats, where she is working on her next nonfiction book.
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Published 2021-10-19 by Hanover Square Press

Comments

GIRLY DRINKS is anything but - a raw shot of boozy history that stings as well as it soothes!

UK: Hurst

At last, the feminist history of booze we've been waiting for! After centuries of being excluded, ignored, or treated as accessories, Mallory O'Meara has put women at the center of a global history of alcohol. From winemakers and distillers to activists, leaders, and change-makers, GIRLY DRINKS takes us on a whirlwind tour of the role women have played in what we drink, and how, when, and why we drink it.

GIRLY DRINKS has won the 2022 James Beard Award in the category "Beverage Without Recipes."

Cheers to Mallory O'Meara and her serious yet seriously entertaining treatise on the history of gendered drinks. GIRLY DRINKS will introduce you to queens and nuns, bootleggers and bartenders, telling their stories and proving the point that all drinks are girly drinks.

With this lively book, Mallory O'Meara has provided a real service, giving us not only a long-overdue new perspective on a great many familiar issues, but also raising all kinds of other issues that are unfamiliar and shouldn't be.

As if being a woman today isn't enough cause for a drink, Mallory O'Meara has compiled an addicting history of women and the alcohol that fills their glasses. This book left me positively inebriated (not sorry) with excitement about the underrated cultural footprint women have made in the world of alcohol, from the goddesses who let it flow freely at parties, to the women who stomp grapes with their feet, to every successful female reclaiming and owning their rightful space at the bar. Cheers, ladies, this one's for you!