This text provides up-to-date, comprehensive, and accessible information about alcohol use in western society and other cultures.In 2009, President Barack Obama hosted a friendly "beer summit" on the White House lawn in an attempt to diffuse a racially charged incident between a Caucasian policeman and an African American professor. In the United States, beer and other alcoholic beverage companies are often the main advertisers during television sporting event coverage. A study has found that 44 percent of American college students participate in binge drinking, while the NHTSA reports that over 31 percent of traffic fatalities involve a driver with an illegal blood-alcohol content level. In our culture, consumption of alcohol is both widely accepted as a healthy social norm and condemned as a crime.Alcohol provides information about how alcohol acts upon the body, the social problems related to alcohol use, medical disorders connected to alcohol use, alcohol use throughout world cultures and the American population, and public policy issues. This book also contains sections on adolescent and college student alcohol use.

Includes a bibliography and index to facilitate further reading and direct access to information on specific topics

Series ForewordPreface and AcknowledgmentsPart I: History and Scientific Background-Alcohol: An Overview1 Alcohol: The Basics2 Alcohol Taken Together with Other Drugs3 Key Terms and Definitions4 Risk Factors for Alcohol Misuse and Worsening of Abuse5 Phases and Stages of Alcoholism: Theoretical Considerations6 Alcohol and Social Problems7 Alcohol and Medical Problems8 Alcohol and Sexuality9 Alcohol and the Family10 Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD)11 Treatment and Recovery12 Alcohol Use among Women13 Alcohol Use among Adolescents14 Alcohol Use among College Students15 Alcohol Use among Older Adults16 Alcohol Use among Ethnic MinoritiesPart II: Controversies17 Alcohol-Policy Perspectives18 Key Issues and Controversies19 Rates of Alcohol Consumption Worldwide20 Culture and Alcohol UsePart III: References and ResourcesA Screening and Assessment InstrumentsB Alcohol Periodicals and JournalsC Additional ResourcesD ChronologyReferencesIndex