Sharon V. Salinger's Taverns and Drinking in Early America supplies the first
study of public houses and drinking throughout the mainland British colonies.
At a time when drinking water supposedly endangered one's health, colonists
of every rank, age, race, and gender drank often and in quantity, and so
taverns became arenas for political debate, business transactions, and small-
town gossip sessions. Salinger explores the similarities and differences in
the roles of drinking and tavern sociability in small towns, cities, and the
countryside; in Anglican, Quaker, and Puritan communities; and in four
geographic regions. Challenging the prevailing view that taverns tended to
break down class and gender differences, Salinger persuasively argues they did
not signal social change so much as buttress custom and encourage exclusion.

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