Article
Book Review: In Mixed Company: Taverns and Public Life in Upper Canada
Journal of Social History
(2010)
Abstract
The history of Upper Canada has been without a thorough and scholarly study of taverns. In Mixed Company probes the region's public drinking records, and relays an image of a multi-layered experience within the colony's bars, taverns, and inns, thereby filling this gap in the literature. The time period covered is largely that of colonial Upper Canada, though Roberts does reach beyond 1841. She casts a wide net in this book as it examines the relationship between taverns and gender formation, 'race' relations, class identity, and even tavern architecture. These sections are connected through the conception of institutions of drink as 'places' in which social relations were negotiated. In this way In Mixed Company can be associated with the historiography of colonial America in which taverns and saloons are shown to be an influential part of a community's development.
Disciplines
Publication Date
December, 2010
Citation Information
Nicholas Van Allen. "Book Review: In Mixed Company: Taverns and Public Life in Upper Canada" Journal of Social History (2010) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/nvanallen/4/