Tag Archives: Alcoholism

Do We Care whether Don Draper is an Alcoholic? On the Prevalence of Addiction Subtexts in Television Drama

Posted on May 16, 2012 by

In Season Four of the heralded AMC drama Mad Men, Don Draper appeared to be building toward an alcoholic crisis. The child of alcoholics, and himself a dedicated daily drinker even by the standards of the three-martini-lunch set, Don already had … Continue reading →

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“They Call Them Camisoles”: The Short Life and Tragic Death of Wilma Wilson

Posted on May 1, 2012 by

They Call Them Camisoles is a tantalizing document– Wilma Wilson’s first-person account of her 1939 commitment for alcoholism to the Camarillo State Hospital in California. Published in 1940, the book had recently been out of print.  I learned of it myself … Continue reading →

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Mrs. Marty Mann and the Medicalization of Alcoholism

Posted on December 16, 2011 by

I’m a big fan of contradictions. Where they occur – in social movements, in ideology, in programs of action – they tend to highlight the underlying compositional character of human enterprises.  Thus contradictions also provide occasions where the contributing strands … Continue reading →

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Dry Pushback Against Mann’s Alcoholism Movement and Robert King Merton’s Manifest and Latent Functions: A Perplexing Combination

Posted on November 17, 2011 by

  Cross’s church in Berkeley My thinking on this post started off in one direction and then suddenly veered into another direction entirely.  As you’ll see. My original plan was simply to recount a triangular correspondence involving Laurance L. Cross, Harry Emerson … Continue reading →

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Stigma on Alcoholism: A Modest Proposal

Posted on November 8, 2011 by

It seems to me — and, incidentally, it has seemed to me for a long time — that a key shortcoming in much of the prevailing research and thought surrounding the subject of the stigma on alcoholism stems from a failure … Continue reading →

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“Stars Don’t Fall”: Felicia G., Marty Mann, and Other Women of the Early Alcoholics Anonymous Movement, Part III

Posted on November 2, 2011 by

Editors’ note: Today we conclude Amanda Smith’s three-part series, “‘Stars Don’t Fall’: Felicia G., Marty Mann, and Other Women of the Early Alcoholics Anonymous Movement.”  If you’ve just picked up this series, please do go back and read Part I … Continue reading →

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“Stars Don’t Fall”: Felicia G., Marty Mann, and Other Women of the Early Alcoholics Anonymous Movement, Part II

Posted on October 28, 2011 by

Editor’s note: We’re pleased to present the second part of Amanda Smith’s three-part series: “‘Stars Don’t Fall’: Felicia G., Marty Mann, and Other Women of the Early Alcoholics Anonymous Movement.”  New readers may wish to check out Part One first.  … Continue reading →

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“Stars Don’t Fall”: Felicia G., Marty Mann, and Other Women of the Early Alcoholics Anonymous Movement, Part I

Posted on October 26, 2011 by

Editor’s Note: We’re pleased to bring Points readers a short series of posts from Amanda Smith, author of the recently-released Newspaper Titan: The Infamous Life and Monumental Times of Cissy Patterson (Knopf, 2011).  This historical exploration of the life of … Continue reading →

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The Points Interview: Scott Martin

Posted on October 11, 2011 by

The seventeenth entry in “The Points Interview” series features Scott Martin’s Devil of the Domestic Sphere: Temperance, Gender, and Middle-Class Ideology, 1800-1860 (Northern Illinois University Press, 2008; a paperback edition appeared in 2010).   Scott Martin is chair of the Department … Continue reading →

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Remembering Betty Ford

Posted on July 20, 2011 by

“Have you heard the news?”  I received a flurry of emails like this from family members and friends in the hours and days after Betty Ford’s death.  They know of my work on the history of alcoholic women, so it … Continue reading →

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