Faces along the bar : lore and order in the workingman's saloon, 1870-1920
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
Faces along the bar : lore and order in the workingman's saloon, 1870-1920
（Historical studies of urban America）
The University of Chicago Press, 1998
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Note
Includes bibliographical references (p. [237]-305) and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
This text recreates the daily life of the bar room from 1870 to 1920, exploring what it was like to be a "regular" in the old-time saloon of pre-prohibition industrial America. It examines saloon-goers across America, including New York, Chicago, New Orleans and San Francisco, as well as smaller cities such as Sioux City, Shoshone and Oakland. The book takes a look at the rich lore of the bar room - its games, stories, songs, free lunch customs and elaborate system of drinking rituals. It shows how urban workers used saloons as a place to promote their political, social and economic objectives; saloons where union leaders first organized their members, politicians cultivated the working man's vote, and immigrants sought the assistance of their countrymen. It also discusses how gender, ethnicity and class played roles in determining club membership. The author concludes that an underlying code of reciprocity and peer group honour in saloon life unified the regulars and transformed them into a voluntary association.
Thus, amid the fumes of beer and cigars, the regulars were able to cultivate the dual benefits of communal companionship and marketplace clout, making the old-time saloon one of the most versatile, ubiquitous and controversial institution in American history.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Introduction Pt. I: The Criteria for Comradeship 1: The Importance of Being Regular 2: Gender, Age, and Marital Status 3: Occupation, Ethnicity, and Neighborhood Pt. II: The Gentle Art of Clubbing 4: Drinking Folkways 5: Clubbing by Treat 6: Clubbing by Collection Pt. III: More Lore of the Barroom 7: Games and Gambling 8: Talk and Storytelling 9: Songs and Singing 10: The Free Lunch Conclusion Notes Index
by "Nielsen BookData"