This Drinking Nation

In textbook-like fashion, Harris ( Drugged America ) here provides perhaps more than young readers want to know about alcohol. The information splits roughly into halves: the first operates from a stated intention to reveal ``insights into a nation's social history . . . by tracing its drinking patterns''; and the second focuses on drinking and the treatment of alcoholism today. An opening chapter ``sketches'' personalities in the ongoing saga of sobriety, but lacks narrative cohesion, instead establishing a superficial, sound-bite tone that remains throughout. Orphan facts abound; indicated sources are often dated. Some party-up myths persist in a manner insidious for the book's intended readership: wine and beer are declared ``less potent'' than spirits (there's no mention that the usual serving sizes of wine, beer and spirits contain the same amount of alcohol). Black-and-white historical photos and drawings head up each chapter; a balanced list of books for further reading concludes the volume. Ages 10-up. (May)