The Alchemy of Culture

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This exploration of the use of intoxicants in society reveals how drugs have had a central role in the religious and social life of a wide range of cultures around the world, from Stone Age Europe and Classical Greece to the New World and New Guinea. Rudgley looks at the use of psychoactive substances in European witchcraft, the role of scientists, poets and artists in introducing new hallucinogens into the West, and the social use of milder stimulants such as alcohol, tobacco and tea.