A History of Vodka

:"A History of Vodka redirects here. See the history of vodka for further information."Infobox Book
name = A History of Vodka
title_orig = История водки
translator = Renfrey Clarke


image_caption = First edition softcover, featuring 19th century lubok
author = William Pokhlyobkin
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = former Soviet Union
language = Russian
series = Популярная кулинария (Popular Cookery)
subject = Research on priority over production of vodka and the other Russian alcoholic beverage issues
genre =
publisher = Inter-Verso
release_date = 1991
english_release_date = December, 1992 (Verso Books, hardcover)
media_type = Book
pages = 288 (1991 edition)
isbn = ISBN 0-86091-359-7 (1992 edition)
preceded_by = Urho Kaleva Kekkonen
followed_by = Foreign Policy of Rus, Russia and the USSR for 1,000 Years in Names, Dates and Facts

"A History of Vodka" ( _ru. "История водки", Romanized: "Istoriya vodki") is a scholarly monograph by the kandidat of historical sciences William Pokhlyobkin, awarded the Langhe Ceretto Prize. Regarding the Soviet-Polish dispute on vodka in the late 70s and being finished in 1979, the work however was published just before the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Apart from his successful attempt to provide a rationale of the Soviet opinion, Pokhlyobkin wanted the Russian vodka to be legally produced only from the rye stuff.

Background

In the autumn of 1977, a dispute arose between the People's Republic of Poland and the Soviet Union over priority of vodka production between two states. Poland sued to World Trade Court [ru iconcite web|url=http://www.veche.tver.ru/index.shtml?news=6042|title= "Вече Твери"|author=|accessdate=2007-08-07] holding an opinion that within the borders of the Kingdom of Poland, the First Rzeczpospolita and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania vodka was known prior to Muscovy and the Russian Empire. The Soviet response was maintained by the Ministry of Foreign Commerce and, particularly, Soyuzplodimport. The last one requested a peer review in the History of the Soviet Academy of Sciences Institute and the Fermentation Products Institute of Glavspirt (Ministry of Food Industry). Both institutes turned down the request [None of the given feedbacks (the doctoral thesis "Очерки истории промыслов России. Вторая половина XVII — первая половина XVIII века. Винокуренное производство" ("Essays On History of the Russian trade. The 2nd Half of the 17th - 1st Half of the 18th Century. The Distilling") by Volkov, and the inquiry on history of the vodka production) helped the Soviet claim.] while Poland became unable to prove the statement that the local vodka (gorzałka) was created prior to the middle of the 16th century. [ru iconcite web|url=http://lib.aldebaran.ru/author/pohlyobkin_vilyam/pohlyobkin_vilyam_istoriya_vodki/pohlyobkin_vilyam_istoriya_vodki__1.html |title= "История водки" (Как и почему возникла эта книга)|author=|accessdate=2007-12-08]

The book

After years of painstaking research Pokhlyobkin concluded that Russia's first grain-based vodka could be distilled at the premises of one of the Muscovite monasteries and, apparently, in the city of Moscow itself in 1440s. Pokhlyobkin suggests that both prohibition and drunkenness are scourges which encourage one another. He considers the vodka itself doesn't make people drunk, but only irresponsible and uncultured ways of consuming it.

The later Russian editions include the 2005 softcover issue by Tsentrpoligraf (ISBN 5-9524-1895-3).

Criticism

Three years after release the book was criticized by David Christian in "Slavic Review" [Vol. 53, no. 1 (1994), pp. 245-247] . He casted doubt on statistics presented in the book. In Christian's opinion, the definitions of such terms as distilling and state monopoly were found so vague that it became hard to know when Pokhlyobkin offered firm dates for their first appearance. The arguments about the first usage of the word "vodka" and its first appearance were marked as convoluted, messy, repetitive, sometimes self-contradictory and unconvincing. Christian also pointed out at anti-capitalist polemics and Stalinist snobberies of the book.

Another case, tackled by criticism, is the way "On the Combinations of Water with Alcohol" by Dmitriy Mendeleyev was emphasized. It was pointed out that Pokhlyobkin used Mendeleyev's data in a speculative way to ascribe to solution of spirit and water the eminent "biochemical and physiological properties". [ru iconcite book | last =Дмитриев | first =И. С| authorlink = | coauthors = | title =Национальная легенда: был ли Менделеев Д. И. создателем русской "монопольной" водки?| publisher = | date = | location = | pages = | url = | doi = | id = | isbn = ]

References and footnotes

External links

*ru icon [http://lib.aldebaran.ru/author/pohlyobkin_vilyam/pohlyobkin_vilyam_istoriya_vodki/pohlyobkin_vilyam_istoriya_vodki__0.html E-book]