Alec Hankins

Almost every culture on Earth has drink, and where there's drink there's drunkenness. But in every age and in every place drunkenness is a little bit different. It can be religious, it can be sexual, it can be the duty of kings or the relief of peasants. It can be an offering to the ancestors, or a way of marking the end of a day's work. It can send you to sleep, or send you into battle. Making stops all over the world, A Short History of Drunkenness traces humankind's love affair with booze from our primate ancestors through to the 20th century.

We live in a culture that hails motherhood as a woman's crowning achievement yet defines men first and foremost by their professional accomplishments, treating fatherhood as almost incidental - a bonus. But from her years spent as a pediatrician listening to children's needs and fears, Dr. Meeker understands just how crucial a father's role is.