Vodka Politics by its name promises to be fun and delivers with stories of hard drinking Ruskies. But it's also a well written work of history with a thesis: vodka has been used for political purposes in Russia since at least the 16th century as a means of raising money by debauching the population with alcohol. In short, the state has been a drug pusher. Vodka is not merely a Russian folk tradition it's central to authoritarian control of the population, keeping the people poor and addicted.

The consequences have been severe creating an ongoing publoc health crisis. The average Russian man drinks half a liter of vodka a day, more than twice what the WHO considers dangerous. The population is in decline, the average height is shrinking, domestic abuse, crime, highway accidents, etc.. vodka is behind it all. Despite the evidence the Russian state takes no measures. Until recently, vodka bottles didn't come with screw on tops because the whole bottle would be drunk once opened. It's widely said by state officials that beer and wine is more dangerous than vodka, because most of those are imported and would infringe on vodka revenue. So beer is taxed 200% and vodka taxed very little. Previous attempts to reduce vodka consumption by raising prices have not gone well due to bootleg moonshine. But there are proven methods in other countries that would work to ween Russians off the bottle, but it seems unlikely Putin will do so because he needs the revenue and to keep the population comfortably sloshed. ( )

It's an interesting premise but I think the author takes it too far. Vodka has obviously played a role in Russian politics because of the government monopoly ( and anyone who has studied the Yeltsin years knows that they have had their fair share of drunk leaders). However, alcohol is not the only reason why Russia had more problems economically after shock therapy than Poland ( for just one example). It was interesting and easy to read - just remember it is only one take on this capricious country's political history! ( )