Make Mine a Double
Why Women Like Us Like to Drink*
(*Or Not)
By Gina Barreca
Why Women Like Us Like to Drink*
Bottoms up! This landmark celebration of women and drink chips away at traditional images of gender, one ice-cube at a time. Make Mine a Double pours together a collection of witty, intelligent, and provocative pieces about women and their beverages of choice. Edited by humorist and academic mahatma Gina Barreca, the twenty-eight original essays here come from a diverse community of voices from ages twenty-one to seventy-nine, including such luminaries as Fay Weldon, Wendy Liebman, Amy Bloom, Liza Donnelly, Nicole Hollander, Beth Jones, Dawn Lundy Martin, and many others.
Equal parts paean to spirits, an open discussion of drinking (or not drinking), and a call to feminists everywhere to say “salut,” Make Mine a Double shimmers with thoughtfulness, humor, and self-examination. These tales of women’s complex relationships with alcohol are the story of every woman’s effort to find her independence and sense of belonging, be it at a college party, a high-powered cocktail party, or on a stool at the neighborhood watering hole.
Barreca and the writers have agreed that all their profits from the book will be donated to Windham Hospital’s “Gina’s Friends” fund, which aids women in need. Gina’s Friends: http://www.windhamhospital.org/wh.nsf/View/GinasFriends
Praise
“Make Mine A Double raises the bar and tells the true story about women and booze that is both sobering and funny.” — Elmore Leonard, bestselling author
“A collection of witty, provocative pieces about women and their beverages of choice pulled together by humorist Gina Barreca, these tales of women’s complex relationships with alcohol are the story of every woman’s effort to find independence.” —Publisher’s Weekly
“In lieu of an evening out with the intelligent, witty contributors, this laugh-out-loud funny, touching, thought-provoking collection is highly recommended.” —Library Journal
“Barreca’s anthology fills a gap in the portrayal of drinking women by not positing them as merely lightweights or lushes, but as intelligent, confident women who embrace and celebrate the drink. Readers and students of Women’s Studies, Gender Studies, Sociology, Psychology, and Social History will definitely find many questions and issues to discuss.”–Bookslut
“In Make Mine a Double, a spirited collection of 28 original essays, Barreca, Amy Bloom, Fay Weldon, Nicole Hollander and others write humorously about the social stigma of women who sip as well as their relationships with (or without) booze.” —More magazine
Publication Information
Hardcover: 204 pages
Publisher: UPNE
Publication Date: September 13, 2011
ISBN: 978-1584657590
