Whereprevious studies have focused primarily upon drinking styles among Indian populations, Beatrice Medicine develops an indigenous model for the analysis of alcohol abuse, promoting a tribal-specific approach to addiction. This new ethnography of the Lakota examines patterns of alcohol consumption and strategies by individuals to achieve sobriety. Her book is essential for medical anthropologists and health professionals concerned with Native American health issues and alcohol abuse.

Beatrice Medicine was a teacher and anthropologist, who taught at the California State University at Northridge as well as over thirty universities throughout the United States and Canada. She was descended from the Sihasapa and Minneconjou bands of the Lakota Nation.

Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 1 "All Indians are Drunks": A Pervasive Myth Chapter 3 2 Uncorking the Keg: Beginnings of Alcohol Use among American Indians Chapter 4 3 The Recent Past: Minnewakan "Magic Water"-Alcohol and the Lakota Bands Chapter 5 4 A Siouan Social System: Standing Rock Reservation Chapter 6 5 "Everyone Drinks!": Drinking Behavior among Contemporary Lakota (Sioux) Indians Chapter 7 6 American Indian Sobriety: An Uncharted Domain Chapter 8 7 Religious Renaissance and the Control of Alcohol: The Lakota Sun Dance Chapter 9 8 Siouan Sobriety Patterns: "I Was a Better Drunk Than You Were..." Chapter 10 9 "I Got Tired of Drinking. . .": Interpretations of Intents and Continuities of Siouan Sober States Chapter 11 10 Summary and Conclusions: "There's a Lot to Drinking..."