Alcohol is everywhere—in our everyday lives, in public debates and, increasingly, at the centre of public health policy.

The Trouble with Drinking critically examines alcohol as a contemporary research and policy object. It argues that drinking is governed through heavily freighted concepts such as risk, wellbeing, gender, and race. The authors interrogate dominant disciplinary sobriety and moderation frameworks, highlighting the overlooked aspects of sociability, pleasure, and self-transformation.

In scrutinising the intensifying public health spotlight on alcohol, the authors issue a call to rethink what it means to live “well” in an era when health is both a personal imperative and a regulatory discourse.