 | Prof Phil Withington is the author of Intoxication and Society in Early Modern England in The Historical Journal (2011) and co-editor of the inter-disciplinary volume of articles, Intoxication and Society (Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2013). He organized a historical report on public drinking for the Parliamentary Select Committee for Health in 2009 and has just been awarded a grant by the Economic and Social Research Council to head a major research project into the economic, political, cultural, and social importance of intoxicants in England between the 15th and 18th centuries. He is committed to bringing properly researched historical perspectives to bear on contemporary issues and debates, not least those relating to drink, drugs, and addiction. Other research areas include the history of urbanization, citizenship and civil society, and the social history of the Renaissance. |
Loyalty in an age of whistle-blowing and Wikileaks
"I was impressed by the intensity of the debate and the high level of intellectual engagement, not least by the audience. It was an invigorating, even exhilarating experience to be part of a festival based on the conviction that disagreement is good. The Battle of Ideas is a fantastic concept, may it spread epidemically to the rest of the world. I am already looking forward to next year's event."
Thomas Hylland Eriksen, professor of social anthropology, University of Oslo; novelist
follow the Academy of Ideas
