Gin

<p>Object Lessons is a series of short beautifully designed books about the hidden lives of ordinary things. <p/>Gin tastes like Christmas to some and rotten pine chips to others but nearly everyone familiar with the spirit holds immediate gin nostalgia. <p/>Although early medical textbooks treated it as a healing agent early alchemists (as well as their critics) claimed gin's base was a path to immortality-and also Satan's tool. In more recent times the gin trade consolidated the commercial and political power of nations and prompted a social campaign against women. Gin has been used successfully as a defense for murder; blamed for massive unrest in 18th-century England; and advertised for as an abortifacient. <p/>From its harshest proto-gin distillation days to the current smooth craft models gin plays a powerful cultural role in film music and literature-one that is arguably older broader and more complex than any other spirit. <p/>Object Lessons is published in partnership with an essay series in <i>The Atlantic</i>.</p>