The Wet And The Dry

<p>&#145;I am taking a few months off to travel and wander drinking my way across the Islamic world to see whether I can dry myself out cure myself of a bout of alcoholic excess. It is a personal crisis a private curiosity&#133; I am curious to see how non-drinkers live. Perhaps they have something to teach me.&#146;<br><br>Booze is mankind's premier drug of choice the most popular mind-altering substance ever devised and it plays a furtive celebrated and subversive role in nearly every culture on earth. In <i>The Wet and the Dry</i> Lawrence Osborne explores the culture of permission particularly in the West and the opposing culture of prohibition notably in the Islamic East.<br><br>Osborne&#146;s globe-trotting odyssey takes him from the luxurious bars of Milan to the vineyards of Lebanon threatened by Hezbollah; from Swedish vodka to Pakistani strawberry gin; from the Nellie Dean pub in Soho to the dangerous brothels and drinking dens on the Malaysian border; from the boutique scotch produced on Islay to the liquor destroying Native American reservations; and from the only brewery in the dry country of Pakistan to the search for a bottle of New Year&#146;s champagne in Oman. All the while Osborne&#146;s own Irish family history of terrifying alcoholism fails to deter him from seeking out a drink wherever he can.</p>