the wine-centered symposium was the model of ancient Greek sociality. The mead hall served as the center of communities in medieval Anglo-Saxon cultures, and continues to do so to this day in the form of the alehouse or the pub.52 In colonial America, every town had its tavern, which was typically one of the first buildings constructed, right next to the church and/or meetinghouse.53 From the salon of France to the kabak of early modern Russia54 to the saloon of the American frontier, the mild dissociation from reality caused by alcohol and casual, relaxed socializing have been inseparable.55
