This is a history of drugs and drug use in America. It provides a review of what is now a prominent feature of American culture, and it analyses the interplay between drugs, drug use, and society. Morgan's approach is chronological, covering an age of heroic therapy, the therapeutic revolution of the post-Civil War years, the moral fervour of the Progressive era and, finally, today's bewilderment.

Indians, pioneers, land rushes, and oil dominate many an American's picture of Oklahoma's history. Incomplete as such an impression is, the frontier experience did leave a heritage of individualism distinctive of Oklahoma character. Oklahoma retains much of its popular renown as a land of cowboys and Indians, oil derricks, and multimillionaires. But it has become something quite different, as well: a state prospering from agriculture, diversified industry, and growing urban centers where a majority of Oklahomans now live. Though the state has changed greatly since its frontier beginnings, its...