Vodka sadly is seen as the symbol of 20th century Russia. Alexandr Nemtsov's book on alcohol in contemporary Russia is a land-mark achievement expressing a unique point of view, highlighting failings in our understanding of Russia's relationship with alcohol. Political events - Gorbachev's anti-alcohol campaign of the 1980s, the collapse of the Soviet system, the introduction of a market economy - have dictated drinking habits. The consequences have been horrendous. Deaths as a result of crime, Afghanistan and the two Chechen wars are dwarfed by those caused by alcohol in the 1990s. Nemtsov...