Free (Kobo/iTunes) Under the Influence [Canada Beer Marketing/Culture History & Doc]

[ATDrake]

Well, something in anticipation of Thanksgiving tomorrow.

Under the Influence: How Labatt and its allies brewed up a nation of beer drinkers by Matthew J. Bellamy, an associate history professor at Carleton University in Ottawa, & Ross MacDonald, is a cultural history essay/article originally published in The Walrus (one of our top arts/culture/current events magazines, who've also given us a very nice multimedia iBooks freebie on the performing arts in Canada) in the June 2013 issue, on Exactly What It Says In The Title.

This has been excerpted and made available as a standalone e-book to go with an eponymous short documentary film, which is available for streaming viewing via The Smithsonian Channel and for download as an iTunes podcast episode (very large 1GB file for a 9 min film, recommend you d/l it overnight if you want a "keeper" version; it's certainly HD quality if you happen to have a home theatre projection unit you want to test out).

The doc may be short, but it's actually pretty interesting, with Bellamy and some other people (I think at least one of them was a Molson spokeswoman) talking about the historical conditions and the ensuing cultural linking of beer* to Canadian identity that was done deliberately via marketing strategies to entrench it as the nation's favourite post-Prohibition drink (which previously had been hard liquor, just so you know), interspersed with vintage photographs and archival video clips.

Anyway, free since Canada Day @ Kobo & iTunes (both available to Canadians and probably worldwide, since I spot-checked a few other countries and it seemed to show up okay)

NB: The iTunes version is made to resemble the actual print magazine, so for easier reading you may want to also pick up the ePub version via Kobo, even if you have an iDevice.

And this has been the selected (a little bit by default as a topical holiday substitute, since the Canadian aboriginal arts commemorative ebook I was hoping to feature that the Walrus was also working on didn't seem to get updated with the full contents on time, with only 3 of the planned 9 artist interviews included in the latest version) 3rd (non-repeat) free ebook thread of the day.

Enjoy!

Beer is to Canada as wine is to France. How Labatt and its allies brewed up a nation of beer drinkers. Celebrate Canada Day with this free ebook from The Walrus magazine. Includes an original documentary from eqhd.

* I think this may be only the second third† dedicated beer-related official freebie we've ever gotten at MobileRead, and sadly FT Press is no longer repeating their books, so we probably won't be seeing the excellently titled Beer is Proof God Loves Us popping up again any time soon.

† Apparently we've also gotten The Beer Devotional from Adams Media as well. People sure are quasi-religious about their barley-based alcoholic beverages.