HIST 461: Absent From the Bar: Absinthe’s History, Absinthism, and Anti-Absinthe Movements in the United States 1840-2007

This paper seeks to explore the history of absinthe in the United States, as well as anti-absinthe movements and the invented illness of absinthism. The primary focus of the project is from the beginnings of absinthe’s popularity in the United States (in the 1840s) to its banning in 1912 to its relegalization (in a form) in 2007. Absinthe in the United States was treated differently and actively singled out as worse than other forms of high-proof alcohol, with campaigns against absinthe specifically, absinthe bans before Prohibition, and relegalization well after Prohibition.