Everybody who either drinks or does not drink should read this hard-hitting book. Though written in lively and humorous vein, it is a serious study of the social havoc wrought in New Zealand by conflicts and compromises between the self-righteous prohibitionist and the profit-seeking brewer , who between them have segregated drinking from every other normal social activity.

The NZ listener said of the first (1959) edition: Here is the whole grotesque history of drink in these islands, of the law made to encourage it, discourage it, adjust its price and stabiliseits power. Here also are the heros and cillians of that history: those who drank too litttle and those who drank too much, wowers, brewers, idealists, venal politicians and frustrated judges. Mr Bollinger has done an immense amount of research in his subject and he presents it with a certain charm.

The author has not merely exposed the conditions which created the licensing laws and permit them to survive; he has also mapped out a programme for future reforms. When he testified before the 1960 Keeling Committee he found that a copy of the first edition of this book had been supplied as background reading to each member of the Committee.

Grog's Own Country created a stir when it was first published. It has been brought up-to-date by the addition of new material and illustrations.

- from the inside cover.

Second edition, published in 1967 by Minerva Ltd.
Good secondhand condition. Tight binding, clean pages. Foxing and fading on page ends and end pages. NO DUST JACKET. Red boards faded on front cover and spine. Previous owner's name stamped on the end page.