Kirkus Reviews QR Code
TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE by Albert Ullman

TO KNOW THE DIFFERENCE

By

Pub Date: June 20th, 1960
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

A sympathetic, serious, in some ways innovational, and always interesting investigation of alcoholism, an illness (and it is to be so considered) which affects four million people in the U.S.- or 6% of those that drink. While Dr. Ullman is aware of the psychological disturbance which is a correlative factor, he does not hold with the majority opinion- that drinking is only a way of handling a conflict. He does place much emphasis on national patterns- environmental influences- and early attitudes and experiences (particularly if ambivalence exists) in determining later addiction.... As someone recently said, ""drinking isn't something one does... it's a thing that happens to one""... and here are all the sorry things that attend it-- the pretenses, rationalizations, protestations; the loss of self-esteem; the alienation of one's family; the occupational downward drift until you reach rock bottom where the first step toward salvation is surrender and the acceptance of the fact that ""one drink is too many; a thousand aren't enough"". A. A., more than an organization, but a point of view and a program, seems to be the best answer to date- and Dr. Ullman has used a good deal of their material (along with psychiatric studies, etc.) to bolster his survey and study of alcoholism. It's a very good book- for all those who are immediately or indirectly concerned with this problem- both in its insights and recommendations.