Drinking, and not drinking, is as old as America itself, from the beer-loving pilgrims on the Mayflower and Paul Revere's boozy horse ride to Prohibition and the rise of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Some nations drink more and some less, but nowhere do those two things collide and replay on a loop through history quite like they have in the United States, says Susan Cheever, who's written Drinking in America: Our Secret History.

Cheever was addicted to alcohol, as was her father, author John Cheever. She's visited the subject of drinking in the past, and she's been in love with history since a college professor inspired her. But this project, published in October by Twelve Books, was "really a eureka moment," she says in a recent interview.

Nobody has really gone deep enough into American history and booze, she says.