Both sophisticated and brutal, vodka is the best-selling spirit in the world. Distilled from rye or the humble potato, it has been known since the fourteenth century, when it was first used as a medicine, but it took James Bond and the Cold War to make it glamorous in the West. Chillingly versatile, vodka was popularized as a toast by Peter the Great, but it was also his favourite punishment for wrongdoers, who had to drink a whole barrel. Vodka is known to Russians as "the green snake" and "the water of life", and without it the history of Russia would be very different. Every Russian head of state has legislated for or against it, and interference by Gorbachev hastened the collapse of the Soviet Union, just as Nicholas II's vodka prohibition contributed to the end of Imperial Russian. Vodka is now a firm favourite in the Western world, particularly with younger drinkers. Often drunk ice-cold and straight for its own unique taste, its versatility in enhancing fruit flavours has also led to special designer flavours created for different cities of the U.S.A. Exploring vodka in all its aspects, and including research in the vodka museums of Moscow and St. Petersburg, The Dedalus Book of Vodka demystifies the subject without ever spoiling its ambivalent and subtle qualities. AUTHOR: Geoffrey Elborn has written three biographies, and contributed to many other books, most recently The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He reviews for several journals. A life long interest in Russia began with his reading Dostoevsky's The House of the Dead at the age of ten.
