Autobiography of a Reformed Drunkard

Autobiography of a Reformed Drunkard: Or, Letters and Recollections by an Inmate of the Alms-House was written by John Cotton Mather, of the Mather family. This was a family of Puritan preachers who were at the founding of the New England colonies. His great grandfather, Increase Mather, was President of Harvard in the 1680s. His story begins with him waking up from a blackout drunk in the state of Connecticut. He tells how he was jailed and then forced into an Alms House, a sort of sober living recovery house of the time. He describes some of his fellow drunkards, and how he eventually recovers. The second part of the book describes his reuniting with his family, and the work he does to be of service to others trying to recover from drunkenness. At times humorous, as when he describes the Eagle of the State of Connecticut, and at times tragic, when he describes those who drank themselves to death, he is passionate about passing along a message of recovery from drunkenness. This is a new edition of the public domain book that was originally published in 1845. To the best of our knowledge, it has never before been reissued. This new edition includes:A new Foreword written by the publisher Several footnotes illuminating the references made by the author. Reproductions of the original illustrations in the text. New format, layout, typesetting. Also included, as an appendix, are two stories the author alludes to that were quite popular at the time, satirical stories, in the vein of Bunyan or Blake, about distillers who make a 'deal with the devil.' Bulkington Book's mission is to build a bridge into the past, before film, television, copyright, and internet swallowed up the world. We found this story worthy of revival, and we hope you find it worth your while.