The Saloon On The Prairie Analysis

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In The Saloon on the Prairie: The Family and the Saloon in Braidwood, Illinois, 1865-1883 Steven Barleen challenges the common historical interpretation that working class saloon culture was primarily a place for single men, who worked in hard, industrial jobs, to drown their pain in alcohol. Barleen also challenges the commonly held contemporary middle class view that Braidwood saloons bred a culture of violence. What he found instead was that far from being a male-dominated world prone to mayhem, Braidwood saloons were gathering and recreational places for men, women, and even children. In times of trouble and hardship or events they could celebrate, the Braidwood community sought each other out in their local pubs.