In their efforts to rally the public to action, the authors have exaggerated the actual magnitude of alcohol abuse on American college campuses. Federal surveys consistently report a continuing decline in alcohol consumption rather than an "epidemic." Their own data fail to make the case and they are forced to use anecdotal interviews of students who do abuse alcohol. But anecdotal evidence does not constitute science or a sound basis for public policy. Their suggestions for reducing the problem consist of demonstrably ineffective policies along with some that appear to constitute unconstiitutional infringements upon personal liberties. Much more useful is H. Wesley Perkins' The Social Norms Approach to Prevening ...."

In spite of the federally-documented continuing decline in alcohol use among American college students, the authors promote the view that there is an epidemic of collegiate alcohol abuse. They rely heavily on anecdotal rather than systematically-collected evidence to support this view. Wechsler and Wuethrich contend that this alleged dangerous epidemic requires a number of strong public policies against alcohol that are prohibitionist in nature. However, attempts to impose total abstinence on adults age 18 to 21 would not likely to be successful and would almost certainly be counter-productive. Prohibition has always been a failure and led to less frequent but heavier and more dangerous consumption..

We are so immersed in a national cult of alcohol that we can't, or won't, see the forces at work. This book peels back the façade so that we can make our own decisions about were we want to go as a society. The myth that the personal choice to abuse alcohol is a sacred right that harms only the user, is exploded. The authors put a human face on a steady stream of well-researched statistics that run throughout the book. I was afraid that this was going to be yet another preachy tome but found myself intrigued, angered, disgusted, yet often uplifted and enlightened by the vignettes presented in this lively-written narrative. Personally, I abhor cynicism and knee-jerk accusations that use conspiracy to explain away every societal ill - but the authors' indictment of the alcohol industry and its accomplices is so compelling, and upon reflection, so obvious, that the word "conspiracy" is too weak in this case. Sadly, they show that even the purity of "good science" is being prostituted by certain social-pschology academics; as a scientist I find this shocking. The ultimate obscenity is that, more than ever before, our children are being systematically used as "societal gateways" to infuse violence, tragedy, and irresponsible behavior into the bedrock of our culture. And we are willing and compliant.