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The Search for God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer that Changed the World Review

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The title seems odd, but it fits. This book is as much about the author’s search as his findings. He comes from outside the “beer culture”. It would be as if I wrote a book on Starbucks, since I don’t drink coffee. What I really think he wanted to write about is the philanthropy of Arthur Guiness, and his subsequent lineage. What he is excited to write about is how Arthur was very influenced by Charles and John Wesley, the founders of Methodism and its “social gospel”, and evangelist George Whitefield. He’s on safe ground here, as most books on Guiness and beer would fail to bring in these topics. However, then he has to almost apologize for the book to his fellow Protestants who are not merely moderate drinkers but abstainers. There follows an intriguing history of brewing and the place of beer in society. Earlier Protestants like Guiness viewed beer not as the curse, but the answer to the problem of drunkeness from harder gin. Not surprisingly, he quotes an author from 100 years ago, G.K. Chesterton, who could always be counted on to stand up for pubs and beer, and he gave us this quote, among others: “We should thank God for beer and burgundy by not drinking too much of them.”

The book from then on repays careful reading, because it offers glimpses of little known history. 90 per cent of Dublin’s population was Catholic, Mansfield notes, but they only owned 10 per cent of the land. Why? the reader immediately asks. Because when Henry VIII took created the Church of England, there was nothing to create it from but stolen Catholic churches and monasteries, Catholicism being then conveniently outlawed. The Irish church was the Irish equivalent of the Church of England (Anglican Church). Guiness, whose workers were all Catholic, was a model employer who opposed the anti-Catholic laws in Ireland, we’re told, and even went so far as to rebuild St. Patrick’s Cathedral. If only he could have gone further, and given it back to the Catholics.

Mansfield mentions the Englisn Quaker Cadbury, a total abstainer who invented a famous cocoa drink as an alternative to alchohol, and created a utopian British village for his workers. Lever, a soap manufacturer, also was known for providing similarly well-designed housing. However, the same Chesterton mentioned earlier, wrote a poem in favor of beer which has the line “Cocoa is a Cad”– an obvious reference to Cadbury’s anti-pub stance. The Ball And The Cross, Manalive, The Flying Inn (Collected Works of Gk Chesterton) Guiness provided free medical care and on site doctors for his workers. In England this went further, with inspectors regulating every aspect of the life of the poor. Eventually this led to the eugenics movement and forced sterilization in England, America, and around the world. In America, Margaret Sanger’s original goal, for instance, was entirely ethnic: to limit the numbers of Jews, blacks, and Irish Catholics. Eugenics and Other Evils : An Argument Against the Scientifically Organized State

As Mansfield notes, during the Irish potato famine, the British government “did nothing” to help, prompting “A Modest Proposal” from Jonathan Swift, a rector at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and the author of Gulliver’s Travels, with the bleak and sardonic proposal that the Irish poor eat their young. A bit farther afield, Mansfield decries the split between the sacred and profane that he says Catholics created, and Martin Luther healed. The puritans, he notes, would hoist a cold one, as would the German reformer. Chesterton, on the other hand, would say it was the other way round, noting that the puritans outlawed the celebration of Christmas, and Martin Luther closed the monasteries which were the breweries of the day.

Mansfield says the available info on the Guinesses is rather sketchy, but by the end of the book, there seems to be quite a bit. I looked for apologist and writer Os Guiness in the last chapter on twentieth century Guinesses, but he was not among those present. Is he not in the lineage? The question will have to wait. All that said, Mansfield piqued my interest enough to want, well, another pull at the tap. I’m ready to relax with a tall, cool one, maybe a Harp lager, whenever he wants to tell the rest of the story.

The Search for God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer that Changed the World Feature

• ISBN13: 9781595552693
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

The Search for God and Guinness: A Biography of the Beer that Changed the World Overview

The history of Guinness, one of the world’s most famous brands, reveals the noble heights and generosity of a great family and an innovative business.

It began in Ireland in the late 1700s. The water in Ireland, indeed throughout Europe, was famously undrinkable, and the gin and whiskey that took its place was devastating civil society. It was a disease ridden, starvation plagued, alcoholic age, and Christians like Arthur Guinness-as well as monks and even evangelical churches-brewed beer that provided a healthier alternative to the poisonous waters and liquors of the times. This is where the Guinness tale began. Now, 246 years and 150 countries later, Guinness is a global brand, one of the most consumed beverages in the world. The tale that unfolds during those two and a half centuries has power to thrill audiences today: the generational drama, business adventure, industrial and social reforms, deep-felt faith, and the beer itself.

“Frothy, delicious, intoxicating and nutritious! No, I’m not talking about Guinness Stout-I’m talking about Stephen Mansfield’s fabulous new book…The amazing and true story of how the Guinness family used its wealth and influence to touch millions is an absolute inspiration.” – Eric Metaxas, New York Times best-selling author

“It’s a rare brew that takes faith, philanthropy and the frothy head of freshly-poured Guinness and combines them into such an inspiriting narrative. Cheers to brewmaster Stephen Mansfield! And cheers to you, the reader! You’re in for a treat.” – R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr., Founder and editor-in-chief of The American Spectator

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