Man's descent from the gods : or, The complete case against Prohibition

This provocative essay begins with a deceptively simple question: why did humanity have to steal fire from the gods, and why did the gods respond with such fury? The author revisits the Prometheus myth with deep suspicion of the conventional image of the noble fire-stealer, arguing that its neglected details may preserve clues about the earliest development of human life and culture.

From this mythological starting point, the discussion moves toward food, drink, health, and the modern campaign for total prohibition. Drawing on classical scholarship, personal reflection, wartime experience, historical observations, and emerging ideas about nutrition, the book challenges the assumption that strict abstinence is automatically beneficial. It offers a wide-ranging case against prohibition while asking larger questions about instinct, civilization, bodily needs, and the costs of imposing moral theories on ordinary human behavior. Listeners can expect an argumentative, unconventional work that blends mythology, social criticism, dietetics, and cultural history.