| Introduction | p. 3 |
1 | Why Do We Get Drunk? | p. 17 |
| Brain Hijack: Porn and Sexually Starved Fruit Flies | p. 23 |
| Evolutionary Hangovers: Drunken Monkeys, Liquid Kimchee, and Dirty Water | p. 27 |
| More Than Twinkles and Porn: Beyond Hangover and Hijack Theories | p. 31 |
| A Genuine Evolutionary Puzzle: An Enemy in the Mouth That Steals Away the Brain | p. 35 |
| A Genetic Mystery: We Are Apes Built to Get High | p. 41 |
| A Cultural Mystery: Prohibition's Strange Failure to Take Over the World | p. 49 |
| Pickles for the Ancestors? | p. 58 |
2 | Leaving the Door Open for Dionysus | p. 61 |
| The Human Ecological Niche: Creative, Cultural, Communal | p. 65 |
| The Creative Animal | p. 71 |
| The Cultural Animal | p. 80 |
| The Communal Animal | p. 87 |
| Regaining the Child's Mind | p. 95 |
| The Drunken Mind | p. 97 |
| Leaving the Door Open for Dionysus | p. 103 |
3 | Intoxication, Ecstasy, and the Origins of Civilization | p. 107 |
| A Visit from the Muse: Intoxication and Creativity | p. 111 |
| Chemical Puppies: Turning Wolves into Labradors | p. 116 |
| The Chemical Handshake: In Vino Veritas | p. 124 |
| Puking and Bonding | p. 134 |
| Liquid Ecstasy and the Hive Mind | p. 141 |
| Political Power and Social Solidarity | p. 150 |
| Cultural Group Selection | p. 156 |
4 | Intoxication in the Modern World | p. 159 |
| Whiskey Rooms, Saloons, and the Ballmer Peak | p. 162 |
| Truth Is the Color Blue: Modern Shamans and Microdosing | p. 171 |
| Why Skype Didn't Eliminate Business Travel | p. 177 |
| Office Parties: Pros and Not Just Cons | p. 182 |
| Long Live the Local | p. 187 |
| Beauty Is in the Eye of the Beer Holder: Sex, Friendship, and Intimacy | p. 192 |
| Collective Effervescence: Tequila Shots and Burning Man | p. 199 |
| Ecstasy: Vacation from the Self | p. 204 |
| It's Only Rock-n-Roll: Defending the Hedonistic Body | p. 211 |
| It Is Time to Be Drunk | p. 217 |
5 | The Dark Side of Dionysus | p. 223 |
| The Puzzle of Alcoholism | p. 226 |
| The Problem with Liquor: An Evolutionary Mismatch | p. 232 |
| Isolation: The Danger of Drinking Alone | p. 239 |
| Distillation and Isolation: The Twin Banes of Modernity | p. 244 |
| Drunk Driving, Bar Fights, and Venereal Disease | p. 247 |
| Beer Goggles and Violence Against Women | p. 251 |
| Outsiders and Teetotalers Not Welcome: Reinforcing the Old Boys' Clubs | p. 254 |
| Solace or Wedge? Reinforcing Bad Relationships | p. 261 |
| Drunk on Heaven: Getting Beyond Alcohol? | p. 264 |
| Taming Dionysus | p. 270 |
| Living with Dionysus | p. 280 |
| Conclusion | p. 283 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 293 |
| Bibliography | p. 297 |
| Notes | p. 323 |
| Index | p. 351 |