I'm reading "Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol", by Iain Gately, and he covers some of this in detail. In his book, he talks about how unprepared England was for gin: people primarily drank ale at that time, and they drank it regularly and in abundance. Some people drank gin like they drank ale, with disastrous results; people didn't initially believe that doing so was harmful, and certainly not that it could kill you. It really was treated like an epidemic among the working class.

I recommend the book to anyone with a curiosity in our history with alcohol - and it's a long history. The book, however, is a relatively light read. It's like a brief history of the world (although mostly the West) through the lens of alcohol.