A History of the World in 6 Glasses, Tom Standage
A History of the World in 6 Glasses, Tom Standage
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A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Author: Tom Standage

Narrator: Sean Runnette

Unabridged: 7 hr 34 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/25/2011


Synopsis

Throughout human history, certain drinks have done much more than just quench thirst. As Tom Standage relates with authority and charm, six of them have had a surprisingly pervasive influence on the course of history, becoming the defining drink during a pivotal historical period.

A History of the World in 6 Glasses tells the story of humanity from the Stone Age to the twenty-first century through the lens of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. Beer was first made in the Fertile Crescent and by 3000 B.C.E. was so important to Mesopotamia and Egypt that it was used to pay wages. In ancient Greece, wine became the main export of her vast seaborne trade, helping spread Greek culture abroad. Spirits such as brandy and rum fueled the Age of Exploration, fortifying seamen on long voyages and oiling the pernicious slave trade. Although coffee originated in the Arab world, it stoked revolutionary thought in Europe during the Age of Reason, when coffeehouses became centers of intellectual exchange. And hundreds of years after the Chinese began drinking tea, it became especially popular in Britain, with far-reaching effects on British foreign policy. Finally, though carbonated drinks were invented in 18th-century Europe, they became a 20th-century phenomenon, and Coca-Cola in particular is the leading symbol of globalization.

For Tom Standage, each drink is a different kind of technology, a catalyst for advancing culture by which he demonstrates the intricate interplay of different civilizations. You may never look at your favorite beverage the same way again.

About Tom Standage

Tom Standage is digital editor at the Economist and editor-in-chief of its website, economist.com. He is the author of six history books, including An Edible History of Humanity, the New York Times bestseller A History of the World in Six Glasses, and The Victorian Internet. His writing has also appeared in the Daily Telegraph, the New York Times, and Wired. He lives in London.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Casey on March 27, 2013

This book should really be called "A History of the Western World in 6 Glasses," as it doesn't consider the drinks of South America, Sub-Saharan Africa, Oceania, and much of Asia. Indeed, tea is considered only through the lens of the British empire, even though the formal Japanese tea service is ar......more

Goodreads review by Jennifer on September 08, 2019

An interesting and engaging way to learn about history. I found it fascinating. Will look on these beverages through new lenses now.......more

Goodreads review by Domenico on October 15, 2020

I seem to be in a phase where I like books that show me the hidden life of the everyday things all around us, especially food and drink. A few years ago I read "Heat: An Amateur's Adventures as Kitchen Slave, Line Cook, Pasta-Maker, and Apprentice to a Dante-Quoting Butcher in Tuscany", by Bill Bufo......more

Goodreads review by Patrick on September 17, 2021

23 Feb 2015 - I read this book since my son recommended it to me, while he was reading it for his World History AP class this year. I see why he liked it and I generally did too. It is fun and breezy and covers some fascinating ground that is indeed important, and grossly undercovered in most books......more

Goodreads review by Stefan on January 26, 2014

This book, I've read twice. It takes you from the formation of beer and society in Mesopotamia, to the use of wine as currency and how wine types represented a social classification system in Greece and Rome. It went through spirits and colonial time: We only have whiskey because it took too long to......more