Product Details
- Author: Tom Standage
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- Binding: Paperback
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- Dewey Decimal Number: 394.12
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- EAN: 9780802715524
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- ISBN: 0802715524
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- Label: Walker Publishing Company
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- Manufacturer: Walker Publishing Company
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- Number of Items: 1
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- Number of Pages: 311
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- Product Group: Book
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- Publication Date: 2006-05-16
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- Publisher: Walker Publishing Company
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- Release Date: 2006-05-16
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- Studio: Walker Publishing Company
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- Title: A History of the World in 6 Glasses
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Avg Customer Rating: 
Product Description: From beer to Coca-Cola, the six drinks that have helped shape human history
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 21st 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 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 drink the same way again.
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Customer Reviews
It's actually quite interesting
I had to read this book over the summer for my world history AP class. Usually any summer book I have to read for school I usually dislike. So when I got this book, I was kinda unsure about whether I would enjoy it, considering it was going to be about history. However, to my surprise it wasn't bad at all and it was interesting and way better than reading history out of a text book. The only downfall is that after I read it, I had to write an essay about for it for school.
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A fun telling of the history of humankind - through beveridges..
6 drinks that shaped the course of humankind; a much easier idea to embrace and enjoy than the strong wills or fierce egos of the historical figures traditionally taught in schools.
Lots of entertainment and facts in a little book. Makes a great gift too as its premise surprises and delights its adult recipients.
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A Drinker and Thinker's Delight
First I must acknowledge the manifest superiority of Wendy Smith's witty praise from the Los Angeles Times. It makes what follows only a tribute to her accuracy and wit. The book's wealth of details of the science of beverages, of historical facts and of appropriate quotes culled from every culture and all periods of history makes it a literate person's delight - like "a cool glass of beer on a hot day," like a bottle of wine shared with friends. It supports a saying I once found on a tee shirt: "God must have intended people to be happy, that's why He(She) gave them books." If memory serves me correctly it was Ms. Manners who informed her readers that it was neither necessary nor even proper to bring wine to a dinner party, but since the practice is so much a part of the culture of the Midwest I have come to my own compromise - I bring as a house gift a copy of "A History of the World in 6 Glasses" to be enjoyed at their leisure with the beverage of
their choice.
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A history of he world in 6 glasses
The book was written in a style that was easy to read without being condescending or stooping to the lowest common denominator. It provided sound bits of history loosely connected to six kinds of beverages. Did these beverages definitively effect the events discussed here, no! Was there some connection; sure along with a number of other variables. Still all in all it was an interesting read and I learned something which is always a positive experience.
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Diferent look at world history.
My 15 year old son had to read this book for a class at school, and I decided to take a look at it. I was happily surprised at how the author teaches a history lesson in such an interesting manner. I like it so much I even suggested it to my book club to read. We all enjoyed it!
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