World history is a long and complex subject. Although many accomplished authors such as Bill Bryson and HG Wells have attempted to condense the story into a single book, very few have succeeded. It’s too much. Attempts to summarize the last 10,000 years have resulted in superficial books with too little depth or large textbooks like tombs too inaccessible to the casual reader.
Happily, A history of the world in 6 glasses Tom Standage’s succeeds where others have failed. Standage’s book does this by sacrificing the breadth of all possible topics for impressive depth and focus. Rather than attempting to summarize the entire history of the man, this book highlights a single theme, in this case drinks, and then takes the reader on a journey through time to see how its theme weaves together the past. Standage is a charming writer, mixing his light-hearted style with exceptional historical knowledge, not just on the subject of drinks, but everywhere.
Despite my now positive opinion of this book, I have to confess that when I first understood A history of the world in 6 glasses, I did not expect to enjoy it. Not only am I skeptical of any book that claims to summarize the antiquity of man in 300 pages or less, but I myself do not drink any of the 6 drinks this book discusses. As such, knowing the history of these drinks didn’t seem immediately appealing. However, what I quickly learned is that this book is not a story of 6 drinks, but rather as the title says, a story of the world, told through the story of 6 drinks. As the book points out in the introduction, second only to air, liquid is the most vital substance for man’s survival. The availability of water and other sources of drinking water has “limited and guided the progress of mankind” and “has continued to shape the history of mankind.” Over time, drinks have done more than quench our thirst; they have been used as coins, medicine and in religious rites. They have served as symbols of wealth and power, as well as tools to appease the poor and oppressed.
A history of the world in 6 glasses It is divided into six sections, one for each drink, the first of which is beer. The first civilizations of man were based on the surplus production of cereals, much of which was processed. Ancient beers were high in vitamin B, a vitamin previously only obtained through meat. This allowed people to increasingly focus their nutrition efforts on cereals, ushering in the transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers. Also, because early beers were boiled (to convert more starch to sugars), beer was significantly safer to drink than water. This significant improvement in lifestyle “freed a small fraction of the population from the need to work in the fields and made it possible for priests, administrators, scribes, and skilled craftsmen to emerge.” Beer not only fueled man’s earliest civilizations, but, in many ways, made them fully possible.
Wine, the next drink in the book, played an important role in flourishing Greek and Roman cultures. As wine did not originate in the Mediterranean, the Greek desire for this drink opened a vast maritime trade, which spread their philosophy, politics, science and literature far and wide, and still underpins modern Western thought. A history of the world in 6 glasses points out how these advances originated and grew in the formal Greek drinking parties, called symposia. The Romans, who absorbed much of Greek culture, continued the heavy use of wine. As the book points out, if you trace the wine-drinking areas of the world on a map, you will find that you have tracked the Roman Empire at its peak.
After a thousand years of hibernation, Western civilization woke up to the rediscovery of ancient knowledge, long safeguarded in the Arab world. However, in an attempt to circumvent this Arab monopoly, European monarchs launched massive fleets into the sea. This era of exploration was greatly enhanced by the Arab knowledge of distillation, which made a whole new range of beverages possible. A history of the world in 6 glasses describes how these condensed forms of alcohol (namely brandy, whiskey, and rum) were so popular, especially in the new American colonies, that they “played a key role in the establishment of the United States.”
The fourth beverage featured in this book is coffee. Due to its sharpening effect on the mind, coffee quickly became the drink of the intellect and industry. Replacing taverns as sophisticated gathering places, the café “led to the establishment of scientific societies and financial institutions, the founding of newspapers, and provided fertile ground for revolutionary thought, particularly in France.” A history of the world in 6 glasses He goes on to relate the intricate effect that coffeehouses had on Victorian culture, going as far as devoting an entire chapter to what the book calls “The Coffeehouse Internet.”
Although the beginnings of tea date back many thousands of years, it did not take hold of Western culture until the mid-17th century. Once established as England’s national drink, the importation of tea from China first and then India led to trade and industrialization on an unprecedented scale. A history of the world in 6 glasses describes the immense power of the British East India Company, which “generated more revenue than the British government and governed far more people”, wielding more power than any other corporation in history. This imbalance of power had a huge and far-reaching effect on British foreign policy and ultimately contributed to the independence of the United States.
Like most of the drinks discussed in A history of the world in 6 glasses, Coca-Cola was originally conceived as a medical drink. More than any other product, Coca-Cola has remained the symbol of America’s “vibrant consumer capitalism.” Rather than shrink from the challenge, Coca-Cola made the most of the difficult times it was in, gained ground through the depression, and then journeyed alongside our soldiers to World War II, becoming a global phenomenon. According to the book, Coca-Cola still accounts for “about 30 percent of all liquid consumption” today.
A history of the world in 6 glasses makes it clear that the history of humanity is a history of our consumption. Whether we’re drinking “liquid bread” in Mesopotamia, reflecting on the revolution in a coffee shop in Paris, or throwing tea leaves into the ocean in Boston, these drinks have had a profound impact on who we are. As Standage says in the introduction to his book “They survive in our homes today as living reminders of bygone ages, fluid testaments to the forces that shaped the modern world. Discover their origins and you may never see your favorite drink in the world. same way again. ” I highly recommend this book to anyone who has a thirst for knowledge about the world around him … or even if he is just thirsty for a good drink.