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A History Of The World In Six Glasses Chapter Summaries

857 Words4 Pages

Caroline King
Dr. Parker
History 111
6 November 2017
A History of the World in Six Glasses - Book Review
A History of the World in Six Glasses is a book by Tom Standage that describes how different drinks has changed people’s lives over the years. Chapters one through three specifically describe how beer, wine, and distilled spirits have changed the many societies of the world. All these drinks were very popular and they changed countries politically, economically, and socially. Beer was a discovery like no other and people loved and revered it so much that it was used for just about everything. Economically, it was used as a currency and people were not only paid with it, but they paid their taxes with the grain. According to Tom Standage, …show more content…

Economically speaking, rich romans would buy villas for slaves to work on to make the wine. It would then be shipped across the Roman Empire, which extended as far as the Middle East and Spain. Wine was also very popular in Greek and Italian cultures. As its popularity expanded, the demand for this Italian wine lead to a rise in slavery in large villas. Wine also began to replace grain production and Italy became more depended on African grain. Politically, people would gather to discuss profound truths and the universe while drinking wine in a symposium in Greece and Rome. Scholars and upper class citizens in Greece came together to share and discuss ideas that shaped the political thought of their civilization. According to Tom Standage, “wine became a symbol of social differentiation, a mark of the wealth and status of the drinker” (75). In Rome, it became a tradition to serve fine wines to guests as a way of showing their high status and sophistication. Socially, having wine meant you had power and were very important. It also showed that you were a very intellectual person. At first only people of the highest social classes had wine, but as it became more popular and more was being made, wine became affordable for the lower classes. It is common knowledge that the finer the wine, the more expensive it is and this couldn’t have been more true in these days. There was basically a different wine that each social class drank and the lower down the social ladder you went, the cheaper and not as fine the wine became. According to Tom Standage, “Pliny the Younger…described a dinner at which fine wine was served to the host and his friends, a second-rate wine to other guests, and third-rate wine to freedmen (former slaves)”

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