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Analysis Of Tom Standage's 'A History Of A World In 6 Glasses'

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In Tom Standage’s A History of a World in 6 Glasses(Ch. 1-4) takes on a journey to the past to reveal to us the great roles that beer and wine had on civilization. This book(Ch. 1-4) explores the time of the Stone age to the periods before and after the Roman Empire. This book reveals to us how beer and wine were used for cultural, social, political, and even medical purposes. Finally, Standage shows us how civilizations grew by the spreading of beer and wine, and how the spreading of these drinks spread culture around the world. To Standage beer and wine is a technology that played huge role in the developing and advancing civilization. In the introduction, Standage states that throughout history various drinks have/had such high significance …show more content…

He tells the story of King Ashurnasirpal II and his great ceremony. After winning a big military champaign and building a new capital city, he had a party with 69,574 guests, in which he served 10,000 jars of wine. Standage then talks about how wine was only for the privileged and wealthy, until wine met with greek culture. After wine was introduced to the greeks, wine became available to everyone because vineyard were grown everywhere. Greek wine was then exported throughout the world, which also allowed greek culture and thought to spread out through out the world. Greeks also had a method to drink wine. Before drinking any wine, it was mandatory that the wine was mixed with water so that the wine don’t make you lose your soberness. If this was not done, it was considered barbaric. Greeks said only their god Dionysus could drink wine just as it is. Wine was also the most important drink at symposiums. In symposiums men would drink wine, chat, and play a game called kottabos. Some guests had bad effects after drinking the wine and often these greek drinking parties would turn into huge fights or into orgies. Philosopher Eratosthenes wrote that the best place to discover the truth is at a symposium. He also declared that wine reveals what is

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A History of the World in 6 Glasses, by Tom Standage, discusses the influence of various drinks on certain events and throughout the course of history. The drinks we read about in this book are beer, wine, spirits, tea and (from the epilogue) water. The overall purpose of this book is to explain and prove that each of these drinks had a profound effect on the world. Tom Standage is a digital editor and an author who wrote a plethora of books on an array of events and times throughout history. That being said, Standage’s work can be trusted and recommended as he is a qualified writer.

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In John Standage’s book, A History of the World in Six Glasses, the history of the world is told through the history of six beverages; beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca Cola. The effect that each has had on the world is profound and immeasurable, however, of the six beverages, I have found that coffee has played the largest and most significant role in world history. One way that coffee affected world history is that establishments that served coffee created a social venue for members of the community to bond over various topics. Standage wrote that coffeehouses were hotspots for “gossip, rumor, political debate, and satirical discussion.”, similar to what they are in the present day. These topics led to Kha’ir Beg, ruler of Egypt, as well as his superiors worrying about coffeehouses being a popular meeting place for those wishing to overthrow the government.

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In A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage, the similarities and differences in the economic and political role of drinks such as spirits and coffee between the Colonial Period and the Age of Reason are presented. Economic similarities between these periods include that spirits and coffee were agriculturally produced and traded between areas for items and that both of these drinks slowly promoted the growth of capitalism. An economic difference is a trade of spirits being used as slave currency and encouraging slavery while coffee promoted equality between different economic classes. Political similarities include spirits and coffee shifting political power and the drinks’ role in challenging the government. A political difference

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A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage is not the typical history read that one might expect. To some who find reading history books quite tedious and overwhelming, this book is for you. Standage divides his book into 6 main sections via beverages: Beer, Wine, Spirits, Coffee, Tea and Coca-Cola. These drinks, which all started as a form of medicine, not only have great affects on today’s social culture but have also affected the historical spread of technology, religion, exploration, trade, slavery, and noteworthy worldwide events that changed society. As Standage describes it, Beer was a representation of both liquid wealth and health during the early civilizations in Egypt and Mesopotamia.

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At The Devon Winter Carnival the hard cider is the most “cautiously guarded treasure.” Brinker forces a classmate to guard the cider with his life. The cider is so valuable because it’s alcoholic and the boys find it fun to be intoxicated. The belief that alcohol leads to excitement represents the Dionysian side of man because Dionysius is the god of wine. Later on in the afternoon, Chet Douglas plays the trumpet, serenading the crowd with beautiful music, relating to the Dionysian side of man because the god Dionysius greatly values music.

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Around this time, each person was consuming tremendous amounts of alcohol. The consumption of alcohol was considered a sin and in order to stop this

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He changed from the society norm to a more mindful person. The symbolism of wine is salvation, that he is saved from the brianless

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Ancient Greece Drinking Vessels, found in ancient greece during the era of 900B.C- 700 B.C, were known to be used as drinking vessels; the primary use of ancient drinking vessels was to drink from them with substances such as wine and water. In addition, ancient Greek drinking vessels were used to furnish the graves of the dead to honor them; many of the graves have the vessels with flowers in them. In modern time, America doesn’t use the glasses they drink out of as vases for the dead, but they do use vases made on the graves to put flowers in. In fact, the Greece vessels were also used as decoration because of their geometric designs; they are often displayed in museums because of their beauty. In modern day, water is drunk from cups and

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Throughout human history, many different things affected culture and history as a whole. From laws, to inventions, to technological advancements. One thing most people do not consider to be part of this list is drinks. In the book “A History of the World in 6 Glasses” by Tom Standage, six different drinks that heavily affected world history are discussed and analyzed. Beer and wine had an extensive effect on the world, but coffee is, without question, the most influential of the three.

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Euripides lived and wrote for the duration of the Dionysian incursion from the East. This means that Euripides’s The Bacchae indicates Dionysus 's still unfinished incorporation into Greek spiritual and public doctrines. The Bacchae represents a deadly melee concerning the dichotomy between regulator and self-autonomy and permits Dionysus to deliver a solution to this problem. His tragedy counter-argues the problem of whether it is imaginable for a part of the well-structured social order to be enthusiastic in indulging in an illogical space. After Dionysus became customary, he became connected with community customs such as theater, wine celebrations, social equality, and overall merriment.

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Martin Luther King Junior once said, “There is nothing more dangerous in all the world than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity” (Luther 1963) While blunt, Luther beautifully explains that ignorance is not a human virtue and instead is dangerous. Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Cask of Amontillado” is another example of how sincere ignorance is dangerous to the individual. Fortunato is well liked among his peers and is a respected individual when it comes to the connoisseurship of wine. However, unbenounced to him, he has also made an enemy of Montresor.

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Also, religiously, the consumption of alcohol went against God’s will. A known fact was that Christianity helped introduce Prohibition in the USA. They even¬ set up an ‘Anti-Saloon League’ arguing that drinking alcohol was damaging American society and should ban

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The War of the Worlds takes place in England. H.G. Wells wrote the book in the late 1800s, so many of the actions pertain with that time. During the story, the narrator resides in Woking. Throughout the story, cylinders land in different locations where the Martians stay. The narrator ventures throughout England in the story, due to these Martians.

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He fetched some wine from his vineyard in hopes that the wine would somehow help the maiden. The maiden drank the wine, and within a short while she was completely cured of her ailment. When Dionysus inquired about the cause of such a malady, she told him that she had been taking shelter in a cave near the sea. Before settling down to sleep, she fetched some water from the sea the night before so she would have something to quench her thirst in the morning.

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