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History Of The World In Six Glasses Summary

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A History of the World in Six Glasses – Reaction Paper A History of the World in Six Glasses is a popular history novel written by Tom Standage. Divided into six major sections, the book explores the evolution of the world’s most famous beverages and how they impacted their respective societies. From early beers all the way to Coca-Cola, Standage intrigues the reader with this non-traditional approach to world history. Because of this unique and clever approach, the novel is extremely effective and even entertaining. Standage connects with the reader by bringing a more lighthearted approach to a sometimes dull subject. Standage begins the novel discussing the evolution of beer in Egypt and Mesopotamia. In these early times, beer was consumed …show more content…

Spirits such as rum had a much higher alcohol content than that of beer or wine. Rum was also valuable because it did not spoil like other beverages. Spirits had a downfall, however, as it was the popularization of distilled spirits that led to the Molasses and Sugar Acts, and eventually the famed Whiskey Rebellion. Coffee also played an important role in the evolution of world history. Standage tells the reader that coffee originated in the Arab world, before spreading to Europe. With coffee came coffeehouses, which served as public discussion …show more content…

As previously mentioned, Standage brings a more lighthearted approach to a sometimes dull subject. It seems as though the book was intended for a younger audience, or anyone who enjoys alcoholic beverages. For college students, this book is especially interesting because it involves something that is very much a part of everyday life on college campuses. It is obvious that Standage is very knowledgeable on the subject of history, and seeks to make the teaching of history more fun and entertaining than what the reader has most likely seen in the past. Something about the novel that was particularly brilliant was the level cultural connection the author drew between societies and the various beverages. These connections were not far-fetched in anyway. In fact, they made great sense. For example, Standage cites beer is a major reason why early civilizations changed from hunter-gatherer societies to farming/agricultural societies. Because these early civilizations needed grain to make beer, they were willing to completely change their lifestyle to supply this beverage. If that isn’t significant, I’m not sure what

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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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1355 Words | 6 Pages

The History of the World in Six Glasses: Book Review In the book, A History of the World in Six Glasses, by Tom Standage, it explains world history through the six most popular and influential drinks dating back from approximately 3400 BCE to present day. Throughout human history, these six drinks have done more than just quench thirst; they have influenced the course of history from humankind’s adoption of agriculture to the advent of globalization.

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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 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.

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Sugar and rum became an important import because it was needed in order to produce other things such as Whisky. Whisky began to be taxed in attempt to increase the income of money. This angered many people into not wanting to pay. Native Americans believed that the spirits had supernatural powers that the drinkers could obtain by becoming fully intoxicated with the beverage.

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1274 Words | 6 Pages

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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Heidi Franks HIS 111- WA Blanche Hailey 26 October 2014 Chapter 8 This week I read chapter eight in my Patterns of World History book. I learned about the Empires and Visionaries in India. Before the rise of the Maurya, many states were all over india.

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The book “A History of the World in 6 Glasses” by Tom Standage was a interesting book and view in to the history of the alcoholic drinks that helped shaped the world as we know it. The first to chapters assigned were beer, wine, and spirits, where each chapter had information that grabbed the attention of the reader. In areas that grabbed my attention was the history of how beer was discovered, where wine was discovered to have purifying properties, and where spirits were associated with slavery. There were also parts of the three chapters where I thought the author could have added more even information.

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The world would be nowhere near where it is today without the drinks that revolutionized the world. Tom Standage begins with an obvious fact that humans can not live without any form of drink. He goes on to tell us which drinks that Standage will survey and how they changed the history of the world. Drinks became so important and so well known that people were getting paid for their labor intensive work with beer. Slaves were also being bought with whiskey, rum, and brandy.

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“A History of the World in 6 Glasses,” by Tom Standage gives the detailed history of 6 drinks that changed the world. These drinks include beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola. The drink I found the most interesting and appealing was tea. The history of tea appealed to me the most because of how it dramatically influenced culture, trade, geography, and society in China, India, Britain, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, America, and many more counties around the world. Tea has affected religions, societies, economies, and politics from areas in Japan to America.

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The human race has contantly changed throughout time. In the book, A History of the World in 6 Glasses, Tom Standage explains the how the six most popular drinks affected people. These drinks helped give an insight about human history. From 600 BCE-600 CE and 1900-present, social and cultural similarities and differences are interpreted through two drinks known as wine and coke. First off, one of the most prevalent themes is the development and interaction of cultures.

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According to the text A History of the World in 6 Glasses, the history of beer is linked to the growth of the first civilization due to the discovery of a property in cereal grains, a major ingredient in beer, that allowed them to be stored; in order to have accesses to the cereal grains needed for the production of beer, the hunter-gathers decided to stay in their place, the Fertile Crescent, hence the start of a civilization. The cereal grains and crops were plenteous throughout the Fertile Crescent; therefore, the families inhabiting the land were able to gather great quantiles of grain. Because the families didn’t want leave their harvested grains unattended and they wanted to ensure they didn’t miss the proper time to harvest the grains for future seasons. they established permanent settlements. When the hunter-gathers ran out of foodstuff, they used the cereal grains to make a thin broth known as gruel.

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672 Words | 3 Pages

In Straight Up or On the Rocks, Grimes dives into how the cocktail is more than a drink consumed on ice in bars, but how America has used it to established its culture and character both on home soil as well as in Europe. His claim that America has given much to the world, and should take pride in the cocktail, flavors the book as we are guided from the very humble beginnings in a colonial tavern to the believed second coming of mixed drinks today, a millennium after their introduction. From the classic martini glass that is now the symbol of late night neon bars everywhere to the speakeasies that kept the booze afloat, Grimes brings about the cocktail as a symbol of pure invention and modernity. Something that reflects our popular culture of the time just as our clothing or music choice.

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Beer left an astonishing impact on civilization because it made everyone get along and create new friendships and trust one another. Not only was beer easy to store and grow the grains, but it was a way in which a community socialized. Beer has grown and changed over many years. It first started out as a drink with grains and chaffs floating around in it, but now today it’s known as a smooth, clear drink that adults love to drink. When people were first discovering how to farm instead of hunt this was one of the more prominent drinks they had.

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905 Words | 4 Pages

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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