How An Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization Summary

Introduction

It’s a vegetable that doesn’t provide any nourishment, originally it was used to cure illness, and the first president of the United States, George Washington grew it.2 Today, an acre of tobacco can be sold for approximately thirty-five hundred dollars an acre, making it one of the most profitable crops to grow.2 Historically, tobacco played an important role in the founding of the United States, during the revolutionary war, Benjamin Franklin was able to secure a loan from France using tobacco as collateral.1 So, in a sense early colonist used tobacco to secure Americas independence.1 Today, tobacco still plays an important role in providing money to the United States, with approximately one hundred billion dollars being paid annually in taxes. 2 However, it is the single largest contributor to controllable cause of death in the United States and is the only product that when used properly will kill you. 2 There are two main types of tobacco crops grown in the United States, flue cured tobacco and Burley tobacco. 2 These are the types of tobacco most commonly found in cigarettes. Burley

In the book our group is reading Tobacco A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization, the author Lain Gatley discusses the use of ancient tobacco as a form of medicine, stimulation, and an insecticide.1 It would be used in shamanic rituals, blown over warriors and women, and also over plants to keep insects from invading their harvest.1 The modern tobacco plant, Nicotiana tabacum, is the common species that most people think of when it comes to present day tobacco products.3 Nicotiana tabacum has a milder nicotine content and it was reduced in order to be ingested so that one could sell it.23 This species is cultivated for commercial purposes whether in the form of cigarettes or cigars,