What could six of the most popular drinks have to do with the history of our world? According to Tom Standage, a creative non-fiction writer, they have influenced everything. As an editor for The Economist and author of several prominent historical works, Standage has the knowledge and creativity required to relate drinks to history. In A History of the World in Six Glasses, Standage clearly and descriptively singles out six popular drinks- beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola- that shaped the modern world. Readers are captivated by Standage’s discussion of how different drinks have come to prominence in different times, places, and cultures. He approaches the drinks in a neat and chronological order linking each with a specific era due …show more content…
Standage discusses beer’s importance in bringing people together and how the drink is still used today in pubs to open up conversations. Whether it was social or religious gatherings, people longed for a taste of beer believing it was a gift from the Gods and should be appreciated just like life is. Standage’s confidence in his writing is clearly displayed through his connection between beer and the first form of writing, cuneiform. He openly states his argument that beer was one of the main causes writing developed, but carefully incorporates counter-arguments to balance the scale which demonstrates his skill as an author. Modern Christianity is deeply tied to the origin of wine’s importance going back to the time Jesus walked the Earth. Since then, wine has become a staple in the christian celebration of Easter and other special occasions. It’s intriguing how one drink has not only formed a practice of it’s own, but is a critical part of a religion. Standage then moves on to discuss the practice of tea drinking in Britain which dates back to the Industrial Revolution. Around the world, Britain’s empire flourished with the acceptance of pristine tea drinking and the “historical impact of its empire [...] can still be seen today” (150). The drinking of beer in pubs, the use of wine in religious ceremonies, and the esteemed tea …show more content…
Since these drinks were more of modern inventions, Standage highlighted the importance of rum during the Age of Exploration and Tea with British imperialism. Rum and other spirits were used as currency during the Transatlantic Slave Trade which really stabilized when Europeans began to produce rum and other spirits on a mass scale. Standage then highlights the effects on the economy and trade when he begins his section on tea where imperialism grew and freedom decreased. Trade was forever changed when the British East India Company undermined the rules set in place by both the Chinese and the British. The result of this was the destabilization of China in the 19th century of which damaged the economy seeing that China was a powerful economic country. While these drinks can’t be said to have caused the most decisive moments in history, they definitely directed the history that led to what our world looks like
Only one thing matters more than a liquid refreshment, getting a fresh breath of air. But liquids, unlike air, are more than just necessities for life. A simple drink that was used just to quench a thirst had the possibilities of being a political stimulant, economic sparker, and a cultural infuser. Tom Standage decides to magnify the microscopic drops of history that had seemed to slip our minds so easily as just a thirst quencher. Whenever someone picks up a nice cold glass of one of these drinks, they should know the history of it.
A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage is about six drinks (beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and coca-cola) and how they have affected the world in the past and the present. All of these drinks were invented in different eras, and the inventions of these drinks were affected by what had occurred in the time period.
The author wants to show that beverages had a great impact on history. He wants to tell his
There are many things that shape the course of history. Powerful rulers, deadly diseases, and influential religions are a few common examples of these. But, one group of influential commodities to shape history that not many people consider is beverages. In particular, beer, wine, spirits, tea, coffee, and cola are six that have significantly shaped the course of history. The nonfiction book, A History of the World in 6 Glasses, written by Tom Standage, discusses the significance of these six popular drinks in relation to human culture shaping around their existence.
Wine has been a part of Western history since the Neolithic Period (8,500-4,000 B.C.), when cultures first started to develop permanent communities, and stopped being nomadic hunter-gatherers (U. Penn, 2000). One of the earliest written records of the consumption of wine is recorded in the Bible and the impact of wine on Mediterranean cultures became more pronounced over the years as the geopolitical situation stabilized in the region under the Roman Empire. Roman Imperialism helped to spread the production of wine across most of the countries in the Empire, which included most of North Africa and Southern Europe (Britannica, 2000). During that same era, wine became ingrained in the Christian faith and is still used in Christian mass today. The close tie between wine and the Christian faith aided to the spread of wine production and wine consumption across Europe
A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage is a non-fiction historical novel, whose main purpose is to show the surprisingly pervasive influence of certain drinks on the course of history. Then it takes the reader on a journey through time to show the history of mankind through the lens of beverages.
Water is believed to be the most quintessential and contributing drink towards the progress of the human race. While that may be the case, water was aided by many beverages that were developed over time. People were destined to eventually make, invent, find or discover these universal beverages, as described in A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage. He writes about six different beverages: beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola, which were all blown up to influence lifestyles, customs, cultures and more. While the six important beverages have not necessarily had a positive influence, they still demonstrate the different themes that define the progress of world history.
1. The author’s main thesis in setting up this book is that many drinks have built and brought together human history in to what we know about it.
1. The author’s main thesis in setting the book is that drinks have shaped human history ever since early humans were forced to live by rivers, springs and lakes to ensure an adequate supply of freshwater.
Are there any other beverages that influenced the history of the world or any others that are representative of a particular time period? While Standage mentions seven beverages that represent certain time periods, there are more drinks than the seven that he listed, and any of those other beverages could also have a similar impact to the seven he listed.
The book talks about six drinks; beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and coco-cola. From the third millennium BCE to twentieth century, the drinks changed human history. Tom Standage tells how it was made, the origins, what countries the drink spreads to, and how it change human civilizations. The human civilizations changes includes agriculture, wars, and trading. Also, writing and culture changes because of these drinks. Another thing, how the brain changes under the influence of alcohol and caffeine and if it was socially accepted to go in the places where the drinks was serve. The book includes how important or famous people was affected by the drink.
This was due to coffee’s effect on the mind that inspired a sense of clarity and conversation. This effect was completely different than the effects of alcohol on the drinker. Standage argues that the emergence of
The relationship between alcoholic beverages and religion goes back thousands of years. The use of wine is at the heart of many Christian Religions and important Jewish ceremonies are marked by drinking a prescribe number of glasses. The Ancient Egyptians believe the much worship god Osiris. The ancient Egyptians made at least 17 types of beer and even more varieties of wine used for pleasure, nutrition, medicine, ritual and funerary purposes. In Babylon, the people worships wine deities,
The wine they drank symbolized that. And maybe, as with everything in their perspectives, it was the median on a scale of beer to water of the three instrumentalities of moderation.
Beer and wine might have been one of the first drinks that caused humans to civilize and create a great community. In fact Tom Standage introduces us to this idea of these early drinks shaping human culture in his book A History of a World in Six Glasses. As Standage informs us about how beer was one of the causes in early settlement, and why farming was led to a great success because of the use of beer. Standage also mentions a start in traditions and a formation of government due to these drinks. Although beer being very important, Standage also introduces us to wine as a form of a class status that helped man distinguishing barbarism to a world of high standards and manners allowing for the community to become more cultured and