A History Of The World In 6 Glasses Essay

A History of the World in 6 Glasses Did you know if you went more than a few days without providing your body with fluids you could possibly die? In the book A History of the World in 6 Glasses, by Tom Standage, world history can be divided into 6 different beverages that chart the flow of world history; beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. Not only are drinks vital for our health drinks have played a variety of roles in history. Yes, we do consume drinks to quench our thirst, but they have provided humans over the past ten thousand years with social status, currency, celebration, and so much more. The type of drink you drank whether it is wine or beer could determine if you were of the elite.

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.

The clarity of the material suggests that beer was a very common occurrence at this time, and the evidence continues to suggest that it was used for nearly 2000 years more during temple rituals. Moonshine became popular during the age of prohibition in America. Since alcohol was illegal people turned to home

It had -- and continues to have-- an effect on the political, economic, and social aspects of civilizations. Dating back to the world 's first civilizations beer has a huge influence on the economy. In Mesopotamia "…wages and rations were paid in bread and beer.." (Standage Pg.2) ; cereal grains were considered the base of the economy. To this day beer is still creating jobs and generating economic growth. However, even in the ancient times people disapproved of beer.

CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE The United States and liquor have always had a good relationship. Americans loved their alcoholic beverages just as much as Rubeus Hagrid loved caring for magical creatures. Religious revivalism thrived in the 1920s to 1930s, to which lead to demands for temperance and movements that aimed for the abolition of societal norms such as slavery. Throughout the history of the United States, prohibition left a great dent in its history. In certain states, this started roughly during World War 1 in order to save grain for food production.

Apart from other alcoholic beverages, there is also the competition from other Tequila brands that are found in the country. Luxury tequila industry is booming and Patron Spirits Company has a huge share of the market (Martineau, 2017). Some of the competitors of the company and product include; Diageo North America Incorporated, Cabo Wabo LLC and Mast- Jaegermeister US,

Beer has had a profound impact on western society. It is used during holidays, celebrations, and general recreation. However, what more westerners don’t know is that beer has also greatly influenced Asian countries--specifically Japan. Even though Japan has a culture known for drinking tea, beer has been a large part since it was introduced in the 1800s, and is still a large part of Japanese society today. However, it had a majority of its impact leading up to the interwar period in Japan (the time between World War One and World War Two).

Bootleggers became a profitable source of income for many and as a result they gained enormous power. Many bootleggers would bribe high political figures, securing there illegal business. People started buying alcohol in the black market and in pubs called “speakeasies”.As the prohibition era went on, fewer and fewer people were controlling the money made by bootlegging. Prohibition was apart of the Eighteenth amendment that prohibited the manufacture sale production of alcohol but not consumption or possession. Prohibition supporters, called “dries”, present it as a victory for public morals and health.

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. In areas that could have had more even information were in the chapter about beer was mainly on how it was made rather than used.

Tom Standage’s book “A History of the World in 6 Glasses”, showed how six varied drinks can have drastic effects on human civilization. Beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola all have helped mold the world into what it is today, and though the marks of alcoholic and caffeinated drinks are different, there are similarities between them as well. With their effects on the body being polar opposites, alcohol and caffeine impacted economies differently, and even influenced the U.S. in their own distinctive ways. One thing they both share however is their impact on ancient medicine, giving way to decreased disease and increased population. Alcohol was first consumed as beer in ancient Sumeria when growing wheat and barley became popular.

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.

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

Overtime there have been millions of successful and intelligent people that commonly consumed alcohol. Some of these individuals include; Mark Twain, Stephen King, and our founding father Benjamin Franklin. Underage drinking is a major topic of discussion across the United States; however, many believe that the drinking age should be lowered to eighteen. Those individuals feel this way due to the

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.