Drinking My Way Through History Class

This is my first book report since grade school. Yay! While strolling through Borders, waiting on VA Wine Diva to make her selections, I stumbled upon A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage. The premise is simple: discuss six beverages that were major players in world history. The beverages? Beer, wine, distilled spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca-Cola! Given that my day always starts with coffee, often ends with wine, and generally involves a fair bit of geekery, I was all in.

The book’s a fairly fun read, and it’s sections are laid out to help lead us (roughly) through history. Naturally we start with beer- or rather, meads and other early fermented precursors to beer. We move through the ages and end up in the Middle East, with wine’s beginnings. The Greeks fell in love with wine, this was then appropriated by the Romans (along with pretty much the rest of their culture- hey, I’ve had history classes too), and it spread from there.

What drew me in to this book the most is the skill with which the author explains how inextricably tied to world events these beverages were (and are). From beer and bread as currency in ancient Egypt, to rum as a key to Britain’s naval superiority,to coffee as a party to revolutionary thought, to revelations about Coke that will make you simultaneously laud their brilliant thinking and cry shenanigans, Standage tells fascinating stories about beverages we take for granted. Now I can drink all my favorite locally available beverages and share a little history along the way!

The Drinking My Way Through History Class by Swirl, Sip, Snark, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.