A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage is the story of humanity beginning from the Stone Age up to the twenty-first century in the light of types of spirits and soft drinks consumed by people. The author chooses six kinds of drinks that had the most crucial importance for the human history. Standage also tries to connect the drink’s emergence with great historical process that appeared through the World History. Each spirit or beverage depicted in the book pertains to a certain cultural period.
In his book, the writer begins with an important thesis that each epoch has its own leading beverage. Standage explains that even the smallest detail, such as drink preferences, could be viewed in a larger economic and cultural context. Regarding this, the book proposes bear, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola being the leading beverages that significantly influenced the history of humanity. Those new drinks served as an honorable substitution to the polluted water; they might be used in the traditions or as the sources of philosophical inspiration. According to the book, bear production was predetermined by the transition from hunting to farming. It was the most valuable drink in Mesopotamia and Egypt and was even used as the method to pay wages to people. Wine became the major product of trade and at the same time, it fostered the expansion of Greek culture abroad. The Arab world is known for coffee production; it was quickly spread to Europe thus becoming the “intellectual contribution to the geographical expansion in the Age of Exploration” (Standage 134). Such spirits as brandy and rum also dominated at this historic period. The introduction of coffee to the European culture facilitated the financial and industrial rise. The European coffeehouse embodied the rise of scientific and intellectual thought. The vivid intervention of tea on the world arena made the signature beverage of the elevated classes. Finally, the Coca-Cola production is identified with the globalization process, as it became the most mass-produced commodity.
The book is an interesting guide to the history of beverage habits of each people; it is an exciting trip to world history where author traces civilization formation through the drinking habits. The writer devotes two chapters for the description of each historical beverage showing its significance. The drinks are described according to the date of its invention: from the emergence of beer to the mass production of Coca-Cola. The author intends to emphasize that each ancient beverage has its own prominent value for the mankind.
The author makes a successful use of sources where he manages to single out the dependence of world formation on beverages and vice versa. Numerous sources render this evident connection between two historic events but the research does not provide an in-depth investigation of the civilization flow. Instead, the writer utilizes only certain handbooks that directly relate to beverage invention and exploration. Nonetheless, many other historians and researchers in this field prove the facts revealed in the work. Standage refers to the reliable historical records of the outstanding explorers and modern journals that contain updated information about beverages and its utilization in different countries. In the book, he tries to trace the development of each drink outsourcing fact from the veritable sources. The main advantage of this work is that Standage makes use of some both historical publications and scientific papers and works that highlight other domains of human activities throughout history.
The author managed to display prominent historic events such as Colonialism, Revolution, the emergence of British Empire, and the start of the era of Enlightenment. Moreover, it also reveals the formation of new processes both historic and modern thus influencing human behavior; Standage tucks some significant details –, the Mecca’s coffee trials in 1511, the healing qualities of tea, the vineyards destruction during Visigoth penalties.
In his research, the author tries to analyze the symbolic meaning of the presented beverages. Hence, he empowers each drink with some social and cultural meaning that is usually omitted in our current life. Standage also afflicts some religious importance to some drinks that became the part of some religious rites and traditions. In that regard, the writer identifies tea with some important periods of human development. He testifies the interconnection of tea with Buddhist religion in India and China and it interfered into the cultural life of England during the colonist period where there occurred the reevaluation of these beverages through social acceptance.
As it could be viewed, the work impresses by the way the author manages to identify the emergence of a drink with certain historic personages. To begin with, beer reveals the outlook on the life of Egypt and Mesopotamia thus establishing the main features of culture of that period. Standage also associates beer with the falls and rises of civilizations; he mentions that beer did not lose his symbolism being the drink of the working class. Next, wine closely relates to the democratic processes in Greece; according to the quality of wine, it was easy to afflict a person to a certain social class. Moreover, wine is often associated with social elite and religious processes so this wine was also identifies with snobbery. Hence, wine considerably affected economic development and cultural expansion. The emergence of such commodities as tea in England importing from China and India fostered such processes as industrialization and commerce. As for the coffee, it quickly became the beverage of intellect replacing taverns by the coffeehouses thus leading to the establishment of scientific centers and the emergence of revolutionary mind.
Finally, the current society witnesses the introduction of such processes as integration and globalization that are mostly predetermined by introduction of Cola at the international market. In the book, we can find interesting reflections of the author on Cola as “globalization in a bottle” (Standage 150).
After a thorough analysis of the book, it should be stressed that Standage provides an unconventional vision on the history of the world through the six popular beverages. He also manages to throw light on civilization development by considering the drinking habits of different peoples. Besides, Standage also proved that commodities play a crucial role in the different political and economic processes that occurred in history. The book shows that each drink triggered the development culture and demonstrated various civilizations. Each passage of the work is rather general with the note of specific details that makes reading exciting and captivating. Nonetheless, despite the ambiguity of the book in terms of history, the author manages to cover a vast historic period and to describe all important historic achievements.
Certainly, Standage’s work greatly contributed to the depiction of the story from the unusual angle. Considering the above, it is obvious that that book will be interesting for those who want to learn the history of the drinks penetrating into our modern life. It would also be useful for those who want to understand the drinks as part of our culture and social life. The book will also be significant for the readers to recognize a deeper meaning of the beverage. This may be regarded as another definition for the social and cultural processes.
Works Cited
Standage, Nom. A History of the World in Six Glasses. US: Walker & Company, 2006.