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1-Page Summary of A History Of The World In 6 Glasses

Overall Summary

A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage traces six different beverages—beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola. By doing so he offers an overview of human history that emphasizes the continuities in our approach to drinks and drinking as well as changes and discoveries associated with them.

Beer was discovered in Mesopotamia and ancient Egypt. It was used as a drink, currency, and religious offering. Beer has always been social; raising your glass to someone is an old tradition. Beer played a role in the development of writing systems and accounting practices.

In the second section, Standage discusses wine in ancient Greece and Rome. He tells us that, like beer, it was used for a variety of purposes: as an everyday beverage, as a religious offering, as a way to differentiate between social classes and even as medicine. His discussion of differing attitudes about wine held by the Greeks and Romans helps us understand their differences in culture. Similarly, his short section on Islamic views on alcohol shows how different cultures have different ways of looking at beverages such as wine or beer.

Section 3 deals with the history of hard liquor. It was initially used for medicinal purposes, but after people realized how intoxicating it could be, they began to drink it for pleasure. The popularity of hard liquor in Europe coincided with the Age of Exploration and knowledge about them spread far beyond Europe to Africa and America. Rum was a by-product of both colonialism and slavery that played a key role in maintaining these systems as well as aiding American independence from Britain.

After considering the importance of alcoholic drinks in shaping human history, Standage uses the second half of this book to discuss three caffeinated beverages. Coffee, introduced from Arabia and popular with businessmen, scientists and intellectuals during the Enlightenment period, was a source of discussion among these groups. This led to the emergence of coffeehouses where people would gather for news and ideas. Political leaders became concerned about these establishments because they were sources for revolutionary activity. The French Revolution began at one such establishment.

After coffee, the author discusses tea. Tea was originally drunk in China and Japan but became a British drink during the 18th century. Today, people in former colonies of Britain still drink a lot of tea. The way that these countries consume tea is due to their relationship with Britain when it was an empire. Demand for tea helped shape this relationship and led to decline of the Chinese Empire at one point because the British wanted control over its trade routes and market share.

The final section of A History of the World in Six Glasses is about how America became a superpower. It’s also about Coca-Cola, which was invented as a patent medicine and then became synonymous with American values.

In the book’s epilogue, Standage chooses to discuss the future rather than the past and asks which drink will define humanity’s next stage. His subsequent discussion of water and its lack of access in developing nations points out that what we drink reflects social distinctions.

Introduction

In the introduction, Standage discusses what he will talk about and how it relates to humans. He mentions that these drinks have been around for thousands of years and they were important in ancient times. They are still significant today because we need them to survive.

Chapter 1

Chapter 1, “A Stone-Age Brew”, discusses how agriculture developed around 12,000 years ago in an area known as the Fertile Crescent. Beer was discovered rather than invented and our hunter-gatherer ancestors probably came across alcohol before settling down to farm. However, it was only when agricultural settlements became more widespread that people were able to grow and store grain for brewing beer. Such settlements also led to contamination of water supplies which meant that people had to find a way to make the water safe to drink since boiled water made beer safer than drinking contaminated water. It is difficult to determine exactly when beer was first brewed deliberately but there is evidence that it existed by 4,000 BCE in the Near East.