Beyond the Book: Background information when reading A History of the World in 6 Glasses

Beyond the Book

This article relates to A History of the World in 6 Glasses

The current wave of history books written from the point of view of one, often seemingly unimportant product, whether it be salt, coal, spices, plants, or in the case of this book, drinks, sends me into positive paroxysms of happiness, because they present history in a form that I actually enjoy! My dusty old school history books were enough to turn off all but the most inspired historian, and especially unappealing to girls with their emphasis on battles. The only light relief came in the form of 1066 and All That by W. C. Sellar and R. J. Yeatman. - but even that was intended for an adult audience of a previous era (it was first serialized in Punch in the 1920s, and I'm not that old!)

Today things are different. Children have access to an ever increasing range of fun history books and historical fiction, and even the school text books have been freshened up a bit. As for us adults, we're spoiled for choice, as you can see by taking a quick glance at BookBrowse's history section.

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This article relates to A History of the World in 6 Glasses. It first ran in the June 1, 2005 issue of BookBrowse Recommends.