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An Edible History of Humanity


<p>Throughout history, food has acted as a catalyst of social change, political organization, geopolitical competition, industrial development, military conflict, and economic expansion. An Edible History of Humanity is a pithy, entertaining account of how a series of changes-caused, enabled, or influenced by food-has helped to shape and transform societies around the world.The first civilizations were built on barley and wheat in the Near East, millet and rice in Asia, and corn and potatoes in the Americas. Why farming created a strictly ordered social hierarchy in contrast to the loose egalitarianism of hunter-gatherers is, as Tom Standage reveals, as interesting as the details of the complex cultures that emerged, eventually interconnected by commerce. Trade in exotic spices in particular spawned the age of exploration and the colonization of the New World.Food's influence over the course of history has been just as prevalent in modern times. In the late eighteenth century, Britain's solution to food shortages was to industrialize and import food rather than grow it. Food helped to determine the outcome of wars: Napoleon's rise and fall was intimately connected with his ability to feed his vast armies. In the twentieth century, Communist leaders employed food as an ideological weapon, resulting in the death by starvation of millions in the Soviet Union and China. And today the foods we choose in the supermarket connect us to global debates about trade, development, the environment, and the adoption of new technologies.Encompassing many fields, from genetics and archaeology to anthropology and economics-and invoking food as a special form of technology-An Edible History of Humanity is a fully satisfying discourse on the sweep of human history.</p>

Author(s): Tom Standage  

ISBN 10: 0802719910
ISBN 13: 9780802719911
Pages: 288
Format: Paperback
Publication: April 2010
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Other books by Tom Standage

1. A history of the world in 6 glasses Paperback (8/22/2006)
2. A HISTORY OF THE WORLD IN 6 GLASSES Paperback, 2007 (2007)
3. A History of the World in Six Glasses Paperback (2005)
4. An Edible History of Humanity Compact Disc (July 2009)
5. An Edible History of Humanity Compact Disc (June 2009)
6. An Edible History of Humanity MP3 Book (June 2009)
7. An Edible History of Humanity Hardcover (August 2009)
8. An Edible History of Humanity [With Earbuds] (Playaway Adult Nonfiction) Preloaded Digital Audio Player (September 2009)
9. Edible History of Humanity Hardcover (May 2009)
10. Edible History of Humanity Compact Disc (June 2009)
11. Historia swiata w szesciu szklankach (2007)
12. History of the World in 6 Glasses Hardcover (June 2005)
13. History of the World in 6 Glasses Paperback (May 2006)
14. History of the World in Six Glasses - Tom Standage - Hardcover Hardcover (May 2005)
15. La Historia Del Mundo En Seis Tragos Hardcover (2006)
16. The Future of Technology Hardcover (September 2005)
17. The Mechanical Turk : The True Story of the Chess-Playing Machine That Fooled the World Paperback (September 2004)
18. The Mechanical Turk: The True Story of the Chess-Playing Machine That Fooled the World Hardcover (2002/04/25)
19. The Neptune File
20. The Neptune File

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