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A History of the World in 6 Glasses is a book by Tom Standage, that divides the history of humans into six drinks, their origins, and how they impacted the world.

Beer
Beer was first created around 10,000-4,000 b.c.. It marked a change from hunting and gathering, to agriculture, and was a result of the increase in wild grains in the Fertile Crescent between ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. It created a sterile source of drinking water and might have been the original motivation for domesticating cereal crops, thus switching from a nomadic to a settled lifestyle. Whilst there is debate among academics whether beer or bread was the critical motivator, the consensus on the crucial role of cereals and yeast fermentation is at least clear for both products.

Wine
In ancient Greece wine became the main export of her vast seaborne trade, helping spread Greek culture abroad. Wine is possibly as old as beer but linked in Standage’s story mainly with Greek and Roman antiquity: the civilized of Greece and Rome. It was incorporated into religious rituals, became important in hospitality, was used for medicinal purposes and it became an integral part of daily meals.

Spirits
Rum, whiskey and gin came from the most important innovation regarding alcohol discovered during the Middle Ages: distillation. An important development that enabled to reach higher levels of concentration and therefore to store alcohol content in much smaller volumes that the fermented beer of wine. You could say that spirits were the zip-file version of wine and beer. Except they rarely got unzipped and ended up drunk still compressed!

Coffee
The rise of coffee in the seventeen century came as “the great soberer”. It was “the ideal beverage for the Age of Reason,” the “preferred drink of scientists, intellectuals, merchants, and clerks,” the elixir they relied on for “waking them up in the morning.” In Standage's words “Europe began to emerge from an alcoholic haze that had lasted for centuries”.

Tea
The story of tea, starting in China where it then made its way to England, embodies the power of British imperialism and the importance of the trade of tea across the British Empire: it is even a ‘Tea Party’ in Boston that started the American war of independence. Tea today is often used in some cases for medicinal purposes.

Cola
Finally Coke is the 6th beverage, symbol of capitalism and consumerism during the rise of the US as a geopolitical power. A 7th drink is also mentioned, water, which will be the next liquid to influence the history of the world because of the global geo-strategic tensions to secure access to it for an ever increasing population around the world.

Critical Reception
A History of the World in Six Glasses has received positive reviews from critics. The unique perspective on history is greatly respected by readers.