Consuming Habits: Drugs in History and Anthropology (Consumption & Culture in the 17th & 18th Centuries) [Hardcover]

Jordan Goodman (Editor), Andrew Sherratt (Editor), Paul E. Lovejoy (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415090393 | ISBN-13: 978-0415090391 | Publication Date: August 1, 1995 | Edition: 1

This pioneering collection of original essays explores the rich analytical category of psycho- active substances from challenging historical and anthropological perspectives.  

Psychoactive substances have been central to the formation of civilizations and the growth of the world economy.  Consuming Habits describes how and why:

• tea and coffee replaced beer on the breakfast tables of 18th century Europe
• in Islamic emirates at the turn of the century kola nuts formed part of tax payments, and were given as gifts by so-called `big men'
• In 1902 opera singers had their doctors prescribe them cocaine to aid singing
• the original version of `coca-cola' was described as a `brain tonic.'

This pioneering collection of original essays explores the rich analytical category of psychoactive substances from challenging historical and anthropological perspectives.

Editorial Reviews

Review

The individual papers provide a rich array of methodological approaches not only to understanding social and cultural meanings of drug use, but to using drugs as a means of illuminating larger historical and cultural issues.
–Journal of the History of the Behavioral Sciences , Summer 1997

The fascinating way in which different ages and societies perceive foods and drugs, and how these are used to alter our perception of reality, is examined in...[this] equally fascinating collection of essays.
–Healthy and Natural Journal

About the Author

Jordan Goodman is Lecturer in International Economic History at UMIST and author of Tobacco in History (Routledge, 1993). Paul E. Lovejoy is Professor of History at York University, Canada, and author of Caravans of Kola (Routledge, 1980). Andrew Sherratt is Lecturer in Archaeology and Senior Assistant Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at the University of Oxford.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (August 1, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415090393
• ISBN-13: 978-0415090391
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,921,581 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)