Enter your mobile number or email address below and we'll send you a link to download the free Kindle App. Then you can start reading Kindle books on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

  • Apple
  • Android
  • Windows Phone
  • Android

To get the free app, enter your email address or mobile phone number.
Download to your computer
Kindle Cloud Reader
Facebook Twitter Pinterest <Embed>
Qty:1
  • List Price: $14.95
  • Save: $0.19 (1%)
FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books.
Only 10 left in stock (more on the way).
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.
A Brief History of Drugs:... has been added to your Cart
Want it tomorrow, April 23? Order within and choose Saturday Delivery at checkout. Details
Ship to:
Select a shipping address:
To see addresses, please
or
Please enter a valid US zip code.
or
FREE Shipping on orders over $25.
Used: Acceptable | Details
Sold by Jenson Books Inc
Fulfilled by Amazon
Condition: Used: Acceptable
Comment: The item is fairly worn but continues to work perfectly. Signs of wear can include aesthetic issues such as scratches, dents, and worn corners. All pages and the cover are intact, but the dust cover may be missing. Pages may include limited notes and highlighting, but the text is not obscured or unreadable.

Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) is a service we offer sellers that lets them store their products in Amazon's fulfillment centers, and we directly pack, ship, and provide customer service for these products. Something we hope you'll especially enjoy: FBA items qualify for FREE Shipping and .

If you're a seller, Fulfillment by Amazon can help you increase your sales. We invite you to learn more about Fulfillment by Amazon .

Sorry, there was a problem.

There was an error retrieving your Wish Lists. Please try again.

Sorry, there was a problem.

List unavailable.
Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon
Flip to back Flip to front
Listen Playing... Paused   You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more
See all 2 images

A Brief History of Drugs: From the Stone Age to the Stoned Age Paperback – May 1, 1999

by
Antonio Escohotado (Author)
› Visit Amazon's Antonio Escohotado Page
Find all the books, read about the author, and more.
See search results for this author
Are you an author? Learn about Author Central
Antonio Escohotado (Author), Ken Symington (Author)
4.6 out of 5 stars 12 customer reviews
See all 2 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions
Price
New from Used from
Kindle
"Please retry"
$10.93
— —
Paperback
"Please retry"
$14.76
$7.09 $0.01
$14.76 FREE Shipping on orders with at least $25 of books. Only 10 left in stock (more on the way). Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Frequently Bought Together

  • A Brief History of Drugs: From the Stone Age to the Stoned Age
  • +
  • Forces of Habit: Drugs and the Making of the Modern World
Total price: $42.12
Buy the selected items together
NO_CONTENT_IN_FEATURE
Image
Interested in the Audiobook Edition?
If you’re the author, publisher, or rights holder of this book, let ACX help you produce the audiobook.Learn more.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Park Street Press; Original ed. edition (May 1, 1999)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0892818263
  • ISBN-13: 978-0892818266
  • Product Dimensions: 5.4 x 0.5 x 8.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #869,701 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    •  Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsA concise version of a lengthy classic
By G. Bujak on May 3, 2000
Format: Paperback
This wonderful new volume is a very readable and informative condensation of and expansion on Escohotado own previous publication, the lengthy three-volume 'Historia General de las Drogas'. Here, in a text finely balanced with history and science, he traces humanity's affair with drugs and intoxicants beginning with the third millenium B.C., and leading up to the modern hi-tech psycheledics. He traces some of the most popular drugs like caffeine and hemp back to their surprisingly early origins. Taking into account the involvement of drugs in early religious festivities, he offers an analysis how they've made an easy move from there to a more secular, pleasure-seeking culture, accompanied by the parallel villification of drugs by religion, the institution that played a leading role in their introduction to society. This concise book will make readers aware of the extent of the spread of drugs through history, and of the hopelessness of all attempts to make them disappear from future history as well.
Comment 38 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
3.0 out of 5 starsNo bibliography makes me a dull boy
By Stefan Isaksson on May 25, 2006
Format: Paperback
I've never begun a book review by quoting the very last sentences of the book, but well, I guess it's true that there's a first for everything:

"Drugs have always existed everywhere, and judging by the present times, tomorrow there will be more drugs than exist today, so that the options are not a world WITH or WITHOUT drugs. The alternatives are to teach people how to use them correctly, or to indiscriminately demonize them: to sow knowledge, or to sow ignorance."

These two sentences work perfectly for summarizing what A Brief History of Drugs is all about. The book, a short version of the massive three-volume Historia General de las Drogas (only available in Spanish, however), is well-written, sober, clever, fascinating, and most importantly honest description about how various drugs have always been a part of human nature, civilization, and development. Without arguing whether or not all or some drugs should be made legal or not, Escohotado shows what the real world looks like; and it's a description that a whole lot of people probably don't want to know about.

Yes, it's true that the word "drugs" to most people have a very negative ring to it, and obviously it would be both ignorant and retarded to deny that numerous lives have been utterly destroyed due to drugs. Still, one cannot deny - whether you happen to be pro or against drugs - that less than one hundred years ago substances such as cocaine, heroine, and marijuana could be bought perfectly legal in drugstores all over the world, and that the great majority of drug uses managed to live perfectly normal lives before their drug of choice was criminalized, which only made things a whole lot worse (except for politicians on the search for votes).Read more ›
Comment 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
4.0 out of 5 starsA very readable book about mind alterations and its modalities throughout the ages.
By Alrey4la on November 25, 2012
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
Escohotado does a great job at reviewing the changing status of various substances throughout the world and throughout the ages. Mind altering substances have fascinated and frightened humanity since the dawn of time, and have most likely been pivotal in the emergence of shamanism and primitive religions. Contrary to pagan religions, monotheisms have been generally suspicious of mind alteration, leading to various forms of prohibition throughout the ages, up to the temperance movements in the 19th century US, and global prohibition of certain psychoactive substances and the infamous War on Drugs in the 20th century. The end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21 century have witnessed a spectacular return of the repressed, with the upsurge of narco-trafficking and illegal drugs on one hand, and the explosion of psychopharmacology on the other. The book could use some updating as things have changed quite a bit since it publication, and prohibitionism is coming under growing pressure. For some update, I would suggest World War D - The Case against prohibitionism, roadmap to controlled re-legalization. To the best of my knowledge, "World War-D" is the only book looking beyond the War on Drugs, and explaining the potential pitfalls and benefits of alternatives.
Comment One person found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsThe English Translation is Coming Sonn
By Glenn W. Robinette on December 18, 2008
Format: Paperback
Yes, I agree. This one volume is a perfect introduction to the real thing, which unfortunately is only available in Spanish, and only if you read excellent Castellano. But the English translation is on the way. There have simply been too many requests for this classic 1500 page, three-valume, meticulously researched work that changed the entire debate about drugs in post-Franco Spain and led to the Spanish changes in drug policy, some of the most advanced in Europe. Escohotado demands of the reader a dedication to an objective fact-based understanding of the issue of drugs, exactly what has been missing in the U. S. for the last eight years. But this one-volume precis is a good start.
Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse
5.0 out of 5 starsNot Perfect, but ... Best book I've found on the subject!
By VA 6 on December 17, 2013
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
If you are looking for a good world history of drugs, this is the best I've been able to find. It's not a perfect book. For example, a bibliography would be nice. Given the book is a translation, the writing is sometimes clunky. However, the material is hard to match. I really learned a lot about the topic. If the complete Spanish version had been translated into English, I would jump right into that as well. Read and enjoy!
Comment Was this review helpful to you? Yes No Sending feedback...
Thank you for your feedback.
Sorry, we failed to record your vote. Please try again
Report abuse

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

A Brief History of Drugs: From the Stone Age to the Stoned Age
Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more
This item: A Brief History of Drugs: From the Stone Age to the Stoned Age
Set up a giveaway

There's a problem loading this menu right now.

Learn more about Amazon Prime.



Pages with Related Products. See and discover other items: cultural studies