- Paperback: 400 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd; New edition edition (30 Aug 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0140290281
- ISBN-13: 978-0140290288
- Product Dimensions: 19.3 x 12.7 x 2.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,576,846 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Amazon.co.uk Review
"Glory, the grape, love, gold, in these are sunk The hopes of all men, and of every nation."
Byron never held back when it came to drinking deep of life and wine, and he recognised the passion for wine that was shaped by and shaped cultures. No other item in our diet can claim such a fascinating story. The journey from the vine to the glass is one of collaboration between humankind and nature, and any history is a history of that relationship and its tensions. The production of wine for thousands of years provokes the question, why make wine at all? Why do people drink wine? Why do they drink the wine they do in the quantities they do on the occasions they do? Rod Phillip's A Short History of Wine serves those serious about wine with a deep-bodied and robust history that sets out not only to describe but to explain the story of wine as a product, a commodity and an icon.
From the traces of its earliest use in ancient Mesopotamia, Phillips vividly portrays each age of viticulture and viniculture, his huge sweep never obscuring some of the more entertaining and enlightening aspects of its production and consumption. Wines, like people, are not created equal, and as such it has long been a marker of social distinctions, including class and gender as well as age and religion. As the story of wine spreads across nations and through time, Phillips masterfully draws together powerful cultural developments such as its prohibition by Muhammad, its spread by conquest and colonisation to the New Worlds, to decades of trouble due to blight, fraud, overproduction, Prohibition movements, two world wars, tariff barriers and economic depressions. Readers can savour how this remarkable story ends in the industry's present incarnation as a vast, multinational business. Phillips blends a knowledgeable historical sweep with primary sources and social commentary to create a fascinating narrative of the world inside a bottle.--Christine Buttery --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"Rather than buy an expensive bottle, next time you have a thirst (for knowledge) consider buying this book instead" Colin Price Beech, Literary Review "A serious but unassuming little book - you'll be amused by it's lack of presumption." Iain Finlayson, The Times "...every page contains a nugget or two which astonishes." Andrew Jefford, Evening Standard
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
Lots of interesting snippets of information crop up but it is such hard work to tread through dense growth to get at them that ultimately the reader is left unrefreshed. The author spends much of the early sections trying to prove that pre- and early agricultural cultures had access to fermented products i.e. booze! Since this is ultimately conjecture, and argued rather flimsily in any case, why bother? Stick to the recorded history of wine which is rich enough to explain its role & impact. In fact, the middle section of the book is the most successful as the sources provide firmer corroboration.
Illustrations are sketchy and skimpy.
For a layman's one-volume overview, go to Hugh Johnson's "Vintage: The Story of Wine". Better still, read "Dionysus" by Edward Hyams.
Illustrations are sketchy and skimpy.
For a layman's one-volume overview, go to Hugh Johnson's "Vintage: The Story of Wine". Better still, read "Dionysus" by Edward Hyams.
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