Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An informed, detailed and witty cultural history of tobacco, 31 Oct 2001
By A Customer
This was a book which I knew I was going to enjoy reading after I had finished the first page. It is an interesting, informative and well written book with a light, polished touch.
Gately manages to distil copious research (check the appendix!) into a witty historical narrative of a herb which has, as he very precisely demonstrates, been at the heart of the social, cultural, economic and political evolution of our civilisations past and present.
Beginning with its origins in South American Mayan society and charting its progress and disemination throughout the World before any other plant, good or explorer, the author comments objectively - though not without a timely and wry sense of humour, on its varying and at different times, conflicting influences on mankind. Loved and hated, exulted and damned, traded and consumed in vast quantities over the centuries; it is quite remarkable, to me at least, how clearly and interestingly Gately tells this complex and interesting story.
Dealing with his subject in chronological order he ties the narrative together coherently and even-handedly, so affording us in the final chapters an objective examination of the dilemma which governments, society and the weed itself faces today.
Not a book for the die-hard historian, but one which will appeal to any intelligent and inquisitive mind, smoker or non smoker, it is a damn good read.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Why don't authors write books like this more often?, 17 April 2002
Put simply, this is a great read. Years of expensive education taught me less about history than Gately has succeeded in doing in 300 fluent pages. But don't think that this is the kind of book that drags its heels as so many non-fiction books can. It's not so much a roller-coaster ride but rather a non-stop tobaggan run as Gately takes you from tobacco's pre-historical roots to its present position as the world's most heavily consumed addictive commodity. Forget the innocent presumption you had that tobacco has done little for history other than hang around in famous mouths (such as Churchill's, Macarthur's, Raleigh's etc.). If it hadn't been for tobacco's influence then half the historical events of the past five hundred years would have turned out differently or might not even have happened at all.
Gately's also very funny, with a tremendous eye for the amusing or the absurd, and he doesn't hesitate to have a dig at anyone who thinks, talks or looks like a fathead. He also comes up with some memorable descriptions which simply beg to be repeated to friends (e.g. the popularity among various races over the centuries of having nicotine enemas, the idea of which makes my mind boggle). My favourite story is his account of the Hottentot males' coming-of-age and how as a race they declined into 'mono-testicular oblivion'. Read the book to find out why they ended up a ball short.
I don't smoke but halfway through this book I rather wished I did as it seems that non-smokers have been missing out on everything for the last five hundred years. It's pretty clear that Gately is a smoker, but don't worry, this book is balanced and the smoking lobby and tobacco companies come in for just as much of a kicking as the antis. He also covers the masses as well as the rich and great, and anybody who was anybody appears between these pages.
By the way, I also came across the book in the US, where it is published by Grove under the title Tobacco.
I hope Gately is writing something else, because for a first non-fiction book he has really come up with a cracking read and if he gets better at this kind of think then he'll really make his mark. As for its audience, it'll be appreciated by almost everybody, especially by people who do smoke and certainly by people who hate the habit. There are pictures for those of you who can't look at a book without getting a headache, and an index for those of you who want to find out if you've been mentioned (you haven't). Sit back and enjoy.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Confessions of an English tabagophile, 30 Nov 2002
I enjoyed this book. I enjoyed it particularly because, from the outset, Gately makes it clear that he smokes, that he enjoys smoking and will continue to do so. I don't smoke, and seductive as Gately's prose is, I'm not about to take it up. Nonetheless, he successfully combines detailed research with a zingy prose style and creates a book which is just about capable of maintaining its narrative drive in the face of sizeable (if enjoyable) digressions.
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