Tobacco
A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization
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Narrated by:
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Christopher Grove
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By:
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Iain Gately
About this listen
Tobacco was first cultivated and enjoyed by the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas, who used it for medicinal, religious, and social purposes long before the arrival of Columbus. But when Europeans began to colonize the American continents, it became something else entirely - a cultural touchstone of pleasure and success and a coveted commodity that would transform the world economy forever. Iain Gately's Tobacco tells the epic story of an unusual plant and its unique relationship with the history of humanity, from its obscure ancient beginnings through its rise to global prominence to its current embattled state today. In a lively narrative, Gately makes the case for the tobacco trade being the driving force behind the growth of the American colonies, the foundation of Dutch trading empire, the underpinning cause of the African slave trade, and the financial basis for our victory in the American Revolution. Informed and erudite, Tobacco is a vivid and provocative look into the complex history of this precious plant.
©2001 Iain Gately. Recorded by arrangement with Grove Atlantic, Inc. (P)2014 Audible Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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When America First Met China
- An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: A. T. Chandler
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Ancient China collides with newfangled America in this epic tale of opium smugglers, sea pirates, and dueling clipper ships. Brilliantly illuminating one of the least-understood areas of American history, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin now traces our fraught relationship with China back to its roots: the unforgiving nineteenth-century seas that separated a brash, rising naval power from a battered ancient empire. It is a prescient fable for our time, one that surprisingly continues to shed light on our modern relationship with China.
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Superior book! Excellent read!
- By melissa c. on 01-28-23
By: Eric Jay Dolin
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Shooting Up
- A Short History of Drugs and War
- By: Lukasz Kamienski
- Narrated by: Ricco Fajardo
- Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Shooting Up: A Short History of Drugs and War examines how intoxicants have been put to the service of states, empires, and their armies throughout history. Since the beginning of organized combat, armed forces have prescribed drugs to their members for two general purposes: to enhance performance during combat and to counter the trauma of killing and witnessing violence after it is over.
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Its certainly not a brief history.
- By Alexander Romanovich on 10-19-22
By: Lukasz Kamienski
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Empire's Crossroads
- A History of the Caribbean from Columbus to the Present Day
- By: Carrie Gibson
- Narrated by: Romy Nordlinger
- Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Ever since Christopher Columbus stepped off the Santa Maria onto what is today San Salvador, in the Bahamas, and announced that he had arrived in the Orient, the Caribbean has been a stage for projected fantasies and competition between world powers. In Empire’s Crossroads, British American historian Carrie Gibson traces the story of this coveted area from the northern rim of South America up to Cuba, and from discovery through colonialism to today, offering a vivid, panoramic view of this complex region and its rich, important history.
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Careless production mars storytelling
- By Brenda Thomas on 03-31-16
By: Carrie Gibson
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Millennium
- From Religion to Revolution: How Civilization Has Changed over a Thousand Years
- By: Ian Mortimer
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 15 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In Millennium, best-selling historian Ian Mortimer takes the listener on a whirlwind tour of the last 10 centuries of Western history. It is a journey into a past vividly brought to life and bursting with ideas, that pits one century against another in his quest to measure which century saw the greatest change. We journey from a time when there was a fair chance of your village being burned to the ground by invaders - and dried human dung was a recommended cure for cancer - to a world in which explorers sailed into the unknown and civilizations came into conflict.
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Bad ending - literally
- By John Gordon on 12-14-16
By: Ian Mortimer
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Milk of Paradise
- A History of Opium
- By: Lucy Inglis
- Narrated by: Colleen Prendergast
- Length: 13 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Poppy tears, opium, heroin, fentanyl: humankind has been in thrall to the ‘Milk of Paradise’ for millennia. The latex of papaver somniferum is a bringer of sleep, of pleasurable lethargy, of relief from pain - and hugely addictive. A commodity without rival, it is renewable, easy to extract, transport and refine, and subject to an insatiable global demand. No other substance in the world is as simple to produce or as profitable. It is the basis of a gargantuan industry built upon a shady underworld, but ultimately it is a farm-gate material that lives many lives ....
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Historical gold mine....
- By Alednam A Uonopk on 01-29-20
By: Lucy Inglis
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Sugar in the Blood
- A Family's Story of Slavery and Empire
- By: Andrea Stuart
- Narrated by: Lisa Reneé Pitts
- Length: 14 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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In the late 1630s, lured by the promise of the New World, Andrea Stuart's earliest known maternal ancestor, George Ashby, set sail from England to settle in Barbados. He fell into the life of a sugar plantation owner by mere chance, but by the time he harvested his first crop, a revolution was fully under way, binding together ambitious White entrepreneurs and enslaved Black workers in a strangling embrace....
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A sweet, historical gem
- By Adrian on 06-29-13
By: Andrea Stuart
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The Paradox of Jamestown
- 1585-1700
- By: Christopher Collier, James Lincoln Collier
- Narrated by: Jim Manchester
- Length: 1 hr and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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> The Paradox of Jamestown discusses the circumstances surrounding English colonization of Virginia and the evolution of slavery in that colony. Beginning with an examination of 16th- and 17th-century life in England, the authors explain many of the reasons - social, political, religious, and economic - people chose to leave the Old World for a new life in the Americas. They describe the early interactions between the settlers and the Indians, the difficulties those groups had in establishing cooperative relationships, and the many difficulties the settlers had in adjusting to life in the New World.
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poorly Accurate
- By Bertie on 12-02-20
By: Christopher Collier, and others
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For All the Tea in China
- How England Stole the World's Favorite Drink and Changed History
- By: Sarah Rose
- Narrated by: Sarah Rose
- Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1848, the British East India Company, having lost its monopoly on the tea trade, engaged Robert Fortune, a Scottish gardener, botanist, and plant hunter, to make a clandestine trip into the interior of China - territory forbidden to foreigners - to steal the closely guarded secrets of tea horticulture and manufacturing. For All the Tea in China is the remarkable account of Fortune's journeys into China - a thrilling narrative that combines history, geography, botany, natural science, and old-fashioned adventure.
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Like Fingernails on a Chalkboard
- By S. Mersereau on 05-28-10
By: Sarah Rose
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American Slavery, American Freedom
- By: Edmund S. Morgan
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 14 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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"If it is possible to understand the American paradox, the marriage of slavery and freedom, Virginia is surely the place to begin," writes Edmund S. Morgan in American Slavery, American Freedom, a study of the tragic contradiction at the core of America. Morgan finds the key to this central paradox in the people and politics of the state that was both the birthplace of the revolution and the largest slaveholding state in the country.
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Explaining the great American contradiction
- By Roger on 09-16-14
By: Edmund S. Morgan
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Stoned
- Jewelry, Obsession, and How Desire Shapes the World
- By: Aja Raden
- Narrated by: Justine Eyre
- Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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What makes a stone a jewel? What makes a jewel priceless? And why do we covet beautiful things? In this brilliant account of how eight jewels shaped the course of history, jeweler and scientist Aja Raden tells an original and often startling story about our unshakeable addiction to beauty and the darker side of human desire.
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Cringe-inducing, vapid, and self-conscious
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-27-16
By: Aja Raden
What listeners say about Tobacco
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- RN
- 01-10-21
Very entertaining
The first 8 to 9 hrs of the book analyze tobacco history before the 1950’s. The rest of the book is focused on more recent decades. It was interesting to learn about how tobacco influenced world economy, politics, and business. This is a book that I believe is worth having. Narration was very good, but fast for my taste, but I slowed down the speed via the app adjustment option.
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- Brandon Hamil
- 06-21-21
Comprehensive and informative
This is a great social history of Tobacco that takes you all the way through the current near prohibition in the west. The narration is done well. It's worth the time to listen.
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- David
- 09-12-15
Comprehensive, entertaining and informative.
This presentation was fun to listen. The author displayed nice organization and the narrator did a fine job.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Michael Tran
- 07-06-19
Great anthropological hypothesis of tobacco
Goes deep into the plant, it's biology, and it's cultivation and spread. From pre-european expansion/colonialism to WWI to modern times, this book goes into it all! Makes you wonder what would happen if tobacco never existed (or coffee for that instance).
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- Dean Houdeshel
- 09-04-21
Complete history
The book covers in some detail the history of tobacco from it’s earliest known used to current day. It appears to be written by an author who is British, So a slightly more European slant than an American might’ve written. The book appears to be in favor of the plant and smoking as one might suspected.
I believe the contents of the book to be accurate and inclusive
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- JFL
- 04-19-18
Baseball, Apple Pie and Tobacco
Where does Tobacco rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?
Tobacco ranks as high as any history book I have ever listened to on Audible. I usually listen to anything by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, among others.
What was one of the most memorable moments of Tobacco?
The author does a fascinating job of explaining how the American economy has been interwoven with tobacco from the start.
Which scene was your favorite?
It was interesting to learn about Native American traditions involving tobacco.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
This book is very detailed and should be enjoyed in intervals.
Any additional comments?
A lot of research must have gone into this historical account, and it is a great lesson in history, as well as entertaining. The narrator did a wonderful job, as well. The book is a pleasure to listen to.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Israel Marcano Gonzalez
- 02-13-22
Amazing history of Tobacco direct and captivating
As an pipe smoker and dipper I found the history to be more complex than I would have imagined. I'm glad modern weed smokers don't get molten lead poured down their throats like many Tobacco smokers did.
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- Juan Manuel Galvis Espinoza
- 12-31-17
Great history about tobacco.
Great book, I enjoyed a lot, the only pitfall it focus to much in England tobacco history
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- Anja Schmidt
- 01-23-23
Interesting
I found this very interesting and informative. I liked it all the way though it felt a little lengthy by the end.
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- LuckySl7vin
- 05-18-23
A must read for any tobacco enthusiast!
Tobacco is in my blood. Some of my earliest memories are running through the tobacco fields of my ancestral homelands of Kentucky. The “weed” as the author puts it, was everywhere and everyone was a consumer.
I’ve enjoyed tobacco in almost all of its consumable varieties— starting at out with cigarettes because they were “cool” and then moving to chewing tobacco as a rural cultural identifier, and eventually to pipes and cigars which I now consume daily.
It is difficult to find good histories and fair analysis on tobacco due to the recent global “war on tobacco.” The author does an excellent job of providing a balanced look at a difficult-to-research subject, weaving in the rich contextual history that every armchair historian craves.
I would have preferred a deeper dive into cigar manufacturing as essential aspects of modern American history such as the creation of Tampa Florida on the back of this industry were omitted for reasons unknown. As was the centuries old art of fine cigar making. Another major omission was deep and abiding cultural identify that supports chewing tobacco in rural America. This was touched on briefly, but largely understated.
Overall, a very satisfying read and I’ll be picking up more of the author’s books in the future.
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