Tobacco

A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization

By: Iain Gately

Narrated by: Christopher Grove

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.

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.

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.

Comprehensive, entertaining and informative.

This presentation was fun to listen. The author displayed nice organization and the narrator did a fine job.

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).

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

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.

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.

interesting

I've never had much interest in cigarettes or tobacco until listening to this book. The history of this plant is beyond anything I would have thought of. a must read. narrated very well.

Highly Informative but Oddly Written

It took me two solid attempts to get through this audiobook.
While it is highly informative and accomplishes it’s goal of demonstrating the wide history of tobacco and how it shaped the world we live in today, it is highly Euro-Centric and contains weird asides that pull you out of the history book.

None the less, it’s worth it as one can see how tobacco has been a world touchstone for hundreds of years.

Attention to detail

It is extremely interesting to me, I loved the book and plan on reading it a few more times. The history of tobacco is a very complex subject and the author did a fantastic job at making it able to be understood. When it's over you want to go through it again to retain more information each time around.