Commodity Reading
A Belvedere-Tiburon Library Reading List

Salt: a World History
by Mark Kurlansky
Social history of a crystal that has shaped civilization. The author shows how salt has influenced and affected wars, cultures, governments, religions, societies, economies, cooking (there are a few recipes), and foods.
333.85632 Kurlansky 2002

Carpet Wars: from Kabul to Baghdad: a Ten Year Journey along Ancient Trade Routes
by Christopher Kremmer
In Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Iran, Iraq, and the Central Asian republics, carpets are viewed as objects of reverence and expressions of the highest artistic achievement. As the region's second largest export behind oil, they are also big business.
955.428 Kremmer 2002

Fast Food Nation: the Dark Side of the All-American Meal
by Eric Schlosser
The industry's drive for consolidation, homogenization, and speed has radically transformed America's diet, landscape, economy, and workforce, often in insidiously destructive ways.
394.1097 Schlosser 2001

Jeans: a Cultural History of an American Icon
by James Sullivan
Jeans, the ultimate in democratic clothing. Its origins were in Europe--well before San Francisco's Levi Strauss in the mid-1800s. The history of these indgio cotton pants is detailed in tandem with events in American history and culture.
687.1 Sullivan 2006

The True History of Chocolate
by Sophie D. Coe
Written by an anthropologist with a culinary bent, the history of chocolate is told from its pre-Columbian days, spread to Europe by the Spanish and modern manufacture and marketing.
641.337 Coe 1996

Aspirin: the Remarkable Story of a Wonder Drug
by Diarmuid Jeffreys
The story of aspirin from the drug's origins in ancient Egypt, use during the great flu pandemic of 1918, to its manufacture by pharmaceutical conglomerates and the marvelous powers still being discovered today.
615.783 Jeffreys 2004

Uncommon Grounds: the History of Coffee and How it Transformed our World
by Mark Pendergrast
Since its discovery in an Ethiopian rainforest centuries ago, coffee has brewed up a rich and troubled history. Over the years, the beverage has caused revolution, spurred deforestation, enriched a few while impoverishing the many, and addicted millions with its psychoactive caffeine.
641.337 Pendergrast 1999

A History of the World in 6 Glasses
by Tom Standage
From beer to Coca-Cola, the six drinks that have helped shape human history. For Tom Standage, each drink is a kind of catalyst for advancing culture; the resources required to create and distribute the drink changes society and culture.
394.12 Standage 2005

Opium: a History
by Martin Booth
Opium is one of the first medicinal drugs discovered by humans. It has been used and abused for centuries. Botanical, political, economic, cultural and pharmacological aspects of opium are discussed
615.323 Booth 1999

Chocolate: a Bittersweet Saga of Light and Dark
by Mort Rosenblum
This is not a straight history of chocolate, but a series of vignettes where the author introduces the reader to a series of characters deeply immersed in the various aspects of chocolate production.
641.3374 Rosenblum 2005

Curry: a Tale of Cooks and Conquerors
by Lizzie Collingham
Every page of this history of Indian cuisine offers some revelation about the origins of Indian food and its spread to the West. Historian Collingham traces how successive invasions of the subcontinent contributed new ingredients and novel cooking techniques that transformed indigenous cooking into what we now recognize as classic Indian cuisine.
394.12 Collingham 2006

created October 2006