Tea is
more than just a drink. Over the last two thousand years this humble
camelia tree has growin into one of the most powerful social and economic
forces known to man. With the exception of water, more tea is consumed
by human beings than any other substane on the planet. How did this
simple leaf, first taken as an infusion by remote tribesmen, colonise
China, Japan and then successfully conquer the rest of the world? Why
did a wild plant from the Eastern Himalayas become so universally desired?
Green
Gold is the story of how tea, the first global product, took over
the world. The spreading empire of tea has had an enormous impact on
the lives of billions of people throughout history. It has changed society,
culture, health and been a terrible political weapon. It has deeply
affected art and aesthetics; it has altered life expectancies. Tea has
raised and destroyed empires.
Green
Gold is the unique story of arguably the most important plant on
this planet and its simultaneously tragic and liberating effect on the
history of mankind.
Contents
Introduction
by Alan Macfarlane
1 Iris
Macfarlane: Memoirs of a Memsahib
Part
I Bewitched
2 The Story
of an Addiction
3 Froth
of the Liquid Jade
4 Tea Comes
to the West
Part
II Enslaved
5 Enchantment
6 Replacing
China
7 Green
Gold
8 Tea Mania:
Assam 1839-1880
9 Empires
of Tea
10 Industrial
Tea
11 Tea
Labour
Part
III Bewitched
12 Tea
Today
13 Tea,
Body and Mind
14 Bewitched
Water
Notes,
bibliography, index.
xi + 308
pp.