From Publishers Weekly
While coffee historian Wild brings enthusiasm to this tome on the 500-year history of the caffeinated bean, it doesn’t match the simple passion with which coffee lovers enjoy their morning java. (In fairness to the author, how could it?) Wild (The East India Company) traces the bean as it makes its way from Africa to the Middle East (it was once known as the “wine of Araby”) to the West, and the rise in cafe culture across Europe and eventually the New World, where, thanks to the Boston Tea Party, coffee surpassed tea as the patriotic drink of choice for a fledging nation. But Wild repeatedly reminds readers that for all the pleasure a cup of coffee brings to its drinker, the history of this beguiling bre [Read More...]
Buy Coffee: A Dark History at Amazon
Cool Things Beyond Coffee: Are you an iPod freak? Check out iPod Touch apps now.
October 8th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
Library Journal
Wild (The East India Company) has been widely recognized for introducing specialty coffees to Great Britain. Here, he presents a 500-year history of the much-loved drink, drawing on science, politics, anthropology, and alchemy before concluding that today’s large companies, with their demand for lower prices, have put coffee farmers out of business and thousands of workers out of jobs in Africa and Central America. Wild’s explanation of how major corporations have taken over the coffee industry, supported by public information direct from the coffee distributors themselves, will inspire readers to comtemplate their contribution to this global situation. The only comparison would be Stewart Lee Allen’s The Devil’s Cup, which describes similar facts but from the first person. With its political and historical perspectives, this book reads more like a textbook. Recommended for academic libraries; an optional purchase for others.-Jennifer A. Wickes, Suite101.com, Pine Beach, NJ Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
October 8th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I recommend that you peruse the pages of this book at your local library or book store prior to purchasing. The author has compiled 308 pages of supposed facts, ideas, opinions, and “objective illumination.” No doubt some of the data provided is true and the first 83 pages engross the reader to the beginning of the history of coffee. Unfortunately the narrative then seems to fall apart not because the information may be false or questionable, but rather the author goes off on tangents which seem to simply fill up the pages. Is Rimbaud’s influence on Bob Dylan and Patti Smith necessary in the discussion of coffee?
There comes a point when the reader realizes that the author’s writing is more of free flow of thoughts and assumed facts. Add to this the lack of citations and notes (which the author fully acknowledges) and the book becomes a jumble of many figures, dates, places and people that lacks organization.
October 8th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Apparently “Coffee: A Dark History” was written by a man who didn’t take his mother’s advice and may actually have believed everything he read. Speculation, legends, myths, semi-documented accounts, and a smattering of facts all seem to be given equal weight in this book.
One gets the feeling that the author wants to believe that coffee use goes back to antiquity, even though he tells you he can’t provide any evidence of that. More than once there is a vague reference to the Biblical “forbidden tree of knowledge” which could have been…coffee! In fact, any time a dark beverage is mentioned in any ancient writings it might have been…coffee! (Though a reading of the context usually indicates that it was not.)
The book presents material such as the discredited German study from the early 90’s which claimed an analysis of the hair of 3000 year old Egyptian mummies contained cocaine and nicotine (but not caffeine). There is no scientific or historical support suggesting the ancient Egyptians had access to New World plants like coca or tobacco, but the total absence of caffeine fails (once again) to prove the ancient world drank coffee. There is no reason to even give it a one line mention in the book. Elsewhere there is mention of Islamic Arabs in the 5th century, although Mohamed wasn’t born until the 6th century.
When so many of the author’s “facts” are in error, it’s hard to know when he may have gotten something right. (Even an blind pig finds the occasional truffle, right?) If you really want to know something about the history of coffee, consult at least two other books after reading this one.
To add insult to injury, it’s not even a lively or entertaining read. Not recommended.