Fruits of Empire: Exotic Produce and British Taste, 1660-1800 - Hardcover

Walvin, James

3.8

5 ratings by Goodreads

9780814793145: Fruits of Empire: Exotic Produce and British Taste, 1660-1800

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0814793142 ISBN 13: 9780814793145

Publisher: New York Univ Pr, 1997

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What could be more British than a cup of tea? what has proved a more resilient vice in Western life than tobacco? What are the origins of our enthusiasm for spice, smoke, and sugar? James Walvin illustrates how the tastes of the British people, and ultimately the sensory predilections of the entire west, were profoundly transformed by the fruits of distant empire and trade. Tracing the history of British global trade and the drive for imperial preeminence to the rise of a new kind of domestic material consumption, Fruits of Empire devotes chapters to the allure and spread of tea, coffee, tobacco, chocolate, the potato, and sugar, thereby revealing a continuum between the British passion for empire and the contemporary Western passion to consume. Lively and revealing, Fruits of Empire is that unusual work of history that will both inform and entertain.

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Review:

"Coming from the pen of a leading thinker in corporate law, this book provides a powerful -- if disheartening -- explanation for the lack of women on corporate boards. It is provocative, impeccably researched, and compellingly written."
-Kent Greenfield, Professor of Law and Zamparelli Scholar at Boston College Law School

"This book should be read by anyone interested in advancing to the boardrooms in corporate America. . . . Branson provides interesting discussions on linguistic differences between males and females as well as gender differences in play, along with their implications for success in business. . . . Branson reveals how corporate governance practices hinder women's career advancement and suggests strategies women should adopt to succeed in the corporate world . . . Highly recommended."
-"Choice",

"Packed with informative statistics about the presence of women at various levels of corporate governance -- as CEOs, executive directors, managers, and in the pipeline."
-Nancy Levit, author of "The Gender Line: Men, Women, and the Law"

"An interesting thesis, and one that makes sense"
-"The New Republic",

-,

Synopsis:

Illustrates how the tastes of the British people, and ultimately the sensory predilections of the entire West, were profoundly transformed by the fruits of distant empire and trade. Traces the history of British global trade and the drive for imperial pre-eminence to the rise of a new kind of domest

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