Join us on March 5 at 3 p.m. as Tom Standage, digital editor at The Economist, presents "History of the World in 6 Drinks" at the UT Alumni Center.  The event is free and open to the public, with no registration required.
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"Six drinks in particular — beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and cola — chart the flow of world history. Three contain alcohol and three contain caffeine, but what they all have in common is that each drink was the defining drink during a pivotal historical period, from antiquity to the present day."
 Tom Standage

From stone age, bronze age, iron age to the present, Tom illustrates how each of the six drinks aligned with historical trends of the day. For instance, he cites how coffee houses helped "brew" ideas that eventually led to the rise of the London stock exchange and the French Revolution. He tells the story of tea as one linked with British imperialism and tea-based economies in India and china. Coca-Cola, as a drink and a brand, is used to examine modern day phenomenon of global capitalism. 

Short Bio

Tom Standage is the Digital Editor at The Economist and editor-in-chief of its website, Economist.com. He is also the author of six history books, including "Writing on the Wall" (2013), "The Victorian Internet" (1998) and "A History of the World in 6 Glasses" (2005). He studied engineering and computing at Oxford University and has written for other publications including the New York Times, Daily Telegraph, Guardian and Wired, taking a particular interest in the internet's cultural and historical significance. He joined The Economist as Science Correspondent in 1998 and was subsequently appointed Technology Editor, Business Editor and Business Affairs Editor.