Histories of This and That

I love reading about history—all kinds. Here are a couple of recent samples.

The Meaning of Beer

One of the great titles. All that's missing is the subtitle: How our pursuit of the perfect pint built the world.

That’s right—it’s a history of beer. Seems crazy, but that history goes back 13,000 years to a cave in Nazareth, occupied by a group called the Natufians. British author Jonny Garrett, founder of YouTube’s Craft Beer Channel, digs up this and other obscure bits to stitch together one of the most unlikely but enjoyable histories I’ve read.

In the book, we read about not just the Natufians but about a long line of brewers, from a British doctor named Joseph Lister, who today is known as the father of modern surgery; to one of the most beer-conscious and beer-savvy nations in the world, the Czech Republic; to American commercial brewers such as Pabst, Miller, Schlitz, and Hamm’s, and small, intimate brewers that produce specialty items.

You may not be a big beer drinker (I’m not), but I think you’ll get some laughs and lots of good information from this book.

The Story of Russia

This one didn’t produce many laughs, but I found it fascinating anyway.

When I was young, Russia (or the Soviet Union, as we called it in those days) was like a big blob on the horizon—huge, shapeless, mysterious. We read about the Russian people in our textbooks, as they undoubtedly read about us.

This book, by Orlando Figes, will help to clarify this giant land in a way that is quite readable and enjoyable. It’s a short book, and it truly does tell a story, including the coalescing of the country, the formation of the royal family, and a detailed account of the crash and the rise of Communism.

So, history buffs, what’s your mood—the beginnings of beer, or the more recent roots of Russia? And who would have thought that beer was older than the Russian nation?