"The Tale of Tea is the saga of globalisation. Tea gave birth to paper money, the Opium Wars and Hong Kong, triggered the Anglo-Dutch wars and the American war of independence, shaped the economies and military history of Táng and Sòng China and moulded Chinese art and culture. Whilst black...

"Global history is predicated on connections and exchange: how connections between far-flung people, places, and objects are forged through a variety of exchanges. As world history has matured as a field, its practitioners have found the movement of commodities between peoples, places, and time...

Machine generated contents note: Preface ix -- Acknowledgments xii --1 Before consumerism 1 --PART I : The emergence of consumerism in the West 13 -- 2 The emergence of consumerism 15 -- 3 The first causes of consumerism 25 -- 4 Consumerism across the Atlantic: an early imitation 37 -- 5 The...