Book description
What drives the drug trade, and how has it come to be what it is today? A global history of the acquisition of progressively more potent means of altering ordinary waking consciousness, this book is the first to provide the big picture of the discovery, interchange, and exploitation of theâŚ
Why read it?
2 authors picked Forces of Habit as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
If I were asked to recommend just one book on the history of drugs, this would be it. Courtwright is an expert in the history of drugs in the nineteenth and twentieth-century United States, but in this book, he zooms outâway outâto think about the larger history of humanityâs relationship to mind-altering substances.
At the book's core is Courtwrightâs influential concept of a âpsychoactive revolutionâ that influenced the histories of empire, globalization, and science over the past five centuries. I have been deeply influenced by his approach ever since I first read this book in grad school, and I useâŚ
From Benjamin's list on the history of drugs.
Forces of Habit is unbelievably wise and well-written, a tour of force on the drugs-especially illicit onesâcan be what they are today. Courtwright looks at the supposedly hard drugsâmarijuana, cocaine, and heroinâbut also the soft onesâalcohol, nicotine, and even caffeine. I love that he forces all of us to consider how arbitrary the line is between illicit and legal, often depending on current social norms.Â
From Russell's list on what the war on drugs is really about.
If you love Forces of Habit...
The High House
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn theâŚ
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