Tobacco

"Long before the arrival of Columbus, the indigenous peoples of the Americas cultivated and enjoyed tobacco, using it for medicinal, religious, and social purposes. But with the dawn of the age of colonization, tobacco became something else entirely - a cultural touchstone of pleasure and success, a coveted commodity that would transform the world economy, and the cause of (and collateral for) revolutions that would bring forth the birth of nations and the end of empires.". "In Tobacco, Iain Gately charts the epic history of humanity's fascination with our favorite recreational drug, from its…