High Society

by Jay, Mike

• ISBN13: 9781594773938
• ISBN10: 1594773939
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-10-19
• Publisher: Park Street Pr

Summary

Exploring the spectrum of drug use throughout history, High Society paints vivid portraits of the roles drugs play in different cultures as medicines, religious sacraments, status symbols, and trade goods. Includes 150 illustrations.

Author Biography

Mike Jay is a leading specialist in the study of drugs across history and cultures. The author of Artificial Paradises, Emperors of Dreams, and The Atmosphere of Heaven, his critical writing on drugs has appeared in many publications, including The Guardian, The Telegraph, and The International Journal of Drug Policy. He sits on the editorial board of the addiction journal Drugs and Alcohol Today and on the board of the Transform Drug Policy Foundation. He lives in England.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. 6
A Universal Impulse	p. 8
High Societies
The Evolution of Drugs
Animal Intoxication
Drugs and Shamanism
Drugs and Culture
The Culture of Kava
The Culture of Betel
Drug Prohibitions
Drug Subcultures
The Cultures of Ecstasy
From Apothecary to Laboratory	p. 48
WhatlsaDrug?
Drugs in Antiquity
Renaissance Herbals
Witches and Flying Ointments
The Invention of Laudanum
Linnaeus and the Enlightenment
The First Synthetic Drugs
Opium and the Romantics
The Club des Haschischins
Freud and Cocaine
Addiction and Drug Control
Mescaline, LSD and Beyond
Drugs of the Future
The Drugs Trade	p. 108
Drugs of the New World
The Psychoactive Revolution
Tobacco in China, Tea in Europe
The Opium Wars
The Anti-Opium campaign
Temperance and Prohibition The'War on Drugs'
Epilogue: The Decline of Tobacco
Notes and further Reading	p. 174
Acknowledgments	p. 186
Picture Credits	p. 187
Index	p. 188
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