Don't buy my book from just any Amazon - buy it from THESE Amazons!
These warrior woman booksellers are Patty, Margot, and Linda, owners of Pages: A Bookstore in Manhattan Beach. They are fierce hunters of good literature, and like other independent bookstore owners, they deserve your support. If you are not near Manhattan Beach, I encourage you to buy the book using the link on my Links page, but if you are in the South Bay, Pages will have it in stock.
“Rum: A Global History” is out from Reaktion Books as of 15 April 2012.
What most people know about rum is wrong: it wasn’t invented where or when most books say, and the most famous sea chantey about it was invented by a 19th century author who never set foot on a ship. The truth is more interesting: rum helped spark the American Revolution, was used as currency in Australia, entered 19th Century medical cabinets as a health elixir, and is still a sacramental offering among voodoo worshippers. Rum made long sea voyages bearable in the 1850’s and tikis fashionable in the 1950’s, and it once fuelled the economy of half the world. George Washington savored it in punch, Queen Victoria sipped it in navy grog, and King Kamehameha drank it straight. Rum’s evolution from a raw spirit concocted for slaves to a beverage for connoisseurs is a fascinating story, and this book is an introduction to the secret history of a beverage that has been reviled by temperance groups and celebrated by buccaneers, planters, statesmen, and connoisseurs.
Rum: A Global History is available from this Amazon.com link, but I’d much rather you buy it from your local bookstore – when you do, you are supporting a resource in your own community. (If you are going to order it online, I would appreciate your using that link - it helps me.) I am doing signings wherever I can at bookstores, as well as lectures at libraries, colleges, and a few rum bars, so you can get it signed and raise a glass at a location near you! If you would like to suggest a place where I might do a signing, lecture, or other event, please send an <email> to me.
