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Cannabis: The Hip History of Hemp: Cannibis Indica; Cannibis Sativa
This is the first illustrated book to present the complete story of cannabis. Here one will find a history - from ancient myths to today's on-going controversies - that stretches over 12,000 years. Cannabis has been used in many ways - spiritual, medicinal and recreational - in countries all round the globe. This book examines these uses and the many laws that have tried to suppress them. It also reveals the industry, both 'professional' and quite literally 'home-grown' that brings the weed to its millions of consumers. In addition, readers just what smokers 'high' and the way that cannabis is being rediscovered as a vital medicine in the treatment of diseases such as cancer, arthritis and multiple sclerosis. On a lighter note there are cannabis recipes, the wide-ranging slang of cannabis, and for those who've always wondered, a step-by-step guide to rolling a 'joint'.
Cannabis has never been the focus of such fierce debate. The arguments over its affects, its legality, its dangers or benefits, over every aspect of what is, in the end, no more than a weed, have been thrust into headlines. Yet for most people, even the keenest of smokers, that weed remains a mystery. And with mystery comes misinformation. It the intention of Cannabis to bring that mystery to an end.
Although its author cannot line up with the prohibitionists, it is not the intention of Cannabis to preach. It calls neither for praise nor for prohibition. Instead, at a time when the popularity of this weed is matched only by the overheated emotions it manages to generate, it aims above all to inform, and of course, to entertain.
Cannabis has never been the focus of such fierce debate. The arguments over its affects, its legality, its dangers or benefits, over every aspect of what is, in the end, no more than a weed, have been thrust into headlines. Yet for most people, even the keenest of smokers, that weed remains a mystery. And with mystery comes misinformation. It the intention of Cannabis to bring that mystery to an end.
Although its author cannot line up with the prohibitionists, it is not the intention of Cannabis to preach. It calls neither for praise nor for prohibition. Instead, at a time when the popularity of this weed is matched only by the overheated emotions it manages to generate, it aims above all to inform, and of course, to entertain.
- GenresDrugs
256 pages, Hardcover
First published October 18, 2002
About the author
Jonathon Green
91 books26 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
I am a lexicographer, that is a dictionary maker, specialising in slang, about which I have been compiling dictionaries, writing and broadcasting since 1984. I have also written a history of lexicography. After working on my university newspaper I joined the London ‘underground press’ in 1969, working for most of the then available titles, such as Friends, IT and Oz. I have been publishing books since the mid-1970s, spending the next decade putting together a number of dictionaries of quotations, before I moved into what remains my primary interest, slang. I have also published three oral histories: one on the hippie Sixties, one on first generation immigrants to the UK and one on the sexual revolution and its development. Among other non-slang titles have been three dictionaries of occupational jargon, a narrative history of the Sixties, a book on cannabis, and an encyclopedia of censorship. As a freelancer I have broadcast regularly on the radio, made appearances on TV, including a 30-minute study of slang in 1996, and and written columns both for academic journals and for the Erotic Review.
My slang work has reached its climax, but I trust not its end, with the publication in 2010 of Green’s Dictionary of Slang, a three volume, 6,200-page dictionary ‘on historical principles’ offering some 110,000 words and phrases, backed up by around 410,000 citations or usage examples. The book covers all anglophone countries and its timeline stretches from around 1500 up to the present day. For those who prefer something less academic, I published the Chambers Slang Dictionary, a single volume book, in 2008. Given that I am in no doubt that the future of reference publishing lies in digital form, it is my intention to place both these books on line in the near future.
I am a lexicographer, that is a dictionary maker, specialising in slang, about which I have been compiling dictionaries, writing and broadcasting since 1984. I have also written a history of lexicography. After working on my university newspaper I joined the London ‘underground press’ in 1969, working for most of the then available titles, such as Friends, IT and Oz. I have been publishing books since the mid-1970s, spending the next decade putting together a number of dictionaries of quotations, before I moved into what remains my primary interest, slang. I have also published three oral histories: one on the hippie Sixties, one on first generation immigrants to the UK and one on the sexual revolution and its development. Among other non-slang titles have been three dictionaries of occupational jargon, a narrative history of the Sixties, a book on cannabis, and an encyclopedia of censorship. As a freelancer I have broadcast regularly on the radio, made appearances on TV, including a 30-minute study of slang in 1996, and and written columns both for academic journals and for the Erotic Review.
My slang work has reached its climax, but I trust not its end, with the publication in 2010 of Green’s Dictionary of Slang, a three volume, 6,200-page dictionary ‘on historical principles’ offering some 110,000 words and phrases, backed up by around 410,000 citations or usage examples. The book covers all anglophone countries and its timeline stretches from around 1500 up to the present day. For those who prefer something less academic, I published the Chambers Slang Dictionary, a single volume book, in 2008. Given that I am in no doubt that the future of reference publishing lies in digital form, it is my intention to place both these books on line in the near future.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 29, 2016
I spent very little time with the actual text of this book which seemed a little obvious, however the pictures (of children passing joints as sacrament in church, of 17th century self portraits smoking hashish) sparked much discussion in my living room.
Also the little known fact that apparently Louisa May Alcott wrote the story "Perilous Play" in support of the movement. Who knew?
Also the little known fact that apparently Louisa May Alcott wrote the story "Perilous Play" in support of the movement. Who knew?
September 17, 2008
The information is thorough and interesting, but the prose is amateurish and at times awkward.
April 22, 2016
Checked out the book for a research project. The book didn't have a single citation to research or data.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews