The History of Rum

by John Donoghue

Piña coladas. Mojitos. Hurricanes. Daiquiris. Mai tais.

Nothing makes a vacation like one of these delightful rum drinks, right? But whether blended with ice and fruit or sipped neatly from a glass tumbler, this sweet and fiery spirit brings with it a fascinating, complicated history that stretches back to colonial times of the 17th century in the Caribbean.

"The history of rum is a tale of both sweetness and sorrow", says historian John Donoghue of Loyola University Chicago. And, as he puts it, "If told correctly, much like a good bottle of Jamaican overproof, it burns while it inspires."

Professor Donoghue does just that in the Audible Original The History of Rum. Blending politics and economics with culture and beverage appreciation, these 10 lessons reveal how the history of rum not only shaped the drinking culture of the early modern and modern worlds, but how it also helped determine the wider histories of piracy, slavery, abolition, and global capitalism.

Explore the invention of rum as a liquor so strong it was called "kill-devil." Discover classic Colonial drinks like flip and stone fence. Meet the real Captain Morgan, who pillaged the Spanish Main for capital to build Jamaica’s rum industry, and learn how rum played a crucial role in the early campaigns of George Washington. Chart rum’s growing profitability in international markets, which spurred everything from the transatlantic African slave trade to the American Revolution.

Above all, enjoy a 10-lesson toast to 400 years of rum—in all its tragic glory.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Audiobook, Food, The World, Cultural

Audible Audio

Published January 1, 2020

About the author

John Donoghue has worked in mental health for over twenty years and written numerous articles about the treatment of mental illness in a variety of medical journals. He is married and lives in Liverpool

Reviews

[Dawie · Rating 4 out of 5]

If Rum is of an interest to you, this is one of the many books out there that takes a look at how liquor shaped the world we know today. Dealing with some laws, outlaws as well as how slavery was involved. Quit a good read and 4 hours on Audible held me captivated for the whole duration of it's play through.

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

History, especially history told through the lens of nationalism, tends to reduce the forces that drive history to abstract sentiment and ideals such as freedom or justice or military virtues like conquest or honor. Reading history through the lens of one particular type of food or drink is one method of resisting that tendency by pulling attention back towards the embodied human actors in the historical narrative and to the economics of production and consumption.

In this case of The History of Rum, reading world history with a focus on rum brings the horrors of colonization and slavery in the Mediterranean and the United States into the fore, brings out a new dimension of the dealings between the Native Americans and the French and English, and, well, long story short rum strung together all the worst injustices of the colonial era.

This would have benefited from being at least four hours longer, but was still worth the listen.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kill Devil! Demon Rum! Rum-merica! Before reefer madness we had rum madness.

A very Interesting / informative series of 10 lectures on rum and its place in history.

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting, how slavery was used to start the rum industry.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had high expectations due to the unexpectedly great History of Bourbon, from Great Courses and written by a different author. In that book, both the history of the drink itself and broader events were linked together.

This book was mostly "history of slavery" with a tiny bit of rum. A little bit about rum's use in slavery, and relevance to revolts and revolutions, but little about the making of the beverage or modern rum trade. There was a bit about piracy as well. Slavery and colonialism are worthwhile topics on their own, but easier approached directly (or through European rivalries) rather than using rum as a connecting thread.

(Lots of weird inaccuracies about rum in this too, like "modern rum is mostly 20-40 proof". I think the author is a plausible expert on colonialism and slavery, but not on drinking...)

[Lauren Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed the topic. This was informative and interesting, tying in many well-known US historical events into their relationships with rum. (Some may have been a stretch of the truth)
The narrator, however, had a thoroughly bizarre way of reading some words. I don’t think it’s an ESL or an accent thing. I think he just says some words in a odd way, which I found distracting. I also found it weird that although this is supposed to be a professor narrating on a subject they are meant to be well-versed in, much of his reading felt like the first time he’d ever seen or read these words. Just…weird.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a plethora of historic information regarding the plight of slavery that was concentrated in the Caribbean islands that contributed to the distructive human cycle of the business of rum production. It is good to expose how so many lives were destroyed for the benefit of a few landowners. But as the title says it's about the history not necessarily about developing an appreciation of the different styles of rum.

[Krissie]

Never knew a lot of the history of rum.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great series of lectures. Due to rum's tie to the Atlantic slave trade, you will learn as much about that as you do about the drink itself.

[Chad Zilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, and great read.

[Nancie Lafferty · Rating 3 out of 5]

More history than about rum in particular. Short, interesting, nicely presented course.

[Joshua Duran]

Audible Audiobook
*Glad it was free

[Jeff J. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating. And now I’m thirsty.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Succinct and very interesting. The history of rum is inextricably entwined with colonial rule, the transatlantic slave trade, piracy and more. Fascinating stuff, well presented.

[Blair Hodgkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This fascinating history of rum shows how the strong drink influenced commerce, the slave trade, the rise of piracy, the swindling and exploitation of Native Americans and the American Revolution.

[Ne Na · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good background listen

[Killthehumans Savetheforest · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be science. Instead I got an incredibly revolting history of slavery and sugar cane plantations.

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5

[Kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I did. It does a great job of explaining the social and economic history of rum: how it intersected with colonialism, slavery, piracy, and more. At times it was long-winded. I think it could have been a bit shorter and still included all the important information. It’s not a bad course at all, and you will probably learn a lot, which is the point. So this is 3 stars on the scale of The Great Courses; good, but not one of the great stand-outs. I’m glad I listened for free through the Audible Plus catalog.