History, as we usually think of it, seems like a river of crimes, follies, and disasters flowing through time. Wars and famines begin and end, governments rise and fall, famous people come and go. Yet all this commotion seldom touches daily life directly—comparatively few are swept away in the river.
Most of us go about our lives on its banks, having babies, earning a living, gossiping over tea, and caring for one another. History is also this story of day-to-day private life alongside the river of public events, but this is not so easy to document and describe and is usually ignored. This is the secret side—the social history—of tea, and it has now been revealed in A Social History of Tea: Tea’s Influence on British and American Culture. I…
