The History of Rum - John Donoghue, The Great Courses

Written by John Donoghue, The Great Courses
Read by John Donoghue
Format: M4B
Bitrate: 128 Kbps

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.