Description:
In this authoritative but light-hearted account of beers gone by, archaeologist Tate Paulette brings the famous "land between the rivers" back to life in vivid detail. We meet not only the beers of ancient Mesopotamia, but also the people who brewed them and drank them, the places where these people lived and worked, the taverns and temples and tombs where they did their drinking, the stories they told about beer, their preferred styles of drinking, their brewing equipment and drinking paraphernalia, the gods and goddesses who governed their lives and who were also partial to a drink.
Rigorous in its scholarship, yet staunchly unpretentious in style, this beer-centered travel guide for a trip back in time offers a clear roadmap into the ancient source material for those who are new to Mesopotamia. Paulette weaves together insights drawn from archaeological remains, ancient works of art, and cuneiform texts. He uses a series of narrative vignettes and thought experiments to interrogate specific pieces of evidence and pull the listener, step-by-step, into the process of analysis and interpretation, explaining exactly what we know and how we know it.
Listeners will come away with a new appreciation for the depth of our knowledge about this early beer-drinking culture, painstakingly pieced together by generations of dedicated scholars.
Brief description: Ryan Lee Dunlap is a New York City-based SAG-AFTRA voice actor and audiobook narrator specializing in romance. Originally hailing from North Carolina, he began studying acting after calling it quits with the music industry and began voice acting and narrating in 2021. He's been a gigantic fan of audiobooks since he had them on cassette as a kid, and to this day, he prefers to read with his ears.
Review Quotes:
"This book serves up a uniquely captivating origins story of an unassuming beverage that changed the fate of humanity."
--Gojko Barjamovic, Harvard University