Coffeehouse Culture in the Atlantic World, 1650-1789

In the century leading up to the American Revolution, coffeehouses were essential to the development of the Atlantic world, fostering international finance, commerce, news, military power, political fortunes, and status and consumption. They were more than just polite alternatives to taverns, as they also created a network for marine insurance and naval protection, led to calls for a free press, built tension between trade lobbyists and the East India Company, and raised questions about gender, respectability, and the polite middling class.

Format: Hardback
Length: 264 pages
Publication date: 07 April 2022
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

The book argues that coffeehouses and the coffee trade played a crucial role in shaping the Atlantic world in the century leading up to the American Revolution. By fostering international finance and commerce, spreading transatlantic news, building military might, determining political fortunes, and promoting status and consumption, coffeehouses created a vast social network that stretched from Britain to its colonies in North America. As polite alternatives to taverns, coffeehouses were hailed as "penny universities," where the educated and elite gathered to discuss politics. However, the book reveals that coffeehouses were much more than just gathering places for political discourse.

Coffeehouse Culture in the Atlantic World 1650-1789, authored by Reynolds, demonstrates that coffeehouses not only fostered a network for marine insurance and naval protection but also led to calls for a free press. They built tension between trade lobbyists and the East India Company and raised questions about gender, respectability, and the polite middling class. The book showcases how coffeehouses served as a bridge between metropole Britain and her North American colonies, facilitating transatlantic connections and playing a significant role in the revolution and protest movements that followed.

In conclusion, coffeehouses and the coffee trade were central to the making of the Atlantic world in the century leading up to the American Revolution. They fostered international finance and commerce, spread transatlantic news, built military might, determined political fortunes, and promoted status and consumption. Coffeehouse Culture in the Atlantic World 1650-1789, by Reynolds, sheds light on the multifaceted role of coffeehouses in shaping the world during this period, highlighting their significance as hubs of social, political, and economic activity.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350247222