The Devil's Cup: Coffee, the Driving Force in History
Reviewed by Ada Calhoun, Fri., Jan. 28, 2000
The Devil's Cup
Coffee, the Driving Force in Historyby Stewart Lee Allen
Soho Press, 256 pp., $26
This devoted book of pilgrimage -- part travelogue, part history lesson -- traces coffee's role through the ages and comes up with a theory: Nearly every event in world history was directly influenced by the bean, and the author, an appealing crackpot, travels literally all over the world looking for proof. After epic journeys throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe, Allen ends up driving around the U.S. looking for the worst cup of coffee (and finds it in Adrian, Texas). Whether or not you swallow the premise that coffee has always been a major player in world history, Allen's endless stream of coffee-related stories -- from hunting down the French coffee prophet De Clieu's sole living relative to seeing the Whirling Dervishes perform in a Turkish basketball stadium -- makes for a fascinating read, and a classic example of enthusiastic research.
