High society : mind-altering drugs in history and culture

Published on the occasion of exhibition of the same name held at the Wellcome Collection, London, 11 November 2010-27 February 2011.

Donated by Deborah Lamb.

A universal impulse -- High societies -- The evolution of drugs -- Animal intoxication -- Drugs and shamanism -- Drugs and culture -- The culture of kava -- The culture of betel -- Drug prohibitions -- Drug subcultures -- The cultures of ecstasy -- From apothecary to laboratory -- What is a drug? -- Drugs in antiquity -- Renaissance herbals -- Witches and flying ointments -- The invention of laudanum -- Linnaeus and the Enlightenment -- The first synthetic drugs -- Opium and the Romantics -- The Club des Haschischins -- Freud and cocaine -- Addiction and drug control -- Mescaline, LSD and beyond -- Drugs of the future -- The drugs trade -- Drugs of the New World -- The psychoactive revolution -- Tobacco in China, tea in Europe -- The opium wars -- The anti-opium campaign -- Temperance and prohibition -- The ’War on drugs' -- Epilogue: the decline of tobacco.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

High Society explores the spectrum of drug use across the globe and throughout history, from its roots in animal intoxication to its future in designer neurochemicals. Designed to accompany the 2010 Wellcome Collection exhibition, and beautifully illustrated with rarely seen material from the museums collections, this striking, lyrical book puts its controversial subject into the widest possible context.