The Cocaine Craze in Victorian Britain

The Cocaine Craze in Victorian Britain

Many things may come to mind when you hear the word 'cocaine' - and we'd wager that the last thing on that list would be the Victorians. But as it turns out, the Victorians were avid cocaine users, whether it be to remedy ailments and injuries, give them an edge in competitive sports or simply put a bit of pep in their step. A hundred years later, it is amongst the most criminalised substances on earth.


Dr Douglas Small is a historian of medicine and author of Cocaine, Literature, and Culture, 1876-1930. He joins us today to take us through the deeper history of cocaine and explain how it went from a central feature of Incan cultural life to the defining party drug of the modern day.


Produced by James Hickmann, and edited by Dougal Patmore and Max Carrey.


Enjoy unlimited access to award-winning original documentaries that are released weekly and AD-FREE podcasts. Sign up HERE for 50% off for 3 months using code ‘DANSNOW’.


We'd love to hear from you - what do you want to hear an episode on? You can email the podcast at ds.hh@historyhit.com.


You can take part in our listener survey here.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episoder(1487)

Hunting Pablo Escobar

Hunting Pablo Escobar

By the early 1990s, the Colombian city of Medellín was at the centre of the world's largest drug empire. The fearsome Medellín Cartel, led by the notorious drug lord and narcoterrorist Pablo Escobar, ...

3 Nov 202329min

Babylon

Babylon

The urban cultures of ancient Mesopotamia formed the foundation for so much of our modern world. Nowhere exemplifies this better than the city of Babylon, which was the cultural seedbed for the Greek ...

3 Nov 202334min

The Salem Witch Trials

The Salem Witch Trials

The Malleus Maleficarum, or the 'Hammer of Witches', was a 15th-century book that sparked mass hysteria about the existence of witches in Europe - and it wasn't long before North America had fallen fo...

3 Nov 202333min

James Beckwourth, Conquering the American Frontier

James Beckwourth, Conquering the American Frontier

James Beckwourth was a pioneering frontiersman and fur-trapper who conquered the American West by embedding himself in the Native American tribes who called it home. Although Beckwourth wasn’t a runaw...

3 Nov 202331min

Tutankhamun: The Valley of the Kings - Signal Award Gold!

Tutankhamun: The Valley of the Kings - Signal Award Gold!

In celebration of recently winning a gold Signal Award, we are revisiting our series from last year on the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun.1. On the West Bank of the Nile...

3 Nov 202335min

Reburying the Dead of America's Revolutionary War

Reburying the Dead of America's Revolutionary War

Dan attends the funeral of British and American soldiers, over 240 years after they died fighting one another at the Battle of Camden. He takes us through the battle step by step, walking the fields o...

3 Nov 202332min

The Murder of Christopher Marlowe

The Murder of Christopher Marlowe

This month on Not Just the Tudors, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb investigates four of history’s most notorious murders and brutal crimes.In this first episode, she’s joined by Charles Nicholl to dig dee...

3 Nov 202349min

The Arab- Israeli War: Yom Kippur War 1973

The Arab- Israeli War: Yom Kippur War 1973

Also known as the October War and the Ramadan War, this conflict was initiated by Egypt and Syria on October 6, 1973, as a surprise attack on Israel during the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur and the Mu...

3 Nov 202339min

Populært innen Historie

rss-dette-ma-aldri-skje-igjen
henrettelsespodden
rss-historiske-romanser
rss-benadet
historier-som-endret-norge
rss-katastrofe
rss-nadelose-nordmenn-gestapo
aftenposten-historie
sektledere
historier-som-endret-verden
med-egne-oyne
rss-strid-de-norske-borgerkrigene
historiepodden
rss-frontkjemperne
rss-gamle-greier
taakeprat
sannhet-eller-konspirasjon
vare-historier
undersattene
nordnorsk-historie