Social and Cultural History of Things
3. 
Bacon: A Love Story: A Salty Survey of Everybody's Favorite Meat
by:
Heather Lauer
3.22 avg rating — 156 ratings 
5. 
The Lion in the Living Room: How House Cats Tamed Us and Took Over the World
by:
Abigail Tucker
3.62 avg rating — 3,800 ratings 6. 
9. 
Tobacco: A Cultural History of How an Exotic Plant Seduced Civilization
by:
Iain Gately
3.98 avg rating — 585 ratings 
11. 
The Tiger in the House: A Cultural History of the Cat (New York Review Books Classics)
by:
Carl van Vechten
3.54 avg rating — 278 ratings 
13. 
14. 
Eats, Shoots & Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation
by:
Lynne Truss
3.87 avg rating — 106,063 ratings 14. 
Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal
by:
Eric Schlosser
3.75 avg rating — 206,250 ratings 16. 
Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World
by:
Mark Kurlansky
3.92 avg rating — 24,359 ratings 17. 
17. 
Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World
by:
Mark Pendergrast
3.69 avg rating — 2,998 ratings 
17. 
The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World
by:
Michael Pollan
4.06 avg rating — 58,652 ratings 22. 
Timeless Toys: Classic Toys and the Playmakers Who Created Them
by:
Tim Walsh
4.38 avg rating — 90 ratings 22. 
Vanilla: The Cultural History of the World's Favorite Flavor and Fragrance
by:
Patricia Rain
3.70 avg rating — 135 ratings 
26. 
Songs of America: Patriotism, Protest, and the Music That Made a Nation
by:
Jon Meacham
3.77 avg rating — 1,698 ratings 
29. 
Planet Palm: How Palm Oil Ended Up in Everything — And Endangered the World 3.93 avg rating — 247 ratings
32. 
Sourdough Culture: A History of Bread Making from Ancient to Modern Bakers
by:
Eric Pallant
4.03 avg rating — 202 ratings 
35. 
Cheese and Culture: A History of Cheese and its Place in Western Civilization
by:
Paul Kindstedt
3.64 avg rating — 258 ratings 
37. 
Secrets of Saffron: The Vagabond Life of the World's Most Seductive Spice
by:
Pat Willard
3.03 avg rating — 67 ratings 37. 
The Mathematics of the Gods and the Algorithms of Men: A Cultural History
by:
Paolo Zellini
3.13 avg rating — 215 ratings 39. 
41. 
Prisoners, Lovers, and Spies: The Story of Invisible Ink from Herodotus to al-Qaeda
by:
Kristie Macrakis
3.71 avg rating — 69 ratings 
41. 
There Plant Eyes: A Personal and Cultural History of Blindness
by:
M. Leona Godin
4.26 avg rating — 311 ratings 44. 
Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in the Business of Flowers
by:
Amy Stewart
3.97 avg rating — 1,517 ratings 
47. 
The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy
by:
Sasha Issenberg
3.63 avg rating — 753 ratings 47. 
Speed Read Mustang: The History, Design and Culture Behind Ford's Original Pony Car (Speed Read, 4) (Volume 4)
by:
Donald Farr
4.16 avg rating — 19 ratings 
53. 
56. 
Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks with the Sanitation Workers of New York City
by:
Robin Nagle
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 704 ratings 
58. 
The Stone of Heaven: Unearthing the Secret History of Imperial Green Jade 4.03 avg rating — 148 ratings
60. 
Fire in America: A Cultural History of Wildland and Rural Fire (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books)
by:
Stephen J. Pyne
3.97 avg rating — 68 ratings 62. 
Rabid: A Cultural History of the World's Most Diabolical Virus
by:
Bill Wasik
3.72 avg rating — 11,392 ratings 63. 
67. 
Secret Language of Color: Science, Nature, History, Culture, Beauty of Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, & Violet
by:
Joann Eckstut
4.15 avg rating — 513 ratings 
70. 
Follow the Flock: How Sheep Shaped Human Civilization
by:
Sally Coulthard
3.94 avg rating — 2,213 ratings 70. 
Periodic Tales: A Cultural History of the Elements, from Arsenic to Zinc 3.72 avg rating — 4,839 ratings
72. 
The Code Book: The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography
by:
Simon Singh
4.30 avg rating — 28,487 ratings 
81. 
The Irresistible Fairy Tale: The Cultural and Social History of a Genre
by:
Jack D. Zipes
3.81 avg rating — 325 ratings 83. 
Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon's Army and Other Diabolical Insects
by:
Amy Stewart
3.76 avg rating — 5,184 ratings 83. 
Squeeze This!: A Cultural History of the Accordion in America
by:
Marion Jacobson
3.54 avg rating — 41 ratings 85. 
Eels: An Exploration, from New Zealand to the Sargasso, of the World's Most Mysterious Fish
by:
James Prosek
3.93 avg rating — 996 ratings 
87. 
Sleigh Rides, Jingle Bells, and Silent Nights: A Cultural History of American Christmas Songs 2.86 avg rating — 50 ratings
89. 
From Meetinghouse to Megachurch: A Material and Cultural History
by:
Anne C. Loveland
0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings 91. 
The Anthropology of Turquoise: Reflections on Desert, Sea, Stone, and Sky
by:
Ellen Meloy
4.02 avg rating — 1,880 ratings 
94. 
The Phone Book: The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads
by:
Ammon Shea
3.50 avg rating — 135 ratings 94. 
Silence: A Social History of One of the Least Understood Elements of Our Lives
by:
Jane Brox
3.34 avg rating — 231 ratings 96. 
The Power of Babel: A Natural History of Language
by:
John McWhorter
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 3,185 ratings 96. 
The Violin: A Social History of the World's Most Versatile Instrument
by:
David Schoenbaum
3.68 avg rating — 73 ratings 98. 
Nathaniel's Nutmeg: How One Man's Courage Changed the Course of History
by:
Giles Milton
3.82 avg rating — 5,238 ratings 
