Perusing the local liquor store shelves, you will encounter wines from Australia and South Africa, two former British colonies. The story of these wine producing regions is inextricably linked to mineral extraction and labor exploitation, with "viticultural capitalists" investing large sums of capital into the consolidation, expansion, and proliferation of these fledgling wine industries.

This month we are joined by Dr. Chelsea Davis to talk about her award-winning article, "All that Glitters Is Wine? Viticultural Capitalists and the Creation of Britain’s Colonial Wine Industry" and how Cecil Rhodes of South Africa and Thomas Hardy of Australia typified this phenomenon.

Dr. Chelsea Davis is a historian of modern British Empire with regional focus in sub-Saharan Africa and Australia and an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Missouri State University.