A dark history of sugar / Neil Buttery.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Buttery, Neil, author.

Contributor:

John G. Hartman Memorial Library Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Sugar trade--History.

Sugar trade.

Sugar trade--Great Britain--History.

Sugar trade--Social aspects--History.

Sugar trade--Social aspects--Great Britain--History.

Sugar trade--Social aspects.

Great Britain.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 240 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK : Pen & Sword History, 2022.

Summary:

"A Dark History of Sugar delves into our evolutionary history to explain why sugar is so loved, yet is the root cause of so many bad things. Europe's colonial past and Britain's Empire were founded and fuelled on sugar, as was the United States, the greatest superpower on the planet - and they all relied upon slave labour to catalyse it. A Dark History of Sugar focusses upon the role of the slave trade in sugar production and looks beyond it to how the exploitation of the workers didn't end with emancipation. It reveals the sickly truth behind the detrimental impact of sugar's meteoric popularity on the environment and our health. Advertising companies peddle their sugar-laden wares to children with fun cartoon characters, but the reality is not so sweet. A Dark History of Sugar delves into our long relationship with this sweetest and most ancient of commodities. The book examines the impact of the sugar trade on the economies of Britain and the rest of the world, as well as its influence on health and cultural and social trends over the centuries. Renowned food historian Neil Buttery takes a look at some of the lesser-known elements of the history of sugar, delving into the murky and mysterious aspects of its phenomenal rise from the first cultivation of the sugar cane plant in Papua New Guinean in 8,000 BCE to becoming an integral part of the cultural fabric of life in Britain and the rest of the West - at whatever cost. The dark history of sugar is one of exploitation: of slaves and workers, of the environment and of the consumer. Wars have been fought over it and it is responsible for what is potentially to be the planet's greatest health crisis. And yet we cannot get enough of it, for sugar and sweetness has cast its spell over us all; it is comfort and we reminisce fondly about the sweets, cakes, puddings and fizzy drinks of our childhoods with dewy-eyed nostalgia. To be sweet means to be good, to be innocent; in this book Neil Buttery argues that sugar is nothing of the sort. Indeed, it is guilty of some of the worst crimes against humanity and the planet"--Publisher's description.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: ch. 1 Innocent Times

ch. 2 Enter the White Man

ch. 3 Pioneers of the New World: The Spanish and Portuguese Sugar Industry

ch. 4 Life on the Sugar Colonies

ch. 5 Making Sugar

ch. 6 Fear of Freedom

ch. 7 The Slave Trade

ch. 8 Abolition and Aftermath

ch. 9 Sugar States

ch. 10 Sugar Takes Hold in Court

ch. 11 Sugar for All

ch. 12 The Rise of Junk Food

ch. 13 Fifty Words for Sugar

ch. 14 Legacy.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the John G. Hartman Memorial Library Fund.

ISBN:

1526783657

9781526783653

OCLC:

1260819955

Publisher Number:

99991718118