Sweetness and Power : The Place of Sugar in Modern History
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A selection of From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy Book Club.
This is what the publisher tells us about this book:
A fascinating persuasive history of how sugar has shaped the world, from European colonies to our modern diets
In this eye-opening study, Sidney Mintz shows how Europeans and Americans transformed sugar from a rare foreign luxury to a commonplace necessity of modern life, and how it changed the history of capitalism and industry.
He discusses the production and consumption of sugar, and reveals how closely interwoven are sugar's origins as a "slave" crop grown in Europe's tropical colonies with is use first as an extravagant luxury for the aristocracy, then as a staple of the diet of the new industrial proletariat. Finally, he considers how sugar has altered work patterns, eating habits, and our diet in modern times.
Sidney W. Mintz was a professor at the Johns Hopkins University, where he taught anthropology. His academic specialization focused on the anthropology of food, with a particular focus on the consumption and commodification of sugar. He died in 2015.
"Like sugar, Mintz is persuasive, and his detailed history is a real treat." -San Francisco Chronicle
Paperback.
Published on February 1, 2005
