Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History
Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History By Sidney W. Mintz
Publisher: Penguin 1986 | 274 Pages | ISBN: 0140092331 | PDF | 59 MB
Publisher: Penguin 1986 | 274 Pages | ISBN: 0140092331 | PDF | 59 MB
Unlike many anthropologists out there, Sydney Mintz' style is quite accessible for the casual reader. In this particular book he takes us through the genealogy of sugar and begins to dissect that refined white stuff we put in our coffees and teas for what it originally was--a medicine or spice. He then walks us through shifts in the "meanings" of sugar as we began to develop a whole economy (around this very substance) and this economy, still exists today in the system we call "capitalism". In so doing this we learn of triangles of trade, the rising proletariat in England and, their mirror image, slaves in the Caribbean, the British 'sweet tooth' and much more.