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The World of Sugar: How the Sweet Stuff Transformed Our Politics, Health, and Environment over 2,000 Years
“[A] tour de force of global history…Bosma has turned the humble sugar crystal into a mighty prism for understanding aspects of global history and the world in which we live.”― Los Angeles Review of Books
The definitive 2,500-year history of sugar and its human costs, from its little-known origins as a luxury good in Asia to worldwide environmental devastation and the obesity pandemic.
For most of history, humans did without refined sugar. After all, it serves no necessary purpose in our diets, and extracting it from plants takes hard work and ingenuity. Granulated sugar was first produced in India around the sixth century BC, yet for almost 2,500 years afterward sugar remained marginal in the diets of most people. Then, suddenly, it was everywhere. How did sugar find its way into almost all the food we eat, fostering illness and ecological crisis along the way?
The World of Sugar begins with the earliest evidence of sugar production. Through the Middle Ages, traders brought small quantities of the precious white crystals to rajahs, emperors, and caliphs. But after sugar crossed the Mediterranean to Europe, where cane could not be cultivated, demand spawned a brutal quest for supply. European cravings were satisfied by enslaved labor; two-thirds of the 12.5 million Africans taken across the Atlantic were destined for sugar plantations. By the twentieth century, sugar was a major source of calories in diets across Europe and North America.
Sugar transformed life on every continent, creating and destroying whole cultures through industrialization, labor migration, and changes in diet. Sugar made fortunes, corrupted governments, and shaped the policies of technocrats. And it provoked freedom cries that rang with world-changing consequences. In Ulbe Bosma’s definitive telling, to understand sugar’s past is to glimpse the origins of our own world of corn syrup and ethanol and begin to see the threat that a not-so-simple commodity poses to our bodies, our environment, and our communities.
The definitive 2,500-year history of sugar and its human costs, from its little-known origins as a luxury good in Asia to worldwide environmental devastation and the obesity pandemic.
For most of history, humans did without refined sugar. After all, it serves no necessary purpose in our diets, and extracting it from plants takes hard work and ingenuity. Granulated sugar was first produced in India around the sixth century BC, yet for almost 2,500 years afterward sugar remained marginal in the diets of most people. Then, suddenly, it was everywhere. How did sugar find its way into almost all the food we eat, fostering illness and ecological crisis along the way?
The World of Sugar begins with the earliest evidence of sugar production. Through the Middle Ages, traders brought small quantities of the precious white crystals to rajahs, emperors, and caliphs. But after sugar crossed the Mediterranean to Europe, where cane could not be cultivated, demand spawned a brutal quest for supply. European cravings were satisfied by enslaved labor; two-thirds of the 12.5 million Africans taken across the Atlantic were destined for sugar plantations. By the twentieth century, sugar was a major source of calories in diets across Europe and North America.
Sugar transformed life on every continent, creating and destroying whole cultures through industrialization, labor migration, and changes in diet. Sugar made fortunes, corrupted governments, and shaped the policies of technocrats. And it provoked freedom cries that rang with world-changing consequences. In Ulbe Bosma’s definitive telling, to understand sugar’s past is to glimpse the origins of our own world of corn syrup and ethanol and begin to see the threat that a not-so-simple commodity poses to our bodies, our environment, and our communities.
464 pages, Hardcover
First published May 9, 2023
72 people are currently reading
1341 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
September 12, 2023
After reading this book you will have second throughs about sugar.
October 17, 2023
"In the 1920s over ten million people stood in the world’s beet and cane fields, most of whom for only part of the year. Nonetheless, sugar involved the work of more than 2 percent of the world population, which translated to 6–8 percent of all the world’s households."
There are few commodities as integral to the development of our modern economy as sugar, and few which have been as associated with the worst forms of human exploitation. From slavery, indenture, prison labour, child labour to some of history's worst factory conditions, not to mention the wholescale invasion and colonisation of lands, the human appetite for sugar has enabled/justified pretty awful things.
It has also led to resistance - from Haiti's slave revolts, to Cuba's revolution and Indonesia's massive communist party - the organising of sugar workers has been at the forefront of how we have developed.
Bosma captures the sweep of sugar well, in a massive account that starts with early cultivation in India, and traces through to the modern day, and the impact of artificial sweeteners and corn syrup. His focus is often upon the industry - key families, empires and imperialists - which I found an often frustrating way to get to the story I was more interested in, that of how the actions of those exploited in it changed our world.
My favourite sections were those dealing with sugar cultivation in Asia, from the early development of gur, to the huge sugar mills in Indonesia, and the more US-entangled sugar fields of the Philippines - including experiments with collective cultivation - and Hawaii. I had little idea of how globally competitive these countries had been, and how shaped by the industry. The development of protectionism largely to 'protect' Northern economies from the inevitably more efficient tropical production was eye opening. It was also depressing to read about how sharecropping effectively is introduced just at the point that mechanisation makes farming less profitable, and the exploitation cycle moves towards overworked factories, which in turn screw the newly liberated farmers on prices. AS someone who has always vaguely regarded artificial sweeteners as unsafe based on something I heard somewhere once, I was chagrined to learn that this is essentially a result of an industry-wide misinformation campaign launched and funded from the 1960s onwards, much like the campaigns funded by the fossil fuel and tobacco industries. Sigh.
Bosma finishes by looking at the global health impacts of cheap, plentiful sugar as well as the creeping environmental concerns. He doesn't really look at the dynamics of commodities here, but his plea to recognise the need for a change is heartfelt and gives weight to the rest of the book.
There are few commodities as integral to the development of our modern economy as sugar, and few which have been as associated with the worst forms of human exploitation. From slavery, indenture, prison labour, child labour to some of history's worst factory conditions, not to mention the wholescale invasion and colonisation of lands, the human appetite for sugar has enabled/justified pretty awful things.
It has also led to resistance - from Haiti's slave revolts, to Cuba's revolution and Indonesia's massive communist party - the organising of sugar workers has been at the forefront of how we have developed.
Bosma captures the sweep of sugar well, in a massive account that starts with early cultivation in India, and traces through to the modern day, and the impact of artificial sweeteners and corn syrup. His focus is often upon the industry - key families, empires and imperialists - which I found an often frustrating way to get to the story I was more interested in, that of how the actions of those exploited in it changed our world.
My favourite sections were those dealing with sugar cultivation in Asia, from the early development of gur, to the huge sugar mills in Indonesia, and the more US-entangled sugar fields of the Philippines - including experiments with collective cultivation - and Hawaii. I had little idea of how globally competitive these countries had been, and how shaped by the industry. The development of protectionism largely to 'protect' Northern economies from the inevitably more efficient tropical production was eye opening. It was also depressing to read about how sharecropping effectively is introduced just at the point that mechanisation makes farming less profitable, and the exploitation cycle moves towards overworked factories, which in turn screw the newly liberated farmers on prices. AS someone who has always vaguely regarded artificial sweeteners as unsafe based on something I heard somewhere once, I was chagrined to learn that this is essentially a result of an industry-wide misinformation campaign launched and funded from the 1960s onwards, much like the campaigns funded by the fossil fuel and tobacco industries. Sigh.
Bosma finishes by looking at the global health impacts of cheap, plentiful sugar as well as the creeping environmental concerns. He doesn't really look at the dynamics of commodities here, but his plea to recognise the need for a change is heartfelt and gives weight to the rest of the book.
February 25, 2024
Tegen al mijn verwachtingen erg veel plezier gehad tijdens het lezen van dit boek. Dikke non-fictie pil met taal academisch taalgebruik. Maar toch... was ik... hooked?
De geschiedenis van de suikerteelt is niet bepaald vrolijk. Desondanks was het zeker de moeite waard om te lezen over de werking van het verbouwen, exporteren van en lobbyen voor een gewas zoals in dit geval suiker
De geschiedenis van de suikerteelt is niet bepaald vrolijk. Desondanks was het zeker de moeite waard om te lezen over de werking van het verbouwen, exporteren van en lobbyen voor een gewas zoals in dit geval suiker
May 13, 2025
Le doy solo una estrella, no porque esté mal, sino porque no alcanza mis espectativas, pensé que me encontraria con una novela basada en las plantaciones de azúcar y nada mas lejos.
Cuenta la historia del azúcar y lo que supuso en cuanto a movimientos de comercio entre el atlantico y mediterraneo, de esclavos, industrialización, economicamente en el mundo...etc. durante 500 años.
Y bueno es interesante, pero muy lejos de lo que yo me esperaba, parecía que leia un libro de texto.
Cuenta la historia del azúcar y lo que supuso en cuanto a movimientos de comercio entre el atlantico y mediterraneo, de esclavos, industrialización, economicamente en el mundo...etc. durante 500 años.
Y bueno es interesante, pero muy lejos de lo que yo me esperaba, parecía que leia un libro de texto.
August 28, 2023
A mine of interesting information especially in the evolution of sugar consumption and the different types of production. It gets a little bogged down in 19th sugar politics but the role of protectionism is fascinating. However by the end if becomes little more than a Guardinista style rant agains the twin evils of corporate capitalism and the legacy of colonialism and slavery much of which is already known. Like a lot of modern writers it is long on detailed research but short on cohesion. Well worth a read though.
September 15, 2024
Ulbe Bosma's book, "The World of Sugar," takes you on a fascinating journey through the history of sugar, from its humble and obscure origins to its current, dominant role in modern society and industry.
I didn't know sugar originated in India several thousand years ago and that India and China traded in sugar. Sugar moved from its humble origins as a food sparingly used for medical purposes and to provide energy to men working in the fields.
Sugar remained an obscure agricultural product until the West developed a taste for the sweetness, beginning the search for plantations, the development of industrial production methods, and alternatives like beet sugar.
The book touched on many aspects of sugar, besides its use in beverages and industrial food: slave labor, the rise of robber barons, protectionism, lobbying, and how sugar eventually entered other applications like ethanol.
Many people warned of sugar's addictive properties, and the earliest warning signs appeared almost two centuries ago. Yet, the sugar industry's fierce lobbying has successfully molded the narrative to suit its purpose. The later chapters on industrial and government lobbying illuminate and demonstrate sugar's importance to a country's economy.
Ulbe Bosma kept the chapters—paragraphs—on the adverse environmental impact of sugar until the end, and I believe this (almost) omission is tragic. Sugar cultivation consumes massive quantities of water and can drain the soil's nutrients. In a future edition, I would like him to emphasize this aspect of sugar cultivation.
While he devoted a few chapters to industry lobbying, I also think he could have emphasized sugar's impact on human health. I am grateful for the references to some of the earliest warnings against sugar, how the lobby demonized authors' warnings against sugar, and how he changed the narrative from focusing on sugar to demonizing fat.
I want to summarize by commending the author for writing an outstanding book covering a broad swathe of territory, from its origins to colonialism, slavery, industrialization, protectionism, and lobbying.
If you want to learn about sugar, this book is an excellent place to start.
I didn't know sugar originated in India several thousand years ago and that India and China traded in sugar. Sugar moved from its humble origins as a food sparingly used for medical purposes and to provide energy to men working in the fields.
Sugar remained an obscure agricultural product until the West developed a taste for the sweetness, beginning the search for plantations, the development of industrial production methods, and alternatives like beet sugar.
The book touched on many aspects of sugar, besides its use in beverages and industrial food: slave labor, the rise of robber barons, protectionism, lobbying, and how sugar eventually entered other applications like ethanol.
Many people warned of sugar's addictive properties, and the earliest warning signs appeared almost two centuries ago. Yet, the sugar industry's fierce lobbying has successfully molded the narrative to suit its purpose. The later chapters on industrial and government lobbying illuminate and demonstrate sugar's importance to a country's economy.
Ulbe Bosma kept the chapters—paragraphs—on the adverse environmental impact of sugar until the end, and I believe this (almost) omission is tragic. Sugar cultivation consumes massive quantities of water and can drain the soil's nutrients. In a future edition, I would like him to emphasize this aspect of sugar cultivation.
While he devoted a few chapters to industry lobbying, I also think he could have emphasized sugar's impact on human health. I am grateful for the references to some of the earliest warnings against sugar, how the lobby demonized authors' warnings against sugar, and how he changed the narrative from focusing on sugar to demonizing fat.
I want to summarize by commending the author for writing an outstanding book covering a broad swathe of territory, from its origins to colonialism, slavery, industrialization, protectionism, and lobbying.
If you want to learn about sugar, this book is an excellent place to start.
June 15, 2024
Daha önce Sidney M. Mintz isimli yazarın "Şeker ve Güç" isimli kitabını okumayı düşünmüştüm ama daha güncel bir şey okumayı istiyordum aslında. Ulbe Bosma'nın türkçeye "Şekerin Tarihi" ismi ile çevirisi yapılmış "The World of Sugar" kitabını okumak varmış kısmetimizde.
Gerçeği söylemek gerekirse, bu kitabı okumayı daha önce pek düşünmüyordum. Okumayı seçme nedenim ise kitabın türkçeye güncel olarak çevirisi yapılmış olması. 2024 senesinde yaşıyoruz ve ben bu kitabı okumaya başladığımda kitabın türkçe çevirisinin mürekkebi henüz kurumaya başlamıştı..
İlk başlarda maalesef çok sevmediğimi belirtmeliyim. Ama sonrasında olaylar daha güncel, pre-modern ve modern dönemleri kapsamaya başlayınca daha çok sevmeye başladım. Ayrıca yazarımız bu kitabında daha önceki şeker çalışmalarına da yer vermiş (mesela Sidney M. Mintz'in "Şeker ve Güç" kitabına). Yazarımız kitabı boyunca şeker kamışı ve şeker pancarının nasıl küreselleştiğini, şekerin imalatının küreselleşirken kölelerin nasıl istismara uğradığını anlatmış. Kitap boyunca Hinsditandan, Çinden, Karayip köle şekeri imalatından, Tayvandan, Javadan, ABD'nin güneyinden ve de Avrupadan çokca bahsedilmiş. Adı geçen yerler (ve ilaveten İran bile) günümüz şekerinin tarihinin başladığı yerler aslında. Yazarımız şekerin günümüzdeki imalatına kadar geçen süre boyunca ne çok insanın canının yandığını, ayrıca da mesela Hindistan gibi küçük çiftliklerde kendi yerli şekerini yetiştirmeye çalışan insanlara karşı sömürge yönetiminin (Britanya olur kendisi) kamış şekeri imalatını dayatma çabalarını anlatmış. Günümüzde Yüksek Fruktozlu Mısır Şekeri, sakkaroz ve diğer kimyasal metotlar ile kamış ve pancar şekeri fiyatlarının düşmesinden de yazmış kendisi.
Tarihe ilgi duyanların seveceği bir kitap. Ben şahsen tavsiye ederim..
Gerçeği söylemek gerekirse, bu kitabı okumayı daha önce pek düşünmüyordum. Okumayı seçme nedenim ise kitabın türkçeye güncel olarak çevirisi yapılmış olması. 2024 senesinde yaşıyoruz ve ben bu kitabı okumaya başladığımda kitabın türkçe çevirisinin mürekkebi henüz kurumaya başlamıştı..
İlk başlarda maalesef çok sevmediğimi belirtmeliyim. Ama sonrasında olaylar daha güncel, pre-modern ve modern dönemleri kapsamaya başlayınca daha çok sevmeye başladım. Ayrıca yazarımız bu kitabında daha önceki şeker çalışmalarına da yer vermiş (mesela Sidney M. Mintz'in "Şeker ve Güç" kitabına). Yazarımız kitabı boyunca şeker kamışı ve şeker pancarının nasıl küreselleştiğini, şekerin imalatının küreselleşirken kölelerin nasıl istismara uğradığını anlatmış. Kitap boyunca Hinsditandan, Çinden, Karayip köle şekeri imalatından, Tayvandan, Javadan, ABD'nin güneyinden ve de Avrupadan çokca bahsedilmiş. Adı geçen yerler (ve ilaveten İran bile) günümüz şekerinin tarihinin başladığı yerler aslında. Yazarımız şekerin günümüzdeki imalatına kadar geçen süre boyunca ne çok insanın canının yandığını, ayrıca da mesela Hindistan gibi küçük çiftliklerde kendi yerli şekerini yetiştirmeye çalışan insanlara karşı sömürge yönetiminin (Britanya olur kendisi) kamış şekeri imalatını dayatma çabalarını anlatmış. Günümüzde Yüksek Fruktozlu Mısır Şekeri, sakkaroz ve diğer kimyasal metotlar ile kamış ve pancar şekeri fiyatlarının düşmesinden de yazmış kendisi.
Tarihe ilgi duyanların seveceği bir kitap. Ben şahsen tavsiye ederim..
December 24, 2023
This is a history of a product we don’t really need, yet consume to excess, at huge and rising costs to us all. In illuminating detail, the author develops many themes. Chief among them, how plantation owners, family dynasties and transnational corporations have exploited labour (enslaved, conscripted, indentured, forced off land and otherwise compelled) to grow and process sugar. Further costs include destructive effects on soils, ecosystems and especially human health. Consumers and taxpayers foot the bill. The powers of cartels and monopolies push up prices both directly in markets and indirectly through such things as rising health costs and insurance premiums to cover them, and subsidies diddled from public treasuries through aggressive lobbying and implicit bribery. Yet today's insatiable needs for sugar – something verging today on dependence - were largely created by these cartels, monopolies and allied marketing agents. The author recounts how, not so long ago, most people got along very well without it. He notes, for example,
In France, the sugar industry was boosted by scientists claiming that the labouring classes were not getting enough calories to provide them with the necessary energy to perform their work. Most French people, and particularly those living in the countryside, still considered sugar a bourgeois frivolity.
This book’s prose is clear and accessible. But it misses opportunities to make supporting data clearer by its omission of graphic illustrations; there is only one (and it is poorly made).
We may not really need much sugar, but we need this kind of historical study as a reminder of how such a product gains a greedy welcome and becomes a fixture in consumption yet at terrible costs.
In France, the sugar industry was boosted by scientists claiming that the labouring classes were not getting enough calories to provide them with the necessary energy to perform their work. Most French people, and particularly those living in the countryside, still considered sugar a bourgeois frivolity.
This book’s prose is clear and accessible. But it misses opportunities to make supporting data clearer by its omission of graphic illustrations; there is only one (and it is poorly made).
We may not really need much sugar, but we need this kind of historical study as a reminder of how such a product gains a greedy welcome and becomes a fixture in consumption yet at terrible costs.
August 9, 2024
The World of Sugar is precisely what the title says: the book starts in ancient history and works through history to the present, meanwhile informing the reader about everything that happened sugar-wise. Other primary products for human consumption had drawn the attention of best-seller writers, like Pendergrast on coffee in his Uncommon Grounds (1999) and Morris with Coffee: A Global History (2019), and Standage with his History of the World in Six Glasses (2005). Sugar, so often used to embellish our food and drinks, had to wait for a comprehensive global perspective until Professor Ulbe Bosma from the Netherlands brought everything together in one tome. While in the past historians may have written from a perspective that saw progress in plantations and sugar corporations capturing markets, Bosma aims to describe the horrors as well as the achievements. The horrors were to be found in the plantations where sugar cane was grown and harvested; and when slavery was abolished, other forms of exploitation followed. With increasing industrialisation, the world started eating and drinking too much sugar, and obesity and diabetes followed. Bosma informs us about technical advances as well as the role of sugar in trade relations and our economies. This is a volume that will stand the test of time.
February 3, 2025
Inizialmente bene di lusso, lo zucchero è diventato in breve tempo un alimento di largo consumo. La sua scoperta e la sua storia hanno avuto come conseguenza razzismo, schiavitu’, disuguaglianza, distruzioni ambientali e una crisi sanitaria mondiale.
Il capitalismo globale, durato oltre sette secoli, ha causato proteste e rivolte, povertà e grandissima ricchezza in mano a pochissimi eletti, ricchi che rimangono indifferenti alle conseguenze nocive e collaterali di tale prodotto.
Sarebbe necessario un cambiamento di rotta universale affinché si protegga la salute e l’ecosistema, una totale trasformazione a favore di un commercio equo e solidale e un minore consumo. Tuttavia i governi non sono affatto favorevoli all’applicazione delle direttive OMS e a cambiare i quadri legislativi per migliorare la situazione creatasi.
Un saggio davvero interessante e attuale che ripercorre la storia di un alimento controverso che ha cambiato le abitudini e l’economia di molti popoli. Nonostante sia un volume corposo, oltre cinquecento pagine, non mi ha mai annoiata e in alcuni punti mi ha lasciata stupefatta. Devo rivelare la mia ignoranza sulla maggior parte dei dati forniti e ringrazio questo saggio per avermi dato maggiore consapevolezza sul consumo di questo alimento.
June 27, 2024
I listed to this book. Fascinating!
At times it seemed a bit repetitive, and I would have liked to see a hard copy to understand spellings and citations, and whether it used maps. The history of sugar production over human history and its influence on the physical world, economics and humans generally was a 'revelation' to me. I could reflect on the sugar I have known over my lifetime, my understanding of sugar and sweeteners and how it has changed. It complemented my recent hard copy read of 'Caste' by Isabel Wilkerson.
It would be interesting to select out the information about Australia. I wonder if there is a book ... ? I'm reminded of the classic Australian play 'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll' by Ray Lawler, with two of its central characters, the cane cutters, Barney and Roo. Also the Paul Kelly song, 'To Her Door' and GANGajang's 'Sounds of Then (This is Australia)'.
At times it seemed a bit repetitive, and I would have liked to see a hard copy to understand spellings and citations, and whether it used maps. The history of sugar production over human history and its influence on the physical world, economics and humans generally was a 'revelation' to me. I could reflect on the sugar I have known over my lifetime, my understanding of sugar and sweeteners and how it has changed. It complemented my recent hard copy read of 'Caste' by Isabel Wilkerson.
It would be interesting to select out the information about Australia. I wonder if there is a book ... ? I'm reminded of the classic Australian play 'Summer of the Seventeenth Doll' by Ray Lawler, with two of its central characters, the cane cutters, Barney and Roo. Also the Paul Kelly song, 'To Her Door' and GANGajang's 'Sounds of Then (This is Australia)'.
July 23, 2025
A 2,500 year history of sugar and its perpetuated commodity chain. The book takes readers through sugar production and distribution’s ripple effects through political, economic, health, and environmental issues. This book is where the roads of “food and drink”, history, and science all merge in the world of sugar’s history. The seemingly neutral systems, that people often choose to remain ignorant to, were and still are weaponized to create inequalities and inequities in the name of profit over people. This book elevates the voices of the oppressed people (slaves), involving the sugar commodity chain, while telling their lived experiences and resistance while living alongside those that colonized them.
Read this book for my commodities research term paper.
Read this book for my commodities research term paper.
May 13, 2023
I really wanted to enjoy and digest this book, but it is dense and poorly written. Although the material is well-researched, it reads like a barrage of facts instead of a coherent message. I have an advanced science degree and read voraciously, so if anyone could be expected to plow through the pages, it would be me! Unfortunately, I couldn't even get through the introduction without re-reading almost every sentence for comprehension, and flipping through the later chapters showed me the situation wasn't going to improve. I was looking forward to learning more about the history and influence of sugar in technical detail, but sadly, I will be returning this one without finishing.
April 15, 2024
Книга неявно делится на две части: как развивалась сахарная индустрия и как это влияло на общество.
Влияние на общество интересно; развитие индустрии могло бы быть короче в 10 раз и больше похоже на плохую монографию технолога производства: «Бу-бу-бу, внедрение центрифуг позволило отделять сахарозу с эффективностью на 7 процентов больше», «бу-бу-бу, таким образом на Яве на один акр производства работало на 2 человека больше, но урожайность была на 3 процента выше», «бу-бу-бу».
В какой-то момент начал это пролистывать просто; а такого не меньше половины не тонкой книги.
Влияние на общество интересно; развитие индустрии могло бы быть короче в 10 раз и больше похоже на плохую монографию технолога производства: «Бу-бу-бу, внедрение центрифуг позволило отделять сахарозу с эффективностью на 7 процентов больше», «бу-бу-бу, таким образом на Яве на один акр производства работало на 2 человека больше, но урожайность была на 3 процента выше», «бу-бу-бу».
В какой-то момент начал это пролистывать просто; а такого не меньше половины не тонкой книги.
October 17, 2024
I wanted it to be more explicit with the coercive labor aspect and implications, but it instead chose to explore the business side a little more than I wanted. I wanted more discussion of Haiti and maroon societies, but instead I got what the title told me I’d get: the world of sugar I want to rate it 3, but I think the perspective is still good and I’m sure there’s some unfair ratings out there. It isn’t the book I wanted, and I definitely ran the audiobook playback to 1.7 toward the back 1/3rd, but I don’t regret reading it.
August 16, 2023
An excellent important, powerful & informative book on our world - past, present & future. Not a lot of solutions but certainly a detailed outline of the problem as we & our capitalistic society is a major of the problem. Key question is what we are going to give up to find the solution as we kill ourselves with sugar because of the wealth it gives us through nutrition, environmental degradation, racism & justice. A tough yet important read.
January 3, 2024
Generally a great book about the indentured servants which made sugar for the rest of the world. While the first 1.900 years have been covered in great and granular detail, modern history and the rise of artificial sweeteners was cut a little short. But there are always future editions.
Great research and great writing.
Great research and great writing.
September 16, 2024
I definitely understand why someone would not enjoy this book. It can be dry. But I found the content fascinating because it connects so many relevant topics - empire, slavery, capitalism, foreign relations, big business, government propaganda, global poverty, etc. Sugar has had, and still has a HUGE influence on the world.
January 8, 2025
A 14hr audio book. This book repeats itself many time over in different chapters. its very annoying after the third time hearing about something, it also got under my skin that their was no clear direction of each chapters progression. Overall, I am glad to gain some little knowledge of a food that has shaped our world.
February 12, 2025
The topic of this book is fascinating, but the book itself is not. The author seemed to brain dump facts at random in exhausting detail, jumping across dates, issues, and themes. If numbers and stats are your thing, you may enjoy it. But if you want a cohesive, logically flowing analysis of sugar and its historical impact, there are probably better options elsewhere.
March 13, 2024
COMPREHENSIVE. Especially enjoyed the middle part the deeeep dives into how sugar was entangled in 19th century global trade ie touching on colonialism, labor, ecological destruction, resistance movements, sugar plantation ownership etc
August 16, 2025
Tema interesante pero arruinado por una mala redacción. Alguna información está sesgada o pobremente referenciada.
Interesting topic, but spoiled by poor writing. Some information is biased or poorly referenced.
Interesting topic, but spoiled by poor writing. Some information is biased or poorly referenced.
June 13, 2023
Later
July 27, 2023
data dump. Only the last few chapters are interesting.
July 31, 2023
DNF Way to much detail written at to high a level and it lost me. It seems to be about the history of sugar and politics.
September 23, 2023
A lot of interesting information about sugars, which I had never thought to think of before. Will have you second guessing you purchases that's for sure
September 30, 2023
There is no greater disaster than greed.
-C12H22O11
-C12H22O11
October 12, 2023
Good start, but ultimately more bloated than it needed to be.
December 21, 2023
read this in a span of prob 3 days for an awful research project, lowkey good though
February 9, 2024
it's what I expected. it's sympathetic. it's boring but that's fine I guess.
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