Kirkus, March 2003
"Lively and entertaining: a splendid saga for the general reader."
Choice
"Covers a tremendous amount of information . . . a lighthearted but serious look."
Netsurfer Books
"An engrossing tale."
Book Description
This social and historical exploration traces the history of sugarcane from its home in New Guinea to Shakespeare's England. Fascinating sugar lore and anecdotes are included, such as how Queen Elizabeth I became so partial to hippocras (mulled wine), sugared almonds, and pastilles that her teeth turned completely black. Explored are the political and sociological impacts of sugar on the world and the tremendous riches available to the unscrupulous few who grew and sold it. The days of manual processing are described, when fortunes were built on the backbreaking labor of slaves. The resulting wars and geopolitical shifts that have shaped the modern world are discussed in detail.
About the Author
Peter Macinnis is the author of the Science in Action series, as well as "Exploring the Environment", and he co-authored "The Desert", and "The Rainforest", both Puffin Originals.
Bittersweet: The Story of Sugar FROM THE PUBLISHER
Forty years after first chewing on sugar cane in New Guinea, the home of sugar, the author underwent some complex dental work as a direct result of his sweet tooth. This led him to explore sugar cane's journey from New Guinea to Shakespeare's England. In the days before dentistry, people paid dearly for this sweet new food from exotic places - Queen Elizabeth I became so partial to hippocras, sugared almonds and pastilles that her teeth turned completely black.
Bittersweet explores the effects that sugar has had on the world. This foodstuff that we take for granted - and indulge in more than we should - has caused wars and geopolitical balances that have shaped the modern world and the power balances we see in the 21st century.
FROM THE CRITICS
Choice
Covers a tremendous amount of information . . . a lighthearted but serious look.
Netsurfer Books
An engrossing tale.
Kirkus Reviews
From Australian science writer and broadcaster Macinnis, an informative and readable history of the simple substance that changed the world and often brought out the worst in people. Sugar cane, a member of the grass family, was first discovered in the New Guinea jungle some 9,000 years ago. The locals found that chewing and sucking it was pleasurable; eventually they learned to cultivate it. A widely grown crop in the ancient civilized world, sugarﾽs darker history began when the returning Crusaders brought it into Europe. There, it was a luxury item, being both capital- and labor-intensive, until the opening of the New World, particularly the Caribbean islands and Brazil, gave European colonizers the abundant land and suitable climate necessary for growing cane. Because a huge labor force was required to work the plantations, the author writes, "Sugar and slavery seemed to go hand in hand." Surveying the sweet stuffﾽs bitterest legacy, Macinnis unsparingly describes the appalling cruelty and dangerous working conditions inflicted on slaves and their not-much-better-off counterparts, indentured servants. He also writes of sugarﾽs influence on policy matters and history, such as Napoleonﾽs decision to hang onto Franceﾽs sugar-growing colonies and sell the others to the US in the Louisiana Purchase. Blessed with a fine sense of humor as well as a sense of history, the author leavens his otherwise dramatic tale with lighter moments and such oddities as a four-volume 18th-century treatise on sugar-making written in blank verse, from which he quotes. Only a hardhearted few could resist priceless gems like, "Of composts shall the Muse descend to sing, / Nor soil her heavenly plumes? The sacredMuse / Nought sordid deems, but what is base; nought fair / Unless true Virtue stamp it with her seal." Lively and entertaining: a splendid saga for the general reader. (6 maps)
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