Compendious history of sugar and capitalism
By: Munjal, Kunal
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Material type: 
BookPublisher: Economic & Political Weekly Description: 60(2), Jan 11, 2025: p.21-23.
In:
Economic & Political WeeklySummary:
The World of Sugar: How the Sweet Stuff Transformed Our Politics, Health, and Environment over 2,000 Years by Ulbe Bosma, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2023; pp xi + 448, `695. The problem of sugar is like a Gordian knot—“a knot of overproduction, overexploitation, and overconsumption”—writes Ulbe Bosma, author of The World of Sugar: How the Sweet Stuff Transformed Our Politics, Health, and Environment over 2,000 Years (p 338). Throughout civilisational history, refined sugar remained confined until colonialism and capitalism paved the way for the production and commercialisation of sugar. This book presents a comprehensive and meticulously researched history of sugar, from its origins in India and China two millennia ago to the 21st century. Bosma, a social historian, navigates us through an ebb-and-flow ride of events, almost chronological in order, but spread across thematic chapters on sugar’s Asian origins, trade, wars, slavery, technological innovations, industrialisation, corporatisation, and a health hazard. The narrative critically analyses the perspectives of various social classes, including peasants, workers, and slaves on one side, and industrialists, traders, bankers, and corporations on the other, with the state (kingdoms, colonial governments, and nation states) being central to the commercialisation of sugar and the extensive exploitation, slavery, and racism intrinsic to sugar’s history. – Reproduced
https://www.epw.in/journal/2025/2/book-reviews/compendious-history-sugar-and-capitalism.html
| Item type | Current location | Call number | Vol info | Status | Date due | Barcode |
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Articles
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Indian Institute of Public Administration | 60(2), Jan 11, 2025: p.21-23 | Available | AR135150 |
The World of Sugar: How the Sweet Stuff Transformed Our Politics, Health, and Environment over 2,000 Years by Ulbe Bosma, Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2023; pp xi + 448, `695. The problem of sugar is like a Gordian knot—“a knot of overproduction, overexploitation, and overconsumption”—writes Ulbe Bosma, author of The World of Sugar: How the Sweet Stuff Transformed Our Politics, Health, and Environment over 2,000 Years (p 338). Throughout civilisational history, refined sugar remained confined until colonialism and capitalism paved the way for the production and commercialisation of sugar. This book presents a comprehensive and meticulously researched history of sugar, from its origins in India and China two millennia ago to the 21st century. Bosma, a social historian, navigates us through an ebb-and-flow ride of events, almost chronological in order, but spread across thematic chapters on sugar’s Asian origins, trade, wars, slavery, technological innovations, industrialisation, corporatisation, and a health hazard. The narrative critically analyses the perspectives of various social classes, including peasants, workers, and slaves on one side, and industrialists, traders, bankers, and corporations on the other, with the state (kingdoms, colonial governments, and nation states) being central to the commercialisation of sugar and the extensive exploitation, slavery, and racism intrinsic to sugar’s history. – Reproduced
https://www.epw.in/journal/2025/2/book-reviews/compendious-history-sugar-and-capitalism.html
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