Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories
Opium built modern Asia and a good deal of Western wealth, and the receipts are still traceable.
Amitav Ghosh follows the opium trade from Indian poppy fields through the Chinese wars to the American and British fortunes built on it, including institutions still operating today. The research is substantial and the writing is exceptional, though the political framing is emphatic enough that some readers will find it intrudes.
Recommended by 1 Person
Tyler Cowen
Amitav Ghosh, Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories. An extremely well-written, and also useful history of the opium trade, albeit with more than its fair share of left-wing jargon. And yes that is the novelist Ghosh.
Source · October 2023
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