Sweetness and Power, Sidney W. Mintz
Sweetness and Power, Sidney W. Mintz
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Sweetness and Power
The Place of Sugar in Modern History

Author: Sidney W. Mintz

Narrator: Tom Perkins

Unabridged: 10 hr 18 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/20/2017


Synopsis

In this eye-opening study, Sidney W. Mintz shows how Europeans and Americans transformed sugar from a rare foreign luxury to a commonplace necessity of modern life, and how it changed the history of capitalism and industry. He discusses the production and consumption of sugar, and reveals how closely interwoven sugar's origins are as a "slave" crop grown in Europe's tropical colonies with its use first as an extravagant luxury for the aristocracy, then as a staple of the diet of the new industrial proletariat. Finally, he considers how sugar has altered work patterns, eating habits, and our diet in modern times.

About Sidney W. Mintz

Sidney W. Mintz (1922-2015) was William L. Straus, Jr., Professor, Emeritus, and cofounder of the Department of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. A renowned cultural anthropologist, he authored several books, including Three Ancient Colonies and Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom.


Reviews

Goodreads review by unperspicacious on December 23, 2013

As a commodity history this is somewhat dated, and as other GR reviewers have noted, in need of tighter editing, both stylistically and structurally. Remarkably uneven in quality. The last two chapters are problematic, IMO - far too much space has been devoted to theory, defending the earlier histor......more

Goodreads review by David on March 12, 2017

There was a dish of oysters sprinkled with sugar that was known as “Oyster in gravy Bastard”. Isn’t that the best name for a meal? “Hi Mum! What’s for dinner?” “Oyster in gravy Bastard.” “My favourite!” “And for you, sir?” “I’ll have the oyster in gravy Bastard. With a green salad.” “Very good sir.” This......more

Goodreads review by Betawolf on March 11, 2022

This was a gift that I initially expected to be a popular pop-history similar to Kurlansky's Salt. It turns out I misjudged it -- this is an older and more academic book, a quality that comes with both positives and negatives. Speaking positively, Mintz (who sadly seems never to have written specifi......more

Goodreads review by Krishna on April 28, 2020

This is an excellent example of what might be called a micro history, in this case that of a single commodity, sugar, and its impact on historical developments over the last five hundred years. In the process of telling the story of sugar, Sidney Mintz masterfully draws in the biology and cultivatio......more

Goodreads review by John on February 26, 2014

Sidney Mintz's "Sweetness and Power" is a global history by an anthropologist, so lay readers may find parts of it a little hard to get into, and even historians may have some issues with the way he structures his argument. Adopting a global approach was a necessity - there is no way to tell the sto......more