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librarianonparade's review against another edition
4.0
I could never have thought I would find myself so engrossed in a history of sugar production in the British West Indies, ie. Jamaica, Barbados, Antigua etc. I could hardly put this book down. In the wrong hands this could have been an immensely dull and dry scholarly work, but Parker writes with real flair, populating his narrative with colourful figures, both sympathetic and abhorrent. Pirates, slaves, merchants, traders, plantation owners, politicians, rebels, soldiers and sailors, they're all here.
That said, this book is far more than just a history of sugar production - it is more of a history of colonialism in the West Indies from the mid-seventeenth century up to the abolition of slavery in the early nineteenth, and the creation of the 'first British Empire', founded on an immensely rich market in sugar and slaves. Parker pulls no punches, detailing the horrifying realities of life for a slave on a sugar plantation, contrasted with the life of almost unparalleled luxury and magnificence enjoyed by those select families whose fortunes were made, names such as Drax, Codrington and Beckford.
What I found particularly interesting was the relationship between the West Indies and the American colonies, a relationship I never thought much about, for all my interest in the American settlement. So much of the available land on the Caribbean islands was given over to sugar production that they relied heavily on the American colonies for almost all food and lumber, creating a heavy dependence that had a devastating impact in the wake of the American Revolution. Similarly, sugar, molasses and rum, and the British government attempts to regulate and profit from the trade thereof, played an important role in stiffening resentment and antagonism towards the 'mother country' and helped soften the ground for the seed that would become the American Revolution.
And all this from sugar? Who knew?
That said, this book is far more than just a history of sugar production - it is more of a history of colonialism in the West Indies from the mid-seventeenth century up to the abolition of slavery in the early nineteenth, and the creation of the 'first British Empire', founded on an immensely rich market in sugar and slaves. Parker pulls no punches, detailing the horrifying realities of life for a slave on a sugar plantation, contrasted with the life of almost unparalleled luxury and magnificence enjoyed by those select families whose fortunes were made, names such as Drax, Codrington and Beckford.
What I found particularly interesting was the relationship between the West Indies and the American colonies, a relationship I never thought much about, for all my interest in the American settlement. So much of the available land on the Caribbean islands was given over to sugar production that they relied heavily on the American colonies for almost all food and lumber, creating a heavy dependence that had a devastating impact in the wake of the American Revolution. Similarly, sugar, molasses and rum, and the British government attempts to regulate and profit from the trade thereof, played an important role in stiffening resentment and antagonism towards the 'mother country' and helped soften the ground for the seed that would become the American Revolution.
And all this from sugar? Who knew?
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