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3.55 AVERAGE
3.55 AVERAGE
If you are curious at all about the Spice Trade, or about the roots of the British and Dutch East India Companies, or how the competing interests to control the Spice Trade from the Spice Islands in Indonesia were fought, or even how it all affected the founding of Manhattan (and it did) and the ultimate control of it by Britain, this is the book for you. The depth of primary research and the clear telling of a complicated story that stretches essentially from Queen Elizabeth the I to the mid-1800s are astonishing.
I really rate this 4.5 stars - the ding that pushes it below 5 stars is the failure to provide a timeline in the back of the book which would have helped immensely in keeping track of the events recited, especially as there were some sections that jumped back in time, thus creating a bit of confusion, I thought.
Compelling, fascinating and filled with excerpts from primary sources, meaning letters and journals of the merchants and sailors and ships captains who experienced it all, I will never again use nutmeg, cloves, and peppercorns without thinking of the battles fought and blood shed in the 17th Century over these commodities. And there was a lot of blood. There are points that the brutality described, especially that of the Dutch during the final battles against the British for total control of the Spice Islands, make the bloodshed George RR Martin's 'Song of Ice and Fire' cycle look like an afternoon at a picnic in a park.
Who is the Nathaniel of the title? You first meet him in the prologue, then do not see his name again until about page 200. Even then, it's another 40 pages before his story is told - over 2/3rds of the book. While initially you look askance at this, once you do reach his story and its aftermath, you realize it was the only way to tell it. Nathaniel Courthope was a merchant, a factor of the British East India Company, sent with ships full of sailors, merchants, and warriors to the minute island of Run in the Spice Islands, to claim it for England and thus control a rich source of nutmeg as the island was covered with prime nutmeg trees. Against incredible odds, the last of the merchants sent to establish a toehold in the island group, he rallied his men and the natives daily and held Run against the Dutch, under the most brutal conditions, for four long years. Though ultimately he was murdered at the hands of the Dutch, and England lost control of tiny Run and its valuable nutmeg to the Dutch, his heroic actions, all done out of duty and patriotism, became the rallying cry for the struggling British East India Company, and ultimately led to no less an acquisition by the British Crown of Manhattan.
It's quite a story, but not for any one who is feint of heart, squeamish or missish. But then, most of history is not for such as those.
ATY 2019 #10 - historical figure
I really rate this 4.5 stars - the ding that pushes it below 5 stars is the failure to provide a timeline in the back of the book which would have helped immensely in keeping track of the events recited, especially as there were some sections that jumped back in time, thus creating a bit of confusion, I thought.
Compelling, fascinating and filled with excerpts from primary sources, meaning letters and journals of the merchants and sailors and ships captains who experienced it all, I will never again use nutmeg, cloves, and peppercorns without thinking of the battles fought and blood shed in the 17th Century over these commodities. And there was a lot of blood. There are points that the brutality described, especially that of the Dutch during the final battles against the British for total control of the Spice Islands, make the bloodshed George RR Martin's 'Song of Ice and Fire' cycle look like an afternoon at a picnic in a park.
Who is the Nathaniel of the title? You first meet him in the prologue, then do not see his name again until about page 200. Even then, it's another 40 pages before his story is told - over 2/3rds of the book. While initially you look askance at this, once you do reach his story and its aftermath, you realize it was the only way to tell it. Nathaniel Courthope was a merchant, a factor of the British East India Company, sent with ships full of sailors, merchants, and warriors to the minute island of Run in the Spice Islands, to claim it for England and thus control a rich source of nutmeg as the island was covered with prime nutmeg trees. Against incredible odds, the last of the merchants sent to establish a toehold in the island group, he rallied his men and the natives daily and held Run against the Dutch, under the most brutal conditions, for four long years. Though ultimately he was murdered at the hands of the Dutch, and England lost control of tiny Run and its valuable nutmeg to the Dutch, his heroic actions, all done out of duty and patriotism, became the rallying cry for the struggling British East India Company, and ultimately led to no less an acquisition by the British Crown of Manhattan.
It's quite a story, but not for any one who is feint of heart, squeamish or missish. But then, most of history is not for such as those.
ATY 2019 #10 - historical figure
I found this really interesting. Mostly it's about the ongoing conflict between England and the Netherlands over the spice trade. Some parts are quite gruesome.
adventurous
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Brilliant edge of the seat narration that delivers a great deal of information in such detail that you could almost watch the scenes play before your eyes. When you open this book, you wonder if all this fuss could be about nutmeg. I don’t think it figures majorly in our cooking even in recent days. It’s amazing to see how the sequence of events set off by nutmeg could change the world and its working.
I have spent a good part of my reading life finishing everything I start. I can count on one hand the number of books I've started and haven't finished. To my credit, I have been a librarian for a long time and rarely do I start something that I don't think I'll like. I read too many book reviews, spend too much time on Goodreads, and pay attention to things like book awards to just randomly pick up a book off the shelf and start it. So my 99% completion rate isn't exactly that surprising.
What is surprising is that this week I am not finishing not one, but two books! A whole new chapter (excuse the pun)!
So Nathaniel's Nutmeg has all the ingredients of something I would like. It is nonfiction that includes colonial expansion, indigenous peoples, ocean voyages, travels to far away lands, political scrambling, commercial trade, and food. But when I sing the praises of narrative nonfiction, I must remember that there are also terrible narrative nonfiction books out there too. This is one of them.
Within the stories of the Spice Islands and the founding of the Dutch East India Company, and the East India Company are some really interesting stories and they are dutifully recorded here in the driest way possible. Juicy stories are told with all the exuberance of a terrible middle school text book. There isn't really a story here, just the relating of some events in a report sort of way. Blerg.
I am about 1/2 way through this and don't think it is worth it to finish.
What is surprising is that this week I am not finishing not one, but two books! A whole new chapter (excuse the pun)!
So Nathaniel's Nutmeg has all the ingredients of something I would like. It is nonfiction that includes colonial expansion, indigenous peoples, ocean voyages, travels to far away lands, political scrambling, commercial trade, and food. But when I sing the praises of narrative nonfiction, I must remember that there are also terrible narrative nonfiction books out there too. This is one of them.
Within the stories of the Spice Islands and the founding of the Dutch East India Company, and the East India Company are some really interesting stories and they are dutifully recorded here in the driest way possible. Juicy stories are told with all the exuberance of a terrible middle school text book. There isn't really a story here, just the relating of some events in a report sort of way. Blerg.
I am about 1/2 way through this and don't think it is worth it to finish.
I read this book for the Popsugar challenge prompt of a book about food.
I had skimmed reviews before starting, and I knew the titular Nathaniel would not appear until fairly late on, but I was fine with that, assuming the preceding pages would contain necessary information to full understand the meat of the story. I wasn't prepared for Nathaniel to only be around for about 30 pages and to do very little.
Despite the title (and lengthy subtitle!), Nathaniel's Nutmeg mainly traces the course of history of spice trading in the East Indies and the resulting conflicts between the Dutch and English. I knew very little about this topic and while it was initially interesting, it quickly became a cycle of: X people sailed to Y island, X-a handful died, Z people sailed to replace them.
The author clearly did a lot of pain-staking research and quoted primary sources extensively, but this became very tiresome, since the spelling was not modernized, so I often found myself sounding out words before I could figure out what was being said.
I was close to giving the book 2* for the majority of it, until, ironically, Nathaniel finally appeared. Unless I missed something, he held an island from the Dutch for several years to prevent a trade monopoly. He was beloved by his men despite terrible conditions, so I'm sure he was charismatic and a great leader. That being said, I quickly got sick of him being praised over and over and OVER again for being a "national hero." I'm sure his life sucked while holding the island, and it was a good bargaining chip for England, but I wouldn't call anything he did particularly heroic. This annoyance took off the final star.
The conclusion of the book is Nathaniel is important because the island he held (and England contested claim of) was eventually traded to the Dutch for Manhattan. This story should've been reduced to a "fun fact" paragraph, not a 300+ page book.
I had skimmed reviews before starting, and I knew the titular Nathaniel would not appear until fairly late on, but I was fine with that, assuming the preceding pages would contain necessary information to full understand the meat of the story. I wasn't prepared for Nathaniel to only be around for about 30 pages and to do very little.
Despite the title (and lengthy subtitle!), Nathaniel's Nutmeg mainly traces the course of history of spice trading in the East Indies and the resulting conflicts between the Dutch and English. I knew very little about this topic and while it was initially interesting, it quickly became a cycle of: X people sailed to Y island, X-a handful died, Z people sailed to replace them.
The author clearly did a lot of pain-staking research and quoted primary sources extensively, but this became very tiresome, since the spelling was not modernized, so I often found myself sounding out words before I could figure out what was being said.
I was close to giving the book 2* for the majority of it, until, ironically, Nathaniel finally appeared. Unless I missed something, he held an island from the Dutch for several years to prevent a trade monopoly. He was beloved by his men despite terrible conditions, so I'm sure he was charismatic and a great leader. That being said, I quickly got sick of him being praised over and over and OVER again for being a "national hero." I'm sure his life sucked while holding the island, and it was a good bargaining chip for England, but I wouldn't call anything he did particularly heroic. This annoyance took off the final star.
The conclusion of the book is Nathaniel is important because the island he held (and England contested claim of) was eventually traded to the Dutch for Manhattan. This story should've been reduced to a "fun fact" paragraph, not a 300+ page book.
I had heard that nutmeg had a storied pasts so I was looking forward to this book... I recommend reading this if you suffer from insomnia.
Clearly the author made a deep investment as to his research, and came out brilliantly, though a bit obviously biased. This is a real adventure, fast-paced, full of commerce, torture, high-seas piracy and warfare, street fights and horrors on numerous kind...all with a backdrop of sensuous spice and allegiance to one's crown, daring and hope. This story has a bearing not only on the obvious but also our American history as it pertains to New York, which Milton spins out very well. Certainly not easy to read the barbarous acts, the injustices, the dashed hopes, but an exciting, important read for sure.
I don't even know why this book took me nearly two weeks to read. The subject material was completely up my alley and i was fascinated and learned a great deal, but the writing sometimes became a slog.
At a time during the later part of queen Elizabeth's reign, the English and Dutch were in the midst of a spice race. Nutmeg was one of the highly prized spices, as it grew only on a few islands and the apothecaries said it would cure plague. The center is the story of two companies whose charter is to grab as much of the prized spices and bring it back to Europe for huge markups.
The book is very English centric. They are benevolent and ethical. The Dutch are evil, using torture and bully tactics to get their way. But all of the people involved are employees of two companies. It makes for an interesting point that companies used such means to dominate the spice trade.
The title character is more like a footnote than a driving force for the English. He isn't all that interesting. The end result of his actions at Run is to have the Dutch tear out all of the nutmeg trees. The author makes a connection between Run, the spice island, and an island in the New World. This is a more telling outcome. The Dutch, by dominating the spice trade, neglected to diversify. The English, forced to trade in other goods, diversified and didn't depend solely on spices. All monopolies break at some point.
As an introduction to the spice war, it suffices. But since it focuses primarily on the English, other books should be used to gain insight on other points of view.
The book is very English centric. They are benevolent and ethical. The Dutch are evil, using torture and bully tactics to get their way. But all of the people involved are employees of two companies. It makes for an interesting point that companies used such means to dominate the spice trade.
The title character is more like a footnote than a driving force for the English. He isn't all that interesting. The end result of his actions at Run is to have the Dutch tear out all of the nutmeg trees. The author makes a connection between Run, the spice island, and an island in the New World. This is a more telling outcome. The Dutch, by dominating the spice trade, neglected to diversify. The English, forced to trade in other goods, diversified and didn't depend solely on spices. All monopolies break at some point.
As an introduction to the spice war, it suffices. But since it focuses primarily on the English, other books should be used to gain insight on other points of view.