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A review by archytas
Sugar in the Blood: A Family's Story of Slavery and Empire by Andrea Stuart
4.0
This is an engrossing and accessible history that uses the experience of one family's history to tell a broader story of Barbados. Stuart covers large swathes relatively briefly, alternating with a deep dive into society, politics, culture and living arrangements in particular ages (the mid-seventeenth century colonial beginnings, the early-mid nineteenth century plantation lifestyle through to emancipation, post WW1 emigre experiences in Harlem, her parents lives from the 1950s in Barbados and Jamaica). This approach works very well, sustaining interest and giving a sense of changes over time.
The history is brutal, of course. Stuart is not interested in minimising the suffering of slavery, but neither does she discuss it gratuitously. Her tone is cool and analytic, if not at all detached, and it forms a part of the picture. In the powerful final chapter, Stuart makes it clear that she, like many, regards the legacy of intense violence and abuse to be a key contributor to the current instability of countries like Jamaica. She argues, echoing arguments I recently encountered in [b:Black and British: A Forgotten History|32809816|Black and British A Forgotten History|David Olusoga|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1478973829s/32809816.jpg|53409437] that the world must understand the cost of our sugar addiction in global terms, the impact of her family's story is global, not just local.
For all this, the book is a pleasure to read. Stuart has that rare gift among historians of capturing a sense of people and place. Excitement and hope permeate the times, as well as despair and arrogance. She eschews both hyperbole and inserting herself into the text (unless, in the last chapters, she was in fact present), instead letting the story she is telling breathe.
It was a little frustrating that the focus, influenced by the historic record, is strongest upon specific white men, and then general information about slave life in the early part. The latter part of the book also maintains a focus on her male ancestors, and I would dearly have loved to learn more about women's lives. This is a relatively minor quibble, however, given how much is packed into a relatively short book.
Highly recommended.
Read for 2019 Reading Challenge #10. A book with POP, SUGAR, or CHALLENGE in the title
The history is brutal, of course. Stuart is not interested in minimising the suffering of slavery, but neither does she discuss it gratuitously. Her tone is cool and analytic, if not at all detached, and it forms a part of the picture. In the powerful final chapter, Stuart makes it clear that she, like many, regards the legacy of intense violence and abuse to be a key contributor to the current instability of countries like Jamaica. She argues, echoing arguments I recently encountered in [b:Black and British: A Forgotten History|32809816|Black and British A Forgotten History|David Olusoga|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1478973829s/32809816.jpg|53409437] that the world must understand the cost of our sugar addiction in global terms, the impact of her family's story is global, not just local.
For all this, the book is a pleasure to read. Stuart has that rare gift among historians of capturing a sense of people and place. Excitement and hope permeate the times, as well as despair and arrogance. She eschews both hyperbole and inserting herself into the text (unless, in the last chapters, she was in fact present), instead letting the story she is telling breathe.
It was a little frustrating that the focus, influenced by the historic record, is strongest upon specific white men, and then general information about slave life in the early part. The latter part of the book also maintains a focus on her male ancestors, and I would dearly have loved to learn more about women's lives. This is a relatively minor quibble, however, given how much is packed into a relatively short book.
Highly recommended.
Read for 2019 Reading Challenge #10. A book with POP, SUGAR, or CHALLENGE in the title