{"product_id":"9781529349245-smoke-and-ashes-opiums-hidden-histories","title":"Smoke And Ashes: Opium's Hidden Histories","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eLONGLISTED FOR THE CUNDHILL HISTORY PRIZE \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e'An acerbic, compelling and always accessible account of how opium corrupted the world' \u003ci\u003eTLS\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e'The writing is sublime, the research thorough, the eye for story superb' \u003ci\u003eSunday Telegraph\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cb\u003e'A history of the opium poppy, which \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eprobes how the drug trade has shaped \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003efree-market capitalism and globalisation. \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe plant may look innocuous, but its \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003estory is one of profits and power' \u003ci\u003eEconomist\u003c\/i\u003e, Book of the Year\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen Amitav Ghosh began the research for his monumental cycle of novels the Ibis Trilogy, he was startled to find how the lives of the 19th century sailors and soldiers he wrote of were dictated not only by the currents of the Indian Ocean, but also by the precious commodity carried in enormous quantities on those currents: opium. Most surprising of all, however, was the discovery that his own identity and family history was swept up in the story.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eSmoke and Ashes\u003c\/i\u003e is at once a travelogue, memoir and a history, drawing on decades of archival research. In it, Ghosh traces the transformative effect the opium trade had on Britain, India, and China, as well as the world at large. The trade was engineered by the British Empire, which exported Indian opium to sell to China and redress their great trade imbalance, and its revenues were essential to the Empire's financial survival. Yet tracing the profits further, Ghosh finds opium at the origins of some of the world's biggest corporations, of America's most powerful families and prestigious institutions (from the Astors and Coolidges to the Ivy League), and of contemporary globalism itself.\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eMoving deftly between horticultural histories, the mythologies of capitalism, and the social and cultural repercussions of colonialism, in \u003ci\u003eSmoke and Ashes \u003c\/i\u003eAmitav Ghosh reveals the role that one small plant had in making our world, now teetering on the edge of catastrophe.\u003cp\u003eAmitav Ghosh is the author of the bestselling Ibis trilogy, comprised of \u003ci\u003eSea of Poppies\u003c\/i\u003e (short-listed for the 2008 Man Booker Prize), \u003ci\u003eRiver of Smoke\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eFlood of Fire.\u003c\/i\u003e His other novels include \u003ci\u003eThe Circle of Reason\u003c\/i\u003e, which won the Prix Medicis etranger, and\u003ci\u003e The Glass Palace\u003c\/i\u003e. He is the author of many works of nonfiction, including \u003ci\u003eThe Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis\u003c\/i\u003e. He holds two lifetime achievement awards and four honorary doctorates. In 2015, he was named as a finalist of the Man Booker International Prize.  In 2018, Ghosh became the first English-language writer to receive the Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honor, and in 2024 he was awarded the Laureate Erasmus Prize. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Book Grocer","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46508796281051,"sku":"9781529349245","price":20.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/db92453de7904b488ffe53fa78159410.png?v=1739959400","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/9781529349245-smoke-and-ashes-opiums-hidden-histories","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}