The World of Sugar: How the Sweet Stuff Transformed Our Politics, Health, and Environment over 2,000 Years

In this substantive study, social historian Bosma (The Making of a Periphery) tracks the evolution of sugar from an occasional luxury for the elite to a dietary staple of the working classes. Drawing upon research published in half a dozen languages, Bosma lucidly depicts how a commodity that is challenging to cultivate and devoid of nutritional value was central to the development of European imperialism, transatlantic slavery, the Industrial Revolution, economic protectionism, and the postcolonial politics and environmental degradation of the Global South. Bosma’s wide-ranging accounting is full of eye-opening insights into, among other developments, the rivalry between the beet sugar and cane sugar industries; the role international negotiations over sugar production restrictions and export quotas played in Cuba’s 20th-century political turmoils; and how state support for the U.S. sugar industry caused the nation’s working poor to move from “undernourishment to calorie abundance” in a surprisingly short time frame, with devastating health consequences. Throughout, Bosma synthesizes a wealth of archival research to shed light on how the history of capitalism “involved immense material progress but also caused social misery, unhealthy consumption patterns, and environmental destruction.” This is a comprehensive and alarming look at how one commodity changed the world. (May)