The history of the opium trade helps explain the modern world
“Smoke and Ashes” is a gripping, true tale of profits, power and powerlessness wrought by drugs
The opium poppy looks delicate and innocuous. But for Amitav Ghosh, an Indian writer, it is “one of the most powerful beings that humans have encountered in their time on Earth”. Mr Ghosh’s elegant history of the plant’s influence is both a tribute to what he calls “the historical agency of botanical matter” and a reckoning with the imperial past.
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “Flower power”
Culture February 24th 2024
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- The history of the opium trade helps explain the modern world
- Podcasts got their name 20 years ago this month
- Is everything you assumed about the Middle Ages wrong?
- Growing numbers of Chinese are escaping urban life for rural peace
- Refik Anadol’s use of AI has made him the artist of the moment
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