I know what you’re thinking: what is with this girl and addictive white powders?
Anyway, do you remember how one of my issues with Mark Kurlansky’s book on salt was that he made unsubstantiated declarations about how salt influenced history? Well Peter Macinnis totally avoids that issue in this book. Translation: this book is the bee’s knees!
Macinnis starts out by saying that sugar played an important part in history but – had it never been discovered – some other valuable product could just as easily taken its place in this story (XIII). The reason I love this statement is because Macinnis acknowledges just how much of a role chance plays in history: huge. Then, as kind of a warning to his readers (and to all people who study history), Macinnis makes the following statement:
It is better to look at what evil men have done, in an effort to ensure that we do not repeat it, than to look upon past evils with a sanctimonious superiority. We are different, but it is doubtful we are that much better, for few things change as little as human nature. (XIV)
What?! I know! What a punishing yet truthful statement.
Reading this book cemented two things in my mind:
Booksellers Without Borders
bookiegalore
Recidivist Reader
hardboundandgagged
ipsedixit
turpentinestevens
überliterate
Booksellers Without Borders 