William Leith
10 April 2012
The Sugar Barons
by Matthew Parker
(Windmill, £8.99)
How important is sugar? We know how unhealthy it can be, and how it seems to get into everything. Maybe, as a society, we're addicted to it.
In this diligent book, Matthew Parker tells us lots of other horrible things about sugar. It's not just bad for us; it's the cause of endless inhumanity.
He takes us to the Caribbean in the 1600s, to the original plantations, where man's lust for sugar was the driving force behind slavery; the details are appalling. It will make you reflect on today's world too.