Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy: A Study of the Asian Opium Trade

Description

Drug epidemics are clearly not just a peculiar feature of modern life; the opium trade in the nineteenth century tells us a great deal about Asian herion traffic today. In an age when we are increasingly aware of large scale drug use, this book takes a long look at the history of our relationship with mind-altering substances. Engagingly written, with lay readers as much as specialists in mind, this book will be fascinating reading for historians, social scientists, as well as those involved in Asian studies, or economic history.

"Going beyond opium's role on the creation of empire, Trocki seeks to establish a global role for what was perhaps the most notorious commodity of the ninteenth and twentieth centuries." Pacific Affairs: Winter 2001-2002 ."..." for those interested in the development of imperialism or capitalism, it is certainly a worthwhile read and suitable for undergraduate teaching." Pacific Affairs: Winter 2001-2002 .""A very important argument with implications beyond the social history of drugs, into the broader history of the founding of empire."-Nigel South, University of Essex