Unrefined

"Just what is sugar? This question tormented nineteenth-century planters, scientists, and governments. Sugar was powerful: It colonized and enslaved people, held consumers in thrall, spurred new technologies, and was colossally profitable. David Singerman shows that sugar's grip over the world had as much to do with how knowledge about sugar was created and transmitted as it did with how it was grown and traded. Taking us to the laboratories where it was taxonomized, the docks where it was appraised, and the congressional sessions where tariffs on it were levied, Singerman threads together a novel, multifaceted history of this staple good"-- Provided by publisher.