Sweetness and Power

The Place of Sugar in Modern History

By: Sidney W. Mintz

Narrated by: Tom Perkins

In this eye-opening study, Sidney W. Mintz shows how Europeans and Americans transformed sugar from a rare foreign luxury to a commonplace necessity of modern life and how it changed the history of capitalism and industry. He discusses the production and consumption of sugar and reveals how closely interwoven sugar's origins are as a "slave" crop grown in Europe's tropical colonies, with its use first as an extravagant luxury for the aristocracy, then as a staple of the diet of the new industrial proletariat. Finally, he considers how sugar has altered work patterns, eating habits, and our diet in modern times.

©1985 Sidney W. Mintz (P)2017 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Shows how the intelligent analysis of the history of a single commodity can be used to pry open the history of an entire world of social relationships and human behavior." ( The New York Review of Books)

Sugar is an addiction of high value

I appreciated the perspective of how a certain commodity can work its way into society and what people will do to control it to access it. It’s fascinating.

Sugar is the hook in your nose

If you thought that you operated independently of any influence upon you, think again. How could a cheap and cheerful crystalline substance convince you to take bitter medicines or allow your teeth to be damaged without shame on your part? Wish we had an update from Mr. Mintz for the 2020s+. Really - one of my all time favorite books. Reading the print edition will fill you in a bit more with pictures that are not available by audio. I really learned so much from Mr. Mintz, and am grateful.

Should be required reading/listening

This was history, self-help, economics, a diet guide, a critique of capitalism, an examination of our relationships to time, a survey of globalization....this should be read as widely as the Bible

Brilliant

The depth of analysis is amazing and the writing is clear and engaging. Highly recommended.

Dated but still worthwhile

The subject is of enormous interest, and while I am glad I listened to the book for the information it contains, it seems dated and less than satisfying. I started reading books on history in the 1960s and have been struck in recent years by how most books written before about 2000 have become dated even if that doesn't mean they are no longer worth reading. Knowledge and understanding have grown so much in the last two decades that books often need a serious update, and this one is a good example.

The story of sugar since 1985 could well provide material for another book. Recent books such as those by Gary Taubes and Robert Lustig have put sugar in a new perspective. If you've read these, Sweetness and Power is an interesting and useful complement, but even as historic-anthropological analysis, it seems incomplete. For instance, there is not very much on labor relations and what sugar production meant for laborers as production evolved in the course of time.

This is dry a f

This is dry a f if you don’t gotta read it for a class pass on this