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The Sugar Barons: Family, Corruption, Empire, and War in the West Indies Audiobook
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(3.07) - 108 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
To those who travel there today, the West Indies are unspoiled paradise islands. Yet that image conceals a turbulent, dramatic, and shocking history. For some two hundred years after 1650, the West Indies became the strategic center of the Western world, witnessing one of the greatest power struggles of the age as Europeans made and lost immense fortunes growing and trading in sugar—a commodity so lucrative it became known as "white gold."
As Matthew Parker skillfully chronicles in his sweeping history, the sugar revolution made the English, in particular, a nation of voracious consumers, so much so that the wealth of her island colonies came to underpin the entire British economy, ultimately fueling the Industrial Revolution. Yet beside the incredible wealth came untold misery: the horrors of slavery and of slaves, on whose backs the sugar empires were brutally built; the rampant disease that claimed the lives of one third of all whites within three years of arrival in the Caribbean; the cruelty, corruption, and decadence of the plantation culture.
For those on the ground, the British West Indian empire presented a disturbing moral universe. Parker vividly interweaves the human stories—since lost to history—of visitors and slaves, overseers and soldiers, and of the families whose fortunes and fame rose and fell on sugar. Their wealth drove the development of the North American mainland states, and with it a slave culture, as the racist plantation model was exported to the warm southern states. Eventually opposition to sugar policy in London helped to unite the North American colonies against Britain.
Broad in scope and rich in detail, The Sugar Barons freshly links the histories of Europe, the West Indies, and North America, and reveals the full impact of the sugar revolution, the resonance of which is still felt today.
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"A great book, as it promised a readable history of an important and history making trade. However, it's the kind of book you need to read in the day time in order to concentrate on it. I don't get any time to read in the day so I dipped into it. One that I should return to, sometime....."
— Rachel (4 out of 5 stars)
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A rich, multifaceted account. . . . Parker achieves admirable clarity and focus in this . . . complicated story of the sugar revolution.
— Kirkus
Awards
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Named an Economist Best Book of the Year
The Sugar Barons Listener Reviews
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" Interesting, but too long, too much detail "
— Jan, 12/16/2013 -
" Quite dense and not one to read if you are going to be distracted. Full of interesting information and a history largely unknown to me. "
— Clare, 12/10/2013 -
" An enjoyable read, with plenty of interesting threads to follow: British Empire, pirates, slavery, American Revolution, etc. "
— Matt, 11/29/2013 -
" Alongside good history of the British Caribbean, much insight into the American Revolution. "
— Jonathan, 11/25/2013 -
" An interesting examination of a chapter in history that I didn't know much about; very fascinating. "
— Matthew, 9/12/2012 -
" Not bad - some interesting tidbits would like to see the story from the side of a native of the West Indies. The slavery details were overdone and more real letters from people would have been interesting. "
— Rennie, 9/4/2012 -
" It was fascinating to hear European voices of that era talking about how shocking and ultimately dehumanizing West Indian slavery was from their perspective. It's a good read about a very ugly chapter of history. "
— John, 4/15/2012 -
" Fascinating and lesser-known Anglo-American history. "
— B.K., 4/4/2012 -
" The harrowing history of the substance that is killing us. "
— Jan, 11/6/2011 -
" Alongside good history of the British Caribbean, much insight into the American Revolution. "
— Jonathan, 9/18/2011
About Matthew Parker
Matthew Parker is the author of several works of nonfiction, including Monte Cassino: The Hardest-Fought Battle of World War II; the Los Angeles Times bestseller Panama Fever, which was a 2008 Washington Post Best Book of the Year; and The Sugar Barons, which was an Economist Book of the Year. He lives in London.
About Jonathan Cowley
Jonathan Cowley, an Earphones Award–winning narrator, is a British actor hailing from Eastbourne, East Sussex, but he currently calls Los Angeles home. He has narrated many audiobooks and can also be heard on both sides of the Atlantic narrating film trailers and documentaries. He is also an active television and film actor who has appeared in Grey’s Anatomy, Veep, and WestWorld.