Milk of Paradise
A History of Opium
Published on 9. August 2018
Book
Hardback
464 pages
978-1-4472-8576-2 (ISBN)
Description
'Lucy Inglis has done a wonderful job bringing together a wide range of sources to tell the history of the most exciting and dangerous plants in the world. Telling the story of opium tells us much about our faults and foibles as humans - our willingness to experiment; our ability to become addicts; our pursuit of money. This book tells us more than about opium; it tells us about ourselves.' - Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk Roads
'The only thing that is good is poppies. They are gold.'
Poppy tears, opium, heroin, fentanyl: humankind has been in thrall to the 'Milk of Paradise' for millennia. The latex of papaver somniferum is a bringer of sleep, of pleasurable lethargy, of relief from pain - and hugely addictive. A commodity without rival, it is renewable, easy to extract, transport and refine, and subject to an insatiable global demand.
No other substance in the world is as simple to produce or as profitable. It is the basis of a gargantuan industry built upon a shady underworld, but ultimately it is a farm-gate material that lives many lives before it reaches the branded blister packet, the intravenous drip or the scorched and filthy spoon. Many of us will end our lives dependent on it.
In Milk of Paradise, acclaimed cultural historian Lucy Inglis takes readers on an epic journey from ancient Mesopotamia to modern America and Afghanistan, from Sanskrit to pop, from poppy tears to smack, from morphine to today's synthetic opiates. It is a tale of addiction, trade, crime, sex, war, literature, medicine and, above all, money. And, as this ambitious, wide-ranging and compelling account vividly shows, the history of opium is our history and it speaks to us of who we are.
'The only thing that is good is poppies. They are gold.'
Poppy tears, opium, heroin, fentanyl: humankind has been in thrall to the 'Milk of Paradise' for millennia. The latex of papaver somniferum is a bringer of sleep, of pleasurable lethargy, of relief from pain - and hugely addictive. A commodity without rival, it is renewable, easy to extract, transport and refine, and subject to an insatiable global demand.
No other substance in the world is as simple to produce or as profitable. It is the basis of a gargantuan industry built upon a shady underworld, but ultimately it is a farm-gate material that lives many lives before it reaches the branded blister packet, the intravenous drip or the scorched and filthy spoon. Many of us will end our lives dependent on it.
In Milk of Paradise, acclaimed cultural historian Lucy Inglis takes readers on an epic journey from ancient Mesopotamia to modern America and Afghanistan, from Sanskrit to pop, from poppy tears to smack, from morphine to today's synthetic opiates. It is a tale of addiction, trade, crime, sex, war, literature, medicine and, above all, money. And, as this ambitious, wide-ranging and compelling account vividly shows, the history of opium is our history and it speaks to us of who we are.
Reviews / Votes
Lucy Inglis has done a wonderful job bringing together a wide range of sources to tell the history of the most exciting and dangerous plants in the world. Telling the story of opium tells us much about our faults and foibles as humans - our willingness to experiment; our ability to become addicts; our pursuit of money. This book tells us more than about opium; it tells us about ourselves. -- Peter Frankopan, author of <i>The Silk Roads</i> Lucy Inglis's fabulous book Milk of Paradise is the history of civilisation as shaped by opium . . . a triumph, epic in scale and full of humanity. Geopolitics was changed by the poppy: it influenced the development of navigation, exploration and world trade; hand-in-hand with war, it helped to create the wealthy economies, science, medicine, crime and human despair of the modern world. The poppy, she says, will always be one of the greatest global commodities for good and evil - and we will always be at war with it -- Melanie Reid * The Times * As Lucy Inglis recounts in her sweeping new history of opium, the tension between the substance's medicinal virtue and its dangers is ancient ... [She] untangles these contradictions with gusto ... a deeply researched and captivating book * Economist * Addictive ... shows again and again how counter-productive prohibition is * Evening Standard * A very, very wide-ranging book and it's beautifully written. Despite the subject matter, you never feel overburdened by it. It's always fascinating and she's got a very good turn of phrase. She's one of the best. If only all historians could write like Lucy Inglis. -- Paul Lay * History Books of the Year, fivebooks.com * Magisterial * Nature * Inglis has graced her pages with tales and medical snippets to provide enough information to feed a small library. This must be opium's definitive history. -- Julie Peakman * History Today * A sweeping international history of opium ... absorbing. * Radio Times *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Pan Macmillan
Target group
Interest Age: From 18 years
Illustrations
16pp
Dimensions
Height: 242 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 43 mm
Weight
776 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4472-8576-2 (9781447285762)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Lucy Inglis is a historian and novelist, a speaker, and occasionally a television presenter and voice in the radio. She is the creator of the award-winning Georgian London blog and her book of the same name, was shortlisted for the History Today Longman Prize. She is also the author of two novels for young adults, including City of Halves, which was longlisted for the Carnegie Medal and the Branford Boase award and Crow Mountain. She lives in London.
Content
Section - i: List of Illustrations Section - ii: Maps Introduction - iii: Introduction Unit - 1: PART ONE: Opion, afyun, opium Chapter - 1: The Ancient World Chapter - 2: The Islamic Golden Age to the Renaissance Chapter - 3: The Silver Triangle and the Creation of Hong Kong Unit - 2: PART TWO: In the Arms of Morpheus Chapter - 4: The Romantics Meet Modern Science Chapter - 5: The China Crisis Chapter - 6: The American Disease Unit - 3: PART THREE: Heroin Chapter - 7: A New Addiction, Prohibition and the Rise of the Gangster Chapter - 8: From the Somme to Saigon Chapter - 9: Afghanistan Chapter - 10: Heroin Chic, HIV and Generation Oxy Section - iv: Afterword Acknowledgements - v: Acknowledgements Section - vi: Notes Index - vii: Index