Review by Meghan Mast
Sugar has delighted palates for centuries. Memories of childhood and cornerstone occasions are decorated with sugar-infused treats. However, the history of sugar is gruesome, including human rights violations and a devastation of eco-systems. Demand for sugar has spawned slavery, changed demographics, dictated economies, caused wars and created devastating poverty.

Elizabeth Abbott became personally invested in the story of sugar after having learned that her ancestors were some of the mistreated Antiguan and Grenadian sugar cane workers. Here is a book she says, “I’ve been writing all my life.”

Writing with intelligence and passion, Abbott delivers a compelling account of the lives of the sugar workers. Sugar began as a treat enjoyed by the elite. From the tongues of royalty, an insatiable craving for sugar spread to the general population of Europe. As the demand for sugar increased, so did the cruelty and greed of sugar producers.

Abbott devotes the majority of the book to documenting the lives of people who worked to produce sugar. These people were plucked from their homes, carried across the Atlantic and then forced into slavery.

Disparity between rich and poor is vivid as Abbott contrasts the horrific living conditions of the sugar slaves with the extravagant lifestyles of the European nobility. As the death rate of cane cutters soared above the birth rate, the elite eat sugar in gluttonous quantities. Abbott describes feasts that she refers to as “gastronomic orgies,” featuring towering sugar sculptures and cutlery made of sugar.

An ache for justice resounds throughout the book. The dark secrets of sugar are not only a thing of the past. Human rights atrocities continue to happen, most notably in the Dominican Republic with the mistreatment of Haitian workers. Even child labor still occurs in the sugar world.

Just as a sense of hopelessness creeps over the book, Abbott provides some light on the dark subject. A wary optimism concludes the book as Abbott talks about the introduction of Fair Trade sugar, Brazilian sugar’s contribution to bio-fuel and Cuba’s efforts at organic sugar farming and diversification of crops. Abbot leaves readers with a mixture of unease at the current situation and some hope that perhaps one day the story of sugar will be as good as it tastes.

This entry was posted on Friday, April 18th, 2008 at 10:51 pm and is filed under What's Happening, Book & Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.