News
Book presentation ‘The World of Sugar’ by Ulbe Bosma
The Food and Agricultural History Network recently hosted the book presentation of The World of Sugar. How the Sweet Stuff Transformed Our Politics, Health, and Environment over 2,000 Years (Harvard University Press, 2023), authored by Ulbe Bosma, board member of the N.W. Posthumus Institute and also one of the coordinators of our Research Network ‘Routes and Roots in Colonial and Global History’.
In this global history, Bosma describes how sugar changed from being a luxury product in Asia to be present in most people’s diets worldwide, contributing to health crises and environmental devastation. The book starts with the earliest evidence of sugar production, leads the reader through the Middle Ages to the history of enslaved labour, and explores how sugar transformed life on every continent on political, cultural, economic and ecological levels.
