Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy: A Study of the Asian Opium Trade 1750-1950

by Carl A. Trocki

Drug epidemics are clearly not just a peculiar feature of modern life; the opium trade in the nineteenth century tells us a great deal about Asian herion traffic today. In an age when we are increasingly aware of large scale drug use, this book takes a long look at the history of our relationship with mind-altering substances. Engagingly written, with lay readers as much as specialists in mind, this book will be fascinating reading for historians, social scientists, as well as those involved in Asian studies, or economic history.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, China, Drugs, Asia, Politics, World History

Paperback

First published October 20, 1999

About the author

Carl A. Trocki is an American historian, an expert in Southeast Asia and China. He was professor of Asian Studies at the Queensland University of Technology, director of the Centre for Community and Cross-Cultural Studies of the QUT, Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Trocki previously was Jacobson Visiting Associate Professor of Southeast Asian History at Georgetown University and also taught at Thomas More College. He served in the US Peace Corps in Malaysia, and received the BA from Cleveland State University. He is a native of Erie Pennsylvania.

He holds Ph.D. in Southeast Asian history from the Cornell University.

Reviews

[Nigel Tskitishvili · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent analysis of the political economy of the early British opium trade, concluding that the opium economy was integral to the expansion of the global capitalist economy (and Britain's early competitive advantage)

[Edward · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Naeem · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most histories are about countries, cultures, or some social unit tightly bounded in space and time. Following the history of opium allows Trocki to show the inherent connection between regions (Europe, India, Southeast Asia, China), policies (free trade, monopoly, war), development of capitalism and the material basis of colonial exploitation, and the European hand in the creation of the Third world. Trocki's great strength is that he tells the story with evidence: numbers, charts, photos, and documentation. The result is that a complex, organic, and fascinating world opens up to the reader.

This is not a polemical work. However, its evidence and narrative undermine what ever is left of the European claim to bringing civilization. Trocki opens and closes the book with Joseph Conrad's peerless vision into the European heart of darkness.

[Paul Le Breuilly · Rating 4 out of 5]

a whole load of factual history they wont ever teach in English/American schools, well worth the read - bit heavy and very academic - but very interesting read.