John Murray Publishers Ltd Smoke And Ashes Opiums Hidden Histories.

by Amitav Ghosh

When Amitav Ghosh began his research for the Ibis Trilogy some twenty years ago, he was startled to find how the lives of the nineteenth-century sailors and soldiers he wrote of were dictated not only by the currents of the Indian Ocean, but also by a precious commodity carried in enormous quantities on those: opium. Most surprising of all was the discovery that his own identity and family history were swept up in the story.

Smoke and Ashes is at once a travelogue, a memoir and an excursion into history, both economic and cultural. Ghosh traces the transformative effect the opium trade had on Britain, India and China, as well as on the world at large. Engineered by the British Empire, which exported opium from India to sell in China, the trade and its revenues were essential to the Empire's survival. Upon deeper exploration, Ghosh finds opium at the origins of some of the world's biggest corporations, several of America's most powerful families and institutions, and contemporary globalism itself. In India the long-term consequences were even more profound.

Moving deftly between horticultural histories, the mythologies of capitalism and the social and cultural repercussions of colonialism, Smoke and Ashes reveals the pivotal role one small plant has played in the making of the world as we know it - a world that is now teetering on the edge of catastrophe.

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'In thinking about the opium poppy's role in history it is hard to ignore the feeling of an intelligence at work. The single most important indication of this is the poppy's ability to create cycles of repetition, which manifest themselves in similar phenomena over time. What the opium poppy does is clearly not random; it builds symmetries that rhyme with each other.

It is important to recognize that these cycles will go on repeating, because the opium poppy is not going away anytime soon. In Mexico, for instance, despite intensive eradication efforts the acreage under poppy cultivation has continued to increase. Indeed, there is more opium being produced in the world today than at any time in the past.

Only by recognizing the power and intelligence of the opium poppy can we even begin to make peace with it.'

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

416 pages, Hardcover

First published February 13, 2024

About the author

Amitav Ghosh is an Indian writer. He won the 54th Jnanpith award in 2018, India's highest literary honour. Ghosh's ambitious novels use complex narrative strategies to probe the nature of national and personal identity, particularly of the people of India and South Asia. He has written historical fiction and non-fiction works discussing topics such as colonialism and climate change.
Ghosh studied at The Doon School, Dehradun, and earned a doctorate in social anthropology at the University of Oxford. He worked at the Indian Express newspaper in New Delhi and several academic institutions. His first novel, The Circle of Reason, was published in 1986, which he followed with later fictional works, including The Shadow Lines and The Glass Palace. Between 2004 and 2015, he worked on the Ibis trilogy, which revolves around the build-up and implications of the First Opium War. His non-fiction work includes In an Antique Land (1992) and The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable (2016).
Ghosh holds two Lifetime Achievement awards and four honorary doctorates. In 2007, he was awarded the Padma Shri, one of India's highest honours, by the President of India. In 2010, he was a joint winner, along with Margaret Atwood, of a Dan David prize, and in 2011, he was awarded the Grand Prix of the Blue Metropolis festival in Montreal. He was the first English-language writer to receive the award. In 2019, Foreign Policy magazine named him one of the most important global thinkers of the preceding decade.

Reviews

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

An absolutely fascinating delve into the history of the opium trade in China and India. Which, for me, proves the existence of karma. Britain and other colonial powers used India and China as a great stream of revenue by cultivating opium poppies and creating a monster that they could not get back in the box.

This book doesn't just look back to the opium wars and the beginning of the trade, it follows it through to its logical conclusion of the opioid epidemic in the US and the damage that prescription opioids have caused.

Nobody really comes out of this well but, as it should, the greatest ire is reserved for the British and their "do as I say and not as I do" attitude. The disgust is reserved for those who deserve it ie. those who have profited most from the opium trade.

Amitav Ghosh draws lots of parallels between the monetarisation of the opium trade/big pharma with the fossil fuel crisis and the oil companies. It's chillingly true that profit comes before everything for these companies (going back to the East India Company and forward to the Sacklers). They don't care who gets hurt and what devastation they cause to the planet as long as the money continues to roll in.

This is a damning look at the way the world works and the word opium could easily be replaced by slavery or fossil fuels. It is sad that we seem to be condemned to repeat rather than learn from history. I'd highly recommend this well-researched and well written history.

The narration was excellently done by Ranjit Madgavkar. He has a beautiful voice, which reminded me of the dulcet tones of the late Irrfan Khan.

Thankyou to Netgalley and RB Media for the audio advance review copy.

[Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship]

Read through page 35, and quit mostly due to sweeping inaccuracies. The style also wasn’t quite working for me: it jumps around a lot, and Ghosh will throw out some bold statement like “we fail to understand the agency of plants in the course of human history” and then just…. move on. If you’re going to claim plants have their own plans for us, in a nonfiction work, you’d better explain yourself!

But the biggest problem was carelessness, and what’s the point of reading nonfiction you can’t trust? In this case, my breaking point was his claim that in fact, surgery before anesthesia was no biggie: “The answer, of course, is that then, as now, you would have been given a strong dose of some opioid.”

Ghosh provides no source for this beyond his own assumptions, presumably because he hasn’t actually read up on the history of surgery. As it happens, I have, and while it’s true opium was used on occasion—as was alcohol—this was by no means any sort of universal norm, nor available everywhere (Ghosh posits that any medieval peasant who needed a tooth pulled would have had it to hand), nor a substitute for anesthesia. If you dare, check out this detailed firsthand account of a mastectomy in 1811 (the letter is dated 1812 because, as the author explains at the end, the whole episode was so traumatic she couldn’t speak or write about it for several months).

For those who chose not to subject themselves to that, the patient—English writer Fanny Burney—is definitely fully conscious for the whole thing, and no opioids are mentioned, unless perhaps included in the “wine cordial” she drinks, which in any case seems as effective as you would expect drinking a glass of wine before having a body part cut off to be. This is typical of descriptions of surgery at the time. And note that by Burney’s time, the opium trade was booming, overseas products were widely available in Europe, and Burney herself was a privileged woman, even a one-time lady-in-waiting to the Queen of England. No, Ghosh, we have not “repressed” memories of opium solving everything; surgery before the mid-19th century was such a nightmare that it would be the event itself you’d need to repress!

As I am not wasting any more time on imaginative “nonfiction” I can’t trust, it’s back to the library with this one.

[Isabel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! I had not anticipated learning deep world history in the context of the opium trade. Amitav Ghosh seems to provide “Smoke and Ashes” as a non-fiction pairing to his fictional Ibis Trilogy (that I have not yet read), enlightening us in the decades of research he invested in to write his stories.

"Smoke and Ashes" pulls apart the complex history of the opium trade and its wide-ranging impact on global history, particularly between Britain, India, and China. Ghosh navigates the British Empire's colonial exploitation, revealing how a single commodity—opium—reshaped the economic, social, and cultural landscapes of empires and individuals alike. Through personal anecdotes, historical depth, and cultural insight, the book presents a compelling case for the profound, often devastating influence of opium on the modern world. Ghosh's investigation not only educates but also provokes a deeper reflection on the repeating patterns of greed, capitalism, and the complexities of historical accountability.

I listened to this as an audiobook; the narration was very well done and helped clear the denser parts of the book.

Thanks to Netgalley, RB Media, Amitav Ghosh, and Ranjit Mdgavkar for the advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amitav Ghosh's book is part history, part memoir, part political commentary, and part advertisement for his Ibis trilogy, all centered around the opium trade and its impact on India. It's a very personal book in how it presents its material, and it does so in a highly readable way.

[Elise · Rating 2 out of 5]

I might give up reading this one and I will for sure never read this author again.
I don't like it's writing style, I find it confusing, full of details but they have little importance (or he gave them little importance) and I don't think the chapters are well divided.

The author also have a huge ego, I think I never seen someone so relentlessly mention his own books (of fiction might I add, in a nonfiction book). It's ok, we get it, you wrote a trilogy for which you did extensive research on opium, no need to refer to "Sea of Poppies" every 2 pages. You can mention it once, in the intro, so we understand what peak your interest in the subject matter and that's more than enough. He also seems convinced he single-handedly revived the interest for opium with his novels.

I'll give him that: he did extensive research. But, he is not an historian, and it shows, both in the style of writing and in the conclusions he made. I think the book can be an ok introduction, but there are most certainly better books to learn about opium history out there.

[Yamini · Rating 3 out of 5]

As entertaining as the book is, it is insightful to yet another level. The level of research that has gone into the background of this book, is reflected in its filtered content. The book has a powerpack that starts with details on the origins of so many addictive substances that progress into a powerful narration of Opium's history and its formidable yet compulsive trading practices by the Britishers towards the world.

I recommend this book to people who crave information and have the capacity to digest unfiltered and unsweetened truths. Opium has created empires and destroyed cities and how it all came to be, is what the book discusses.

This was surely a mood pick by me to tickle that inner researcher in me craving novelty. The author is famous for delivering bitter pills on this topic and he certainly meets the expectation on this topic. I was a bit sceptical about the ending of the book, but then again I am not too sure how one could possibly wrap up this extensive piece. Overall, a little overwhelming but an insightful experience.

Thank you @netgalley @fsgbooks @amitav_ghosh1 for the Digital ARC.
Genre: #nonfiction #history #multicultureinterest
Rating: 3.5/5 ⭐️

[SANJAY · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amitav Ghosh is a unique writer, equally adept at both fiction and non-fiction. To my mind, his non-fiction travelogue kind writing is the best - In an Ancient Land (about Egypt and India) is one of my favourites.

‘Smoke and Ashes’ is a kind of post-writing analysis, generated by the Ibis trilogy (Sea of Poppies series). I personally found the Ibis trilogy extremely important, but also full of crude language and nauseous situations, which completely put me off. I therefore stopped after reading the first one. This non-fiction book helps fill the void.

It describes how the British colonial empire was built on tea and poppies. It goes into mesmerising details of the misery, the trickery, the deceit, the rapaciousness, the amorality of the colonial British and Dutch colonialists and the fortunes that they reaped for their misdeeds. It also points out how these colonialists reconstructed history and manipulated global perceptions to ensure that we know as little about this as we indeed do.

Just one illustration might suffice: it is often said that the British triggered the Bengal famines in India due to their tinkering with the landholding and revenue collection systems. Ghosh helps us understand exactly how. The British forced hundreds of thousands of acres to be sown with poppy, instead of paddy. The famine caused by this in 1770 led to 10 million or one crore deaths in what was known as Golden Bengal. And that wasn’t just it. The farmers were forced to cultivate opium because they would not do it willingly as the British paid extremely low prices, which did not even cover the direct cost of production. This impoverished the farmers further, and often forced them to divert opium to open market - which led to further repression and the canard of the thieving Asians.

Amitav Ghosh is merciless and relentless in his indictment of the British in particular and the West in general. He’s less so with the Indians involved in the trade, glorifying it as subversion and resistance instead. Strangely he also leaves out one very prominent Indian business name from the book, while detailing the misdeeds of some of the lesser known ones. To top it all, for some strange reason the book argues that the British did not do all this willingly - they were manipulated by the poppy plant, which has plans of world domination!!

Is this Amitav Ghosh trying to sweeten the bitter pill of Smoke and Ashes? Or is this a real argument? I’m reading on to find out. You should too.

In terms of the physical book, the hardcover edition is printed and bound nicely. Typeface is pleasing. The picture plates are excellent. The price is a real steal. There are extensive footnotes and a bibliography. The only thing which I dearly miss is an index. That would have been wonderful.

[Joy D · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this book, Ghosh traces the impact of the opium trade from the 1800s to present-day. The desire to profit from opium was a primary driver of the two Opium Wars in the 1840s. The Chinese rulers of the time realized it was extremely addictive, and had banned it, but the British colonials grew it in India and fought two wars to force legalization in China.

The book is written in Ghosh’s usual erudite style. He had done a vast amount of research for his Ibis Trilogy in which the opium trade is a key element. He weaves in comments about these books and how he embedded his research within the trilogy. He includes anecdotes from his own family history, travels, and personal experiences. He also discusses a variety of cultural topics that have been influenced by opium throughout history, such as art, architecture, and agriculture.

It is a scholarly work, containing both a wealth of information and Ghosh’s analysis of impact. He cites the role of racial prejudice in justifying the trade. Of course, once opium was widely distributed, it became an epidemic in China. The Chinese eventually began growing it themselves and did not banish it again until the Cultural Revolution. He also makes the case that many current economic issues in India have their origins in the colonial period and can be directly traced back to opium production and distribution.

Ghosh connects history to current times by citing the recent opioid crisis in the US, which created huge corporate profits for Purdue Pharma. He examines their role in enabling the epidemic of OxyContin addiction. This book is a strong indictment of using profit as justification to abandon social responsibility. This work will appeal to those interested in history, addiction, colonialism, and environmentalism. I have only read the first book in the Ibis Trilogy, Sea of Poppies, and, with a better understanding of the context, now plan to continue the series.

[Kristy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative. Mostly focuses on India and China (and colonialism) but also covers a lot of time and a few other places.

[Shariq Chishti · Rating 4 out of 5]

The colonised of this world share an unspoken bond. Probably because of this unseen thread, my father once told me of how the British were able to subjugate an entire population by making them addicted to opium just to sustain and grow the colonial empire. I somehow had not delved deeper into the production of opium in India and it’s consumption in China as part of this colonial enterprise so when I saw this book on the shelf I immediately picked it up. Amitava Ghosh of course goes much deeper than just the opium wars and it’s production in India.

The impact of opium is felt and seen in the very world we see around us and yet it remains unseen. Amitava Ghosh unveils how the opium has helped shape the modern world from the greatest business enterprises to art, furniture, and gardens.

Through the book you can feel that author’s heart beats for the colonised and all arguments of the British government in favour of opium trade are dismantled.

The parallel with opioid crisis of the US helps in greater understanding of the issue and again helps in dismantling narrative and argument peddled by the British.

[Diya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I famously dislike nonfiction and did not think “horticultural history” was a category with the slightest appeal to me. But this is Amitav Ghosh, whose ‘The Hungry Tide’ basically altered my brain chemistry when I read it in/for school. It’s incredible how he connects his own family, farmers in colonial Bihar, Guanzhou, China, the British colonial regime, the Astors and Sacklers, and Columbia University’s Low Library—through a single plant, the opium poppy. He traces history through objects, their geographical origins and travels, to unpack their cultural significance. The parallels he draws between China’s struggles with opium in the nineteenth century and the US opioid crisis seemed like an unlikely connection to me, yet it felt strange on retrospect that I hadn’t made this connection before. Also, connecting the strategies of the world’s first and arguably largest drug cartel—The British colonial government—to modern pharmaceutical and fossil fuel companies was insightful to me. Finally, any vestige of national pride I have over belonging to a subcontinent of chai-drinkers has been uncomfortably shaken by this book. Thanks, Amitav.

[Gijs Limonard · Rating 2 out of 5]

The highly derivative narrative strays, is all over the place, lacks coherence and vision; the author obviously had the ambition to write a sweeping in depth sociocultural history of opiates but fails to capture and hold the readers attention; in addition the repeating self referencing of the author’s related books/novels is out of place and downright annoying.

[Buchdoktor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amitav Ghoshs „Rauch und Asche“ lässt sich als Ergänzung zu seiner Ibis Trilogy (2008-2015) lesen, zeigt den autobiografischen Bezug des Autors zum Schauplatz Bengalen, stellt die Verbindung zwischen Rassismus, Kolonialismus und Opiumhandel während des 19. Jahrhunderts her - und zeigt die Fortführung dieser Verbindung bis zum Opioid-Skandal der Gegenwart in den USA, sowie die Rolle reicher Groß-Mäzene, die ihre Geschäfte mit Spenden im Kultur-, Bildungs- und Gesundheitsbereich reinwaschen.

Erst als er aufwändig in Bengalen für seine Ibis-Trilogie recherchierte, realisierte Amitav Ghosh, dass seine Vorfahren Handel mit China betrieben – und die Abwesenheit kollektiver Erinnerungen, Erzählungen oder Erinnerungsstücke nicht bedeutet, dass Dinge nicht geschehen sind. Ergänzend zur Rolle der Niederländer, Briten und Amerikaner im Opiumhandel haben mich besonders die weißen Flecken auf der historischen Landkarte berührt, die Ghosh mit seinem erzählenden Sachbuch ausfüllt. Sie reichen vom Grund für die strenge Abgrenzung von Ghuangzhous „Franqui Town“ als „Foreign Enclave“ vom übrigen China, der rassistischen Umdeutung der Kolonialmächte, Opium an sich hätte kein Suchtpotential, sondern Sucht sei allein die Schwäche bestimmter Völker, bis zur heutigen Beschönigung des Opiumhandels durch die ehemaligen Kolonialmächte. Die Betonung der Schwäche einiger Bevölkerungsgruppen ließe sich in der Gegenwart fortgesetzt sehen in der Tonlage, in der in den USA über die Bewohner jener entlegenen Bergwerksorte der Appalachen geurteilt wird, die heute Schmerzmittel-abhängig sind.

Ghosh stellt bei seiner Recherche zur Opiumfabrik der East India Company in Patna verblüfft fest, dass die Darstellung indischer Angestellter in verantwortungsvoller Position in der Malerei Englands offenbar untersagt war und ihr Fehlen natürlich das Indien-Bild der Briten beeinflusste. Auch den vielfältigen Einfluss der Parsen oder der Armenier als Vermittler im Handel könnte man für einen derartigen weißen Fleck halten. Insgesamt zeigt Ghosh eindringlich die Entstehung von Kompetenzen und Beziehungsnetzen im 19. Jahrhundert, die bis heute den Handel mit Asien prägen, sowie Profite des Opiumhandels als Kapitalgrundstock für große Vermögen der Gegenwart. Diese Kapitalbasis begründet z. B. den Reichtum des niederländischen Königshauses, aber auch einzelner US-amerikanischer Familien von Franklin D. Roosevelts Vorfahren bis zu den Sacklers als Pharmahersteller und philantropische Groß-Mäzene der Gegenwart. Ghosh schlägt darüber hinaus mutig den Bogen von der Leichtfertigkeit mit der „Arzt und Apotheker“ in den USA wider besseres Wissen das Suchtpotential der kritisierten Medikamente leugneten, zur mangelhaften Complience jener vernachlässigten Region während der Corona-Pandemie, die dem kränkelnden Gesundheitssystem mit Macht auf die Füße fiel.

Fazit
Als Leserin der Ibis-Trilogie habe ich „Rauch und Asche“ als Ergänzung zu Ghoshs Romanen gelesen, die die Fäden von Fehleinschätzungen und Beschönigen des Opiumhandels durch die Kolonialstaaten aufnimmt. Der Zusammenhang zwischen Reichtum, der durch kriminelle bis fragwürdige Geschäfte angesammelt wird, und dem Einfluss weniger US-amerikanischer Groß-Spender auf Bildung, Kunst und Gesundheit wird mich noch eine Weile beschäftigen. Die Kenntnis der Ibis-Trilogie ist keine Voraussetzung für die Lektüre – aber empfehlenswert.

[Ashley Archangelo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This read more like a dissertation thesis or footnotes for his historical fiction series. It was pedantic, long, and lots of notes and locations that were hard to follow.

I would lose interest when he pulled chapter summaries from his historical fiction books to connect it directly to actual history in India or China. I also found it oddly self inflating? Since I haven’t read the series, this really took me out of the book. I had many “why do I care about this” thoughts instead of “I should read the ‘Sea of Poppies’ trilogy!” moments.

All said, there were some very interesting parts and historical takeaways from this novel, especially as someone who has grown up in Massachusetts. I would have never thought there was so much connection to the opium industry. I also recently traveled in Britain and found many connections from what I was reading to museums and other activities we did in London.

I did find it picked up for me starting on chapter 13 (of 18 total chapters).

[Premanand Velu · Rating 4 out of 5]

ஒரு கோப்பைத் தேநீர்
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வீட்டில் அப்பா எப்போதும் டீ மட்டுமே குடிப்பார். இன்று வரை அவருக்கு எந்த சந்தோஷமும் துக்கமும் ஒரு கோப்பை தேநீரில் தீர்ந்து போகும். அம்மாவை மணம் புரிந்த பின் என் பாட்டிக்கு அதிர்ந்து பேசாத, மரியாதையான, குறிப்பாக டீ மட்டுமே குடிக்கும் மாப்பிள்ளை என்பதில் ஏகப்பெருமை. அவர் என்ஜினீயர் என்பதோ, அரசு அதிகாரி என்பதோ அவளுக்கு ஒரு பொருட்டே இல்லை. டீ குடிப்பதைத்தவிர வேறு கெட்ட பழக்கங்கள் ஏதும் இல்லாத மாப்பிள்ளை என்பது அவளுக்கு அவ்வளவு பெருமையாக இருந்தது.

கடைசி வரை பிளாஸ்கில் தீரத்தீர காபியை அவளிடம் கேட்டு வாங்கி வைத்து, இரவு பத்து மணிக்குக் கூட குடிக்கும் தாத்தாவின் கணக்கில் அவருடைய காப்பி குடிக்கும் பழக்கமும் ஒரு கெட்ட பழக்கமாகவே அவள் அகராதியில் என்றும் இருந்தது. அத்தோடு இதையெல்லாம் சொல்லிச் சொல்லி என்னை வெறும் பால் மட்டுமே குடிக்க வைத்து வளர்த்தாள்.

கல்லூரி படிக்கும் காலத்தில் போரடித்தால் கட்டடித்து விட்டு டூ வீலரில் மலையேறி குன்னூருக்கோ ஊட்டிக்கோ சென்று TANTEAயில் டீ குடித்துவருவது தெரிந்திருந்தால் டீ குடிப்பதைப்பற்றிய அவளுடைய அபிப்பிராயம் என்னவாகியிருக்கும் என்று என்னால் நினைத்துக்கூட பார்க்க முடியவில்லை.

தேநீர் என்பது குடி, போதைப்பொருள் இதற்கெல்லாம் எதிரான ஒரு வஸ்து; அதைக்குடிப்பது சாதுவான, நல்லபிள்ளைத்தனமான பழக்கம் என்றே புத்தியில் பதியப்பட்டிருந்தது.

அதனாலோ என்னவோ, பிற்காலத்தில் காபி குடிக்கும் பழக்கம் எனக்குத் தாமதமாகவே வந்து சேர்ந்தது. இருந்தபோதும், டீ குடிப்பவர்களைப் பார்த்தால், ஒரு குற்றவுணர்ச்சி எனக்குள் சிலநேரம் எழுவதைத் தவிர்க்கமுடிந்ததில்லை.

இதெல்லாம் தகர்ந்தது நான் வாசித்த இரு புத்தகங்களால் தான். அதில் ஒன்று அமிதவ் கோஷ் எழுதிய "Smoke and Ashes: A Writer's Journey through Opium's Hidden Histories" என்ற அல்புனைவு.
தேனீர் குடிக்கும் பழக்கம் எப்படி opium எனப்படும் அபின் பரவலாக்கத்துக்கும், அதன் வழியே சீனா மற்றும் கிழக்காசிய நாடுகளின் சுரண்டலுக்கும் காரணமானது என்பதோடு காலனியாதிக்கம் இந்தியாவில் மிக உறுதியாய் நிலை பெறுவதற்கும் ஆரம்பப் புள்ளியாக இருந்தது என்பதைப் படித்தவுடன் என் புத்தியில் டீ பற்றிய சித்திரம் உடைந்தே போனது.

ஆரம்பத்தில் அரச குடும்பத்தினரின் ஆடம்பரத்துக்கும், மருத்துவப் பயனுக்கும் இந்தியாவில் சிறிய அளவில் அங்கொன்றும் இங்கொன்றுமாக பயிரிடப்பட்ட அபின், கிழக்கிந்தியக் கம்பெனியின் பேராசைக்காக ஒரு பெரும் அடிமை சமூகத்தை உருவாக்கியது என்பதை வாசிக்கும் போது ஏற்படும் உணர்வை வார்த்தைகளில் வடிக்க முடிவதில்லை.

நம் நாட்டின் வடபகுதியில் இன்று நாம் BIMARU என்றும் Cow Belt என்றும் இழிவாக குறிக்கப்படும் உபி, பிகார் போன்ற பகுதிகள், குறிப்பாக மிக வளமான கங்கை சமவெளியின் பகுதிகள் இன்றும் ஏன் வறுமையிலும், பிற்போக்குத்தனத்திலும் உழல்கின்றன என்ற கேள்வியின் ஆரம்பப்புள்ளி கிழக்கிந்தியக் கம்பெனியின் அளவுகடந்த பேராசையிலும் அதற்காக அது நடத்திய அபின் தொழிலிலும், வந்து நிற்கிறது.

அதற்காக அந்த வளமான பகுதியில் இருந்த உழவர்களை ஒரு பெரும் அடிமைச்சங்கிலியால் அவர்கள் கட்டிஇருந்ததையும், தொடர்ந்து அவர்களை தப்பிக்க முடியாமல் வறுமையில் தள்ளி வாட்டியதையும் அறியும் போது, ஏற்படும் உணர்வு மிக தீவிரமானது.

அது மட்டுமல்லாமல் சீனாவின் Boxer rebellion மற்றும் அதன் பின்னணி கிழக்கிந்திய கம்பெனியின் - தேநீருக்கு பதிலாக அபின் என்ற - குள்ளநரித்தனத்திலும் பேராசையிலும், அதற்காக அது ஆடிய பேயாட்டத்திலும் இருந்தது. அத்தோடு அது நடத்திய சீனப் படையெடுப்புகளின் தொடர்ச்சியாகவே இன்றும் சீன இந்திய உறவுகளில் எதிரொலிக்கிறது.

இன்று போதை கடத்தலுக்கு எதிராக அவர்கள் எதோ ஒரு நாட்டை நோக்கி சுட்டும் போது அவர்களின் அழுக்கான பின் பக்கம் கண்ணில் பட்டு, அதில் அவர்களின் போலித்தனம் பல்லிளிக்கிறது.

அதேசமயம், இன்று அதே அபின் வலி நிவாரணியாக உருமாறிய பின்பும் மேற்குலகின் போதைப்பழக்கத்துக்கும், அதை தொடர்ந்த போதைக்கடத்தலுக்கும் காரணமாவது பெரு முதலாளிகளின் பேராசை தான் என்னும் புரிதல், ஒரு பெருமூச்சில் முடிகிறது.

அமிதவ் கோஷின் பெரும் வரவேற்பு பெற்ற சரித்திர புனைவான Sea of Poppies மற்றும் அதன் பின் வந்த River of Smoke, Flood of Fire ஆகிய புத்தகங்களும் இந்த பின்னணியிலேயே உருவாகின. ஆங்கிலத்தில் எழுதும் குறிப்பிடத்தக்க இந்திய எழுத்தாளர்களில் ஒருவரான அமிதவ் கோஷின் இந்தப் புத்தகம் மிக முக்கியமான சரித்திர ஆவணமாகும்.

[Parvathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I found Ghosh's Flood of Fire almost unreadable. It wasn't fiction, according to me, but just a light transparent garment thrown over what was essentially a research paper. Smoke and Ashes however, is that paper! And without that fig leaf of fiction, it is a compelling read.

The book tells the story of the poppy plant and how the colonial trade in it created fortunes in three continents and destroyed millions of lives in China and India. It created the cities of Bombay, HongKong, Singapore, Shanghai. It produced 20% of the Raj's revenues in the 19th century and provided the seed money for much of the world's biggest corporations. It was, in essence, an officially sanctioned drug trade - imagine if you will, Mexican drug cartels being legalized. While it made the colonial powers and their partners-in-crime (Indian Marwari and Parsi business houses, for example) rich beyond measure, it impoverished the farmers in Bihar and Bengal and had devastating consequences for the Chinese population. Estimates of Chinese smoking opium range from 10 - 30% of the population. Indian soldiers fought the Opium Wars for the British - the irony being that they were fighting China to allow Britain to sell opium to the them, while at home, their families were being crushed under the yoke of poppy cultivation.

The poppy has its hooks on humankind even today. The Afghan poppy trade has had terrible effects on the populations of Pakistan and Indian Punjab. There are parallels to the opiod crisis in the US. And wars and failed states keep ensuring that poppy cultivation continues unabated with criminal networks controlling its trade.

At its heart, this book is an indictment of colonialism and its rapacious drive for profit, at the expense of its subjects. And as China is being villainised by the West today, it's worth remembering what was done to it in the name of profit. 

A highly recommended read.

[Peter Tillman]

NY Times review: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/13/bo...
Excerpt:
"The West didn’t invent the opium trade, he writes. Instead — as with the Atlantic coast traffic in human beings — it took a pre-existing practice and expanded it exponentially to perfect “the model of the colonial narco-state.” "

It's a horrible story, but author Ghosh is well over the top in his telling of it. Stalled & unsure if I will continue, 4/9/24.

[Ingrid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amitav Ghosh’s renowned skill in turning meticulous research into a compelling narrative is once again manifest in Smoke and Ashes, his nonfiction chronicle of the history of opium and its impact on human history. He highlights the parallels between 19th century China battling the scourge of opium that had been weaponised against it by the British empire and contemporary America fighting the spread of opiates promoted by Big Pharma and its collusion with the medical profession and government institutions. A further symmetry Ghosh points out is that between the attempt to master nature through history as well as the resistance to that devastation by global civil society. An illuminating text with much contemporary resonance.

[Anshuman Swain · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author weaves a captivating narrative of how and why opium shaped the commercial and governmental structures of colonial Asia (especially the opium growing regions controlled by British in India and the major market of the drug controlled by British and other colonial powers in China). Many of these structures influence institutions and social practices that we see around today (in India, the US and elsewhere, and the author makes a wonderful description of these). Moreover, the opioid crisis that we see in the US today is quite reminiscent of the one from two centuries ago in China.

I learnt so much invisible history - this is perhaps my best book of the year so far! A must read!

[Arpit Katre · Rating 4 out of 5]

A perspective on colonial history where the main characters are not humans but a plant which is opium and little bit on tea. It’s astonishing to see how one plant can stir history on its own and gain a distinct character in the course of history. Maybe the chemical structure of the plant is precisely developed to create its destiny that it had.

[Avid]

DNF. I only made it 40% of the way through the book before quitting. I had difficulty with this book. One moment I was completely hooked listening to the history and cultural background being shared only to find myself lost as the narrator was reading the next part I had no interest in. The style of writing, the narration, and the bouncing around didn't work for me.

I had this book on my reading list for a long time. I can't recommend it, but I can’t say not to read it either. It's not my taste. Read other reviews.

[Patsey]

Among my very favourites is Ghosh’s The Ibis Trilogy. This was interesting background info - past and present. Think Purdue Pharm/Sacklers

[Jim Gise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eye-opening window into the murky world of 19th century opium production, addiction and greed, with interesting parallels to the 21st century opioid crisis in the U.S. That the book finished with a poke at fossil fuels was puzzling. Amitav, did you lose sight of the subject?

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some genuinely interesting history here. It's a good place to learn about the mechanics of the opium trade conducted by the Dutch and the British. Opium grown in India was refined, then transported to China, sold for silver bullion which was then shipped home to fund, well, lots of stuff. American traders got into the act post-independence. Revered familes whose names adorn universities, museums and hospitals made their early money pushing dope.

And, of course, the Sacklers keep showing up.

My main complaint is that the book is too long. It's a captivating 150-page monograph trapped in more than 300 pages of prose. Ghosh wrote the fictional Ibis Trilogy about India, China, sailors and soldiers and war, that drew heavily on real history and people. He recaps pieces of those books over and over again in this non-fiction work. It started out distracting, and got worse with repetition.

It's interesting and useful to understand how trading companies used to behave like governments, complete with armies and navies. It's illuminating to understand how exactly Western nations imposed addiction on Asian countries, then profited hugely from it. You'll have a new way of thinking about current geopolitics based on that long history.

Smoke and Ashes would have been a much better book if this particular history weren't so long, though.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a first rate synthesis of a wide variety of information concerning the Dutch, British and American colonialist and imperialist opium trafficking machine from the 18th century through the present. What is especially fascinating to me is the deep parallels Ghosh is able to draw between British colonial drug trafficking crimes against China and the current opioid epidemic in the United States. Also of great importance is the relationship between the devastating effects of opium trafficking and the use of fossil fuels contributing to the rapid destruction of our Earth through climate change. This is an extremely important work. No index which is disappointing but an outstanding use of notations throughout.

[Saurabh Varanasi · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s common knowledge that a 5/5 rating on Goodreads is meant to convey that the reader was swept off his/her feet by the book, but in the case of Smoke and Ashes by Amitav Ghosh, this rating falls short of verbalizing my level of satisfaction.

On the surface of it, Smoke and Ashes follows a narrative that pieces together an alternative, and a more credible version of how opium played a key role in cementing the imperialistic tendencies of the colonizers (British and Dutch primarily) as opposed to the myths proliferated by our Western storytellers. At its core, it’s like Yuval Harari’s Nexus, but with a different agent as the protagonist. In Nexus, Harari used the history of development of information networks to lay down portents of the overreaching powers of AI, whereas Ghosh traces the journey of opium through the opium wars between Britain & China in the 19th century, the more recent drug crisis in the United States of America, rising cases of illegal opium production in unexpected countries like Afghanistan & Tasmania and ties these chronicles together with a commonly held belief that we are far from resolving the crisis.

In all these historical accounts, what’s indisputably evident is that all crises related to opium production, trade and consumption were precipitated by the colonial thirst for lucrative revenues (Opium trade filled the treasuries of the Europeans more than any other commodity) that in turn were used to invade more countries. Slavery was abolished, only to be replaced with indentured labor. The Chinese were not naturally predisposed to consuming opium, but were victimized by an incessant supply of opium by the British which engendered a staggeringly high demand.

The book must be read not just for the irresistible narration skills of Ghosh and his prepossessing vocabulary (I learnt so many new words from the book), but must additionally be championed for the sheer audacity with which it uncovers the pretentiousness of imperialism through rigorously researched facts emboldened by rich storytelling.

[Divya Pal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A brilliant expose of the hypocrisy of the British and American governments and people, regarding the production and trade of opium in South East Asia and China.
Tagore says

It had gradually become clear that outside of Europe the torch of European civilization was not intended to light the way, but to start fires. That is why, one day, cannonballs and pellets of opium rained down together on the heart of China. Never in history has such an atrocity occurred before.

Here is the fervent protest of the Chines Prince Gong to the British diplomat Rutherford Alcock

All say that England trades in opium because she desires to work China’s ruin … the Chinese merchant supplies your country with his godly tea and silk, conferring thereby a benefit upon her, but the English merchant empoisons China with pestilent opium. Such conduct is unrighteous. Who can justify it? What wonder if officials and people say that England is wilfully working out China’s ruin?

Gets repetitive at times but still quite revelatory.

[CatReader · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars rounded up due to bits of interesting information. A wide-scoping but inconsistently-researched and at times haphazardly written history of the cultivation of poppies and subsequent opium trade brokered between the British Empire between poppies cultivated in India that were then exported to China to feed opium addiction. Ghosh seems to be largely a historical fiction writer, not a historian or a scientist, so a lot of loose threads are presented as fact when they're mostly supposition.

Further reading:
This Is Your Mind on Plants by Michael Pollan
Dopesick: Dealers, Doctors, and the Drug Company that Addicted America by Beth Macy

My stats:
Book 130 for 2024
Book 1733 cumulatively

[Chetan V · Rating 4 out of 5]

As always Amithav Ghosh is resourceful. His style of narrating is lively and smooth flowing. Even though it's a nonfiction, you enjoy as much as that of his other fiction.

[fem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Echt een aanrader en veel geleerd (geen verrassing want groot fan van amitav ghosh!!)