Opium, Empire and the Global Political Economy

Up-to-date, easy to read, and wide-ranging, this is the first comprehensive academic work to explore the growth and development of the opium trade in relation to imperialism and a global economy. The book provocatively links the general expansion of the European  empires-from Columbus to Cornwallis to Conrad-and the growth of commercial capitalism specifically to the Asian opium trade. Trocki breaks new ground by considering the production and traffic in tobacco, sugar, alcohol, tea, as well as opium. In an age of awareness of large-scale drug use, this book takes a long look at the history of our relationship with mind-altering substances.

A very important argument with implications beyond the social history of drugs, into the broader history of the founding of empire.
--Nigel South, University of Essex

About the Author

Carl A. Trocki is a well known specialist in this field. He is Professor of Asian Studies and Director of the Centre for Community and Cross-Cultural Studies at Queensland University of Technology.