Publisher's Synopsis
Jordan Goodman explores the historical transformation of tobacco from Amerindian shamanism to global capitalism, from the food of the spirits to the fatal epidemic, and from the rough pipe and cigar to the modern-day cigarette. This scholarly and comprehensive survey combines up-to-date published work with primary research to provide a systematic way of understanding current debates from a historical perspective. Goodman draws on a wide variety of fields including history, anthropology, politics and medicine. This is a history that cuts across many larger themes, such as colonialism, consumerism, medical discourse, agrarian culture and multinational enterprise. It is also a history of vested interests, of the interplay of culture and power, and of people and institutions who have created the complex web of dependence and relationships surrounding this controversial commodity.
