Product Description

The extraordinary tale of the wildfire spread of a drink which is embedded in our history and our daily cultural life -- and which provides a compelling allegory for corporate greed, mercantile ruthlessness and global expansion. Arguably the most valuable legally traded commodity in the world after oil, coffee's dark five-hundred year history links alchemy and anthropology, poetry and politics, and science and slavery. Revolutions have been hatched in coffee houses, secret socities and commercial alliances formed, and politics and art endlessly debated. With over a hundred million people looking to it for their livelihood, the coffee industry is now the world's largest employer and the financial lifeblood of many third-world countries (or the blood with which they feed the global capitalist vampire, depending on your point of view). But with world prices at a historic low, the future looks uncertain. In this thought-provoking expose, Antony Wild, coffee trader and historian, explores coffee's dismal colonial past and its perilous corporate present, revealing the shocking exploitation at the heart of the industry. To many people, coffee has become largely just another commodity. Black Gold restores our faith in the mystery of this unique beverage.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #184352 in Books
• Published on: 2005-08-18
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Review
'an aromatic blend of colonial history and globalisation criticism' Ecologist 'an impressive mix of historical overview and contemporary analysis' Time Out 'Perfect ammo for destroying your Starbucks-guzzling workmates' Arena 'an elegantly written, witty book, so wide in scope, so rich in detail, so thought-provoking in the subtle way that it develops its central thesis, that it is a challenge to do justice to it' Joanna Blythman 'This adrenalised swipe through the story of the mightiest of elixirs is written by a genius with all the economic facts and figures at his fingertips' Good Book Guide 'full of fascinating anecdotal detail about our favourite stimulant' Geographical

About the Author
Antony Wild worked for thirteen years as a buying director for the country's foremost speciality coffee roaster, and is widely credited with having introduced speciality coffees into the United Kingdom. He subsequently worked as a consultant, journalist and writer, specialising in colonialism and its history. He has written several books, including The East India Company and Remains of the Raj.

Customer Reviews

A spider shouldn't drink it
Antony Wild's (2004) book is The Good Tea and Coffee Company book of the month for January 2007.

At the outset, it claims to be a 'dark' history and it certainly doesn't disappoint in that respect.

Though sounding a little extravagant in portraying coffee as the 'forbidden fruit' in the Garden of Eden of the Old Testament, each chapter touches on sensitive ethical issues which are moving ever higher on the priority list of European consumers.

Tracing the origins of the cultivation of coffee back to the Yemen and the early attempts to create plantations elsewhere by The East India Company, we are taken on a journey of unexpected complexity as coffee finds its way into the social and religeous infrastracture of every continent it touches.

By the end of the book, we've had a lot more for our money than simply history. Antony Wild makes us look anew at something we have grown up with and almost taken for granted. He gives us the tools we need to think again about coffee - to bring it out of the darkness.. and into the light.

Personal view on coffee
Though the author does use various sources to support some of his claims with facts, it felt to me like a large part of the book was influenced by the authors personal opinion rather than facts.

What annoyed me a bit about the book is that some chapters take so unnessecary long. Sometimes a 15-page chapter could have been written in 1 or 2 pages, if the author would have stopped expressing his personal hypotheses. It really made it look like he had to write more words in order to fill the book - rather than having plenty of material about the history of coffee and coffee trade.

All in all, the material is interesting, but this book could have been written in less than half the pages. I'm not sure if I'd recommend the book, but it is wort having a look at.