Product Description

In 1616, an English adventurer, Nathaniel Courthope, stepped ashore on a remote island in the East Indies on a secret mission - to persuade the islanders of Run to grant a monopoly to England over their nutmeg, a fabulously valuable spice in Europe. This infuriated the Dutch, who were determined to control the world’s nutmeg supply. For five years Courthope and his band of thirty men were besieged by a force one hundred times greater - and his heroism set in motion the events that led to the founding of the greatest city on earth.

A beautifully told adventure story and a fascinating depiction of exploration in the seventeenth century, NATHANIEL’S NUTMEG sheds a remarkable light on history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30628 in Books
• Published on: 2000-03-16
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Consider the humble jar of nutmeg pushed to the back of your kitchen cupboard, among all the other spices that you hardly ever use. Would you believe that nutmeg formed the basis for one of the most bitter international conflicts of the 17th century, and was also intimately connected to the rise to global pre-eminence of New York City? Strange but true; nutmeg was one of the most prized commodities in Renaissance Europe, and its fascinating story is told in Giles Milton's delightful book Nathaniel's Nutmeg.

The book deals with the competition between England and Holland for possession of the spice- producing islands of South-East Asia throughout the 17th century. Packed with stories of heroism, ambition, ruthlessness, treachery, murder, torture and madness, Nathaniel's Nutmeg offers a compelling story of European rivalry in the Tropics, thousands of miles from home, and the mutual incomprehensibility which often comically characterised relations between the Europeans and the local inhabitants of the prized islands.

At the centre of the story lies Nathaniel Courthope, a trusty lieutenant of the East India Company, who took and held the tiny nutmeg-producing island of Run in the face of overwhelming Dutch opposition for more than five years, before being treacherously murdered in 1620. Courthope's heroism led to the English taking the Dutch colony of Manhattan in revenge for the death of Courthope and the loss of Run. The subsequent peace deal between the two nations gave Holland Run and the British Manhattan; New York was born. As Milton wittily remarks, although Courthope's death "robbed England of her nutmeg, it gave her the biggest of apples".

Inevitably inviting comparisons with Dava Sobel's Longitude, Nathaniel's Nutmeg is a charming story, which throws light on a spicy, neglected slice of early Europe's fascination with the East. --Jerry Brotton

Nicholas Fearn, Independent on Sunday
‘A magnificent piece of popular history. ... This is a book to read, reread, then read again to your children.’

Review
‘A magnificent piece of popular history. ... This is a book to read, reread, then read again to your children.’ (Nicholas Fearn, Independent on Sunday )

‘Beautifully touching ... To write a book that makes the reader sit in a trance, lost in his passionate desire to pack a suitcase and go to the fabulous place - that, in the end, is something one would give a sack of nutmeg for.’ (Philip Hensher, The Spectator )

‘Giles Milton tells his adventurous and sometimes grisly tale with relish ... The thoroughness and intelligence of his research underpins the lively confidence with which he deploys it.’ (John Spurling, Times Literary Supplement )

‘A truly gripping tale… His research is impeccable... Once embarked upon the journey of the book, one is loath, sometimes unable... to turn back and abandon it.’ (Martin Booth, The Sunday Times )

'Milton has a terrific eye for the kind of detail that can bring the past vividly to life' (The Spectator )

Customer Reviews

Rediscovering history the best possible way
I loved this book- just loved it. Not only is the subject fascinating, it is well researched, beautifully written and a gripping story. Starting with literature such as Shakespeare and Chaucer, Milton sets the stage by taking us back to the fifteenth and sixteenth century to trace the use of nutmeg and spices in the Western world and to build a picture of its importance and popularity.

He then diversifies and constructs a deeply layered and satisfying picture of the historical development of the importation of Nutmeg to the west. In fact, for a long time no one in the west even knew where it came from at all. The Spice route was necessarily complicated and so would travel mysterious routes to reach Constantinople where the Venetian monopoly would bring it further west. The bizarre, sometimes hilarious (and usually tragic ) attempts to find and claim the Spice Islands followed and then the amazing and a courageous story of Nathaniel Courthorpe follows.

Milton's book is a beautifully written, he easily blends the diverse elements of the story, the political situation, the personalities, the competing countries and so on to build a profoundly satisfying and personal book. The detail in it is drawn out and only adds to the richness of the book. I really enjoyed his style and will search out "TheRiddle and the Knight', one of Milton's earlier books, next.

Nathaniel's Nutmeg reminded me a lot of two other gems of books I have read recently, 'The Arcanum' by Janet Gleeson and Dava Sobel's 'Longitude'. If you liked either of those books, then try this. (or if you liked this try either of these) The purpose behind all these books is that they take a small piece of history, something that was pivotal at the time, but has been long forgotten. In this case the finding of, and establishment of a colony for Nutmeg.

This is a book I will have great pleasure in re-reading regularly.

Disappointing and don't expect to find out about Nathaniel!
I was very disappointed with this book, perhaps after unconciously absorbing some of the shop window hype I expected to get under the skin of a real-life adventurer and get an insight into a mostly forgotten but fascinating episode of my nation's history. Unfortunately what I found I got was largely a description of a procession of over-optimistic and mostly failed attempts by England to establish a trade with the eastern 'spiceries' of the day.
Primarily I felt that there was no real connection on a personal level to the men that I was reading about. The book all too easily fell into the type of history that I was taught at school, in that the characters seem almost to be portrayed as autonomous marionettes who willingly (and knowingly) seem to accept their role as history and the hand that fate dealt them, rather than men living in their present, with all the familiar uncertainties, foibles and failings.
This disconnection maybe because the author chooses to use the words of the men of the time from documents that still survive (which is admirable and interesting), but then the rest of his narrative seems too anxious to hurry along to describing the next voyage, rather than expanding upon the story with his own interpretation of events and of the personalities involved. It seems that when a tricky bit of descriptive prose is required he hides behind 'olde fashyoned wordes', or doesn't bother at all, rather than coming up with something original and challenging himself (not that I could do any better).
I think the book would have been vastly improved by drastically reducing the cast and the period of time it focusses on but as this isn't the case the end of the book feels rather rushed in an attempt to squeeze everything in.
Sadly Nathaniel hardly figures at all. He doesn't feature until half way through the book and only then for a chapter or two.
The book also features some of the strangest censorship I've ever seen in a book; using the word p*ssed in entirety but in the very same sentence, obliterating what I presume to be sh*t with ****. Why?! The book then describes various horrendous tortures in graphic detail; so what's all that about?!
Nevertheless I did learn a few interesting things about the age but if you want to really connect with the people of the past and have a fantastic read at the same time, try Simon Schama's History of Britain.

A potential ripping yarn that "lacks the vital spark"
The action of Nathaniels nutmeg cuts between the merchants of London and Holland, the dangers of the high seas and the prizes of the East Indies. The problem is Milton dwells too much on the developments before the main story, this builds up the expectation of the reader so that in the end Nathaniel Courthopes story is a bit of an anti-climax. Milton's treatment of Courthope is nothing less than hero worship and Milton repeatedly laments that Nathaniel has been cheated out of his place in history. However this is a fine story which is well worth reading.

But, one small thing which has nothing to do with Giles Milton. The cover quotes Phillip Henscher who when reviewing the book for Spectator said that this book " Makes you want to pack your bags and go off travelling to find that special place" I would have thought that the effect of this book would be the complete opposite - to make the modern reader think " Isn't it great I'm not a 17th century sailor dying of malnutrition!"