Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39577 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 544 pages

Review
"'STICK YOUR HOOTER INTO THIS VOLUME AND YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO STOP UNTIL YOU'VE SNIFFED OUT ALL OF ITS CONTENTS' TIME OUT 'A definitive history' Sunday Times 'A happy combination of page-turning pace and thought-provoking substance' Independent 'Streatfeild has done a marvellous job of research... outstanding' Irish Times"

Irish Times
Streatfeild has done a marvellous job of research.

The Independent
A happy combination of page-turning pace and thought
-provoking substance. An awesome survey.

Customer Reviews

Sleep deprivation!
Not, must I hasten to add, from the use of Cocaine, but from the inability to put this book down at night. In only two days, and limited peroids of time between work and sleep, I have managed to get through a quarter of this, everso readable book.

The story so far has taken me through history lessons in the story of Coca and Cocaine, all the way through; North American Idians, Inca's, the Spanish, the French ..... deep breath..... aswell as a whole host of Dr's, chemists, specialists.... wait there's more.... Freud, Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Authur Conan Doyle. Wow, and not even half way through yet.

I don't profess to read a great deal or have any talent for book reviews (or writing in general!). However, I feel that this is a good opportunity for people, like me, who rarely find, or make time to read, to make the effort here and learn some stuff.

As for the rest of you, those of you who consume books in the matter of time it takes me to eat my toast of a morning, what are you waiting for?

Whatever your stance on the subject of Cocaine, there is as a whole lot of information here, all, so far very interesting, extremely well written, and so easy to read.

I can't wait to get home and read more! Mr Streatfield, has, in my opinion a charming sense of humour and a style of writing which I am throughly enjoying.

A definitive history
If you have even the smallest of passing interests in the subject of drugs, whether it be their position in history, their social consequences, or how they affect the lives of people involved with them, then this is a must read.

The author uses an informal style to get the information across and at no point does he ever try to preach or ever become pretentious. In fact at some points he sympathises with those at the "business" end of things. Whether it be the coca growers, or crack addicts. He's certainly done his homework and the book is also packed with interviews and comments from people in the drugs trade, on both sides of the fence rather than focusing on either the traffickers or the people trying to stop them.

Very informative, from the discovery of cocaine to its place in modern society. It reads like a novel at some points and is a worthy read for anyone

Exceptional and recommended for the general reader
Reading 'Cocaine', I had the sense of an author developing as a writer as the book went on: I found the first few pages too full of slang, and almost put the book down. However, as the account went from Condamine's journey in Ecuador to Freud's discovery of cocaine in Vienna, to the origins of Coca Cola, I realised that this author's researches were comprehensive and found myself marking more and more interesting passages, e.g. the behaviour of rats who are given cocaine (they take it until they die) compared to rats who are given heroin (they adjust).

As the focus of the book turns to post-war America and to Columbia, I was gripped. The account of the failings of the War on Drugs and on the human costs of the conflict between the Medellin/ Cali cartel and the Columbian state is first rate.

This is a fascinating book for anyone interested in history, contemporary politics and geopolitics. I commend Dominic Streatfeild as an author whose bravery in arranging interviews with Columbian drug lords is matched by his command of the material.