Ulbe Bosma

"An extraordinary achievement." -David Edgerton, Literary Review "A remarkably researched, comprehensive, and indispensable book for everyone who wishes to understand how sugar and the sugar industry have shaped the world in which we live." -Gary Taubes, author of The Case Against Sugar For most of history, humans did without refined sugar. Then, suddenly, it was everywhere. How did sugar find...

The definitive 2,500-year history of sugar and its human costs, from its little-known origins as a luxury good in Asia to worldwide environmental devastation and the obesity pandemic. For most of history, humans did without refined sugar. After all, it serves no necessary purpose in our diets, and extracting it from plants takes hard work and ingenuity. Granulated sugar was...