"Taken together the chapters weave a 'thick description' of the sugar trade that draws on social, cultural, economic, and political history. They contribute to our understanding of the formation of the Atlantic economy and the establishment of sugar as a key element of capitalist modernity. The book may be read profitably - and indeed, pleasurably - by specialists and non-specialists." ... Read more
Dale Tomich
New West Indian Guide
"Together, these comprise ten detailed chapters covering the breadth of the sugar trade during a time of explosive growth in Brazil's production. The book also boasts numerous sidebars, timelines, graphs, tables, and, most spectacularly, images . . . Printed on heavy stock, the book's 376 images are reproduced in lush full color. Every page rewards the reader with visual interest . . . The book shines in describing the routine procedures and habits devised by merchants to keep the sugar trade humming. Strum demonstrates with numerous examples how financial and contractual tools and instruments, together with money and ships, were deployed in real interactions among merchants, shipmasters, and agents . . . This story of capital is as compelling as our current century's."
Thomas D. Rogers
American Historical Review
"The book offers a detailed, well-illustrated presentation of the types of ships, sea routes, cargo transport procedures, and shipping fees of the Brazilian-Portuguese-Dutch trade and explicates the practical strategies . . . Exhaustively researched in regard to published works, The Sugar Trade footnotes the historical literature on substantive issues that Strum ably synthesizes for nonspecialists."
Juan A. Giusti-Cordero
Hispanic American Historical Review
"[T]he work contains considerable scholarly merit, and the illustrations are appropriate to the material and often very instructive in their own right . . . Strum's meticulous documentation of these developments, as well as the accompanying illustrations, will reward historians of capitalism more generally."
Christopher Ebert
World Sugar History Newsletter
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