Opium: Reality´s Dark Dream
Thomas Dormandy
Is opium a vile curse on society, a blessed medicine from God, or possibly both? This fresh history offers surprising new insights.
Opium and its derivatives morphine and heroin have destroyed, corrupted, and killed individuals, families, communities, and even whole nations. And yet, for most of its long history, opium has also been humanity's most effective means of alleviating physical and mental pain. This extraordinary book encompasses the entire history of the world's most fascinating drug, from the first evidence of poppy cultivation by stone-age man to the present-day opium trade in Afghanistan. Dr. Thomas Dormandy tells the ... Read more
Opium: Reality's Dark Dream traverses the globe and the centuries, exploring opium's role in colonialism, the Chinese Opium Wars, laudanum-inspired sublime Romantic poetry, American "Yellow Peril" fears, the rise of the Mafia and the black market, 1960s counterculture, and more. Dr. Dormandy also recounts exotic or sad stories of individual addiction. Throughout the book the author emphasizes opium's complex, valuable relationship with developments in medicine, health, and disease, highlighting the perplexing dual nature of the drug as both the cause and relief of great suffering in widely diverse civilizations.
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About Thomas Dormandy
Reviews for Opium: Reality´s Dark Dream
Rebecca Rose
Prospect
“Thomas Dormandy is an elegant, dryly amusing writer who plainly has an unquenchable appetite for research.”—John Preston, Daily Mail
John Preston
Daily Mail
“Rich and engaging . . ... Read more