Sugar and Civilization
eBook - ePub

Sugar and Civilization

American Empire and the Cultural Politics of Sweetness

  1. 320 pages
  2. English
  3. ePUB (mobile friendly)
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub

Sugar and Civilization

American Empire and the Cultural Politics of Sweetness

About this book

In the weeks and months after the end of the Spanish-American War, Americans celebrated their nation’s triumph by eating sugar. Each of the nation’s new imperial possessions, from Puerto Rico to the Philippines, had the potential for vastly expanding sugar production. As victory parties and commemorations prominently featured candy and other sweets, Americans saw sugar as the reward for their global ambitions.

April Merleaux demonstrates that trade policies and consumer cultures are as crucial to understanding U.S. empire as military or diplomatic interventions. As the nation’s sweet tooth grew, people debated tariffs, immigration, and empire, all of which hastened the nation’s rise as an international power. These dynamics played out in the bureaucracies of Washington, D.C., in the pages of local newspapers, and at local candy counters. Merleaux argues that ideas about race and civilization shaped sugar markets since government policies and business practices hinged on the racial characteristics of the people who worked the land and consumed its products. Connecting the history of sugar to its producers, consumers, and policy makers, Merleaux shows that the modern American sugar habit took shape in the shadow of a growing empire.

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Yes, you can access Sugar and Civilization by April Merleaux in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in History & Economic History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover Page
  2. Sugar and Civilization
  3. Copyright Page
  4. Epigraphs
  5. Contents
  6. Illustrations and Figures
  7. Acknowledgments
  8. A Note on Terminology
  9. Introduction
  10. Chapter One: Sugar’s Civilizing Mission
  11. Chapter Two: Spectacles of Sweetness
  12. Chapter Three: This Peculiarly Indispensable Commodity
  13. Chapter Four: Commodity Cultures and Cross-Border Desires
  14. Chapter Five: From Cane to Candy
  15. Chapter Six: Sweet Innocence
  16. Chapter Seven: Drowned in Sweetness
  17. Chapter Eight: New Deal, New Empire
  18. Epilogue
  19. Notes
  20. Bibliography
  21. Index