From the Publisher
"In writing this exhaustively researched history...Booth brings us that much closer to understanding-and thereby conquering-the most tenacious of human conditions." —Amazon.com
"The book's wealth of detail is remarkable." —The Economist
"Opium is of great value for its thoroughness, and it is briskly written...Each chapter [is] a ball of opium with an explosive charge." —The Boston Globe
"Booth takes us from P. somniferum to 'black gold', compellingly documenting the influential role of the opiate trade throughout history." —Publishers Weekly
"From the subtleties of Chinese history to the complexities of GoldenTriangle narco-nationalism, ...Booth shows us a sure grasp of his material and manages to pull the innumberable and far-flung threads...neatly together." —Kirkus Reviews
Anthony B. Chan
Western literature changed by British opium-eaters! Herein lie Booth's biases and peculiarities....Other than a detailed and sympathetic discourse on the drugged Romantic Revival period, when there were actual individuals with human desires and frailties in the opium drama, the rest of the people in the narrative are caricatures, stereotypes or clichTs....While Booth's work can be lauded for its assemblage of obscure materials, his lack of non-Western sources in such a highly controversial and global subject is a problem. With so many uncited sources and unsubstantiated opinions, Opium: A History is the work of a polemicist rather than a professional historian. His unsophisticated analysis and racist terminology and leanings ought to set off a "Read with Caution" alarm in any reader's mind. -- Globe and Mail
Publishers Weekly
- Publisher's Weekly
A novelist (Hiroshima Joe) and nonfiction writer (Opium: A History), Booth is a British author too little known here. This very strong book, shortlisted for the Booker Prize last year, should introduce him to discriminating readers. As in Hiroshima Joe, the hero is an ordinary man thrust into a forgotten corner of history, who becomes a player in an extraordinary situation. Alexander Bayliss was a British businessman on a visit to the Soviet Union in the 1950s when he was arrested as a spy and sent into the Siberian gulag. Now, on his 80th birthday, he has become a cherished fixture in the tiny Russian village where he went to live after his release with the daughter of one of his dear companions of the gulag, who had died in a mining accident. Known to the peasants as Shurik, he has been the village schoolteacher, an angel of enlightenment who has helped open the eyes of some of the local children to a wider world. But his identity has at last been discovered; the British Embassy in Moscow has sent a car, and a long-forgotten cousin is on his way to meet him. Shurik/Bayliss must decide: what is he to do with what remains of his life? The book is at once a poignantly lyrical portrait of his life in Myshkino (as if the Russian countryside in summer were seen through the eyes of an English nature poet) and a harrowing account of his life as a zek--one of the countless thousands of political prisoners who toiled in inhumanly brutal conditions in the Arctic wastes. That life also brought undying comradeship of a kind that makes conventional friendships seem tame, and in one unforgettable scene Bayliss has to make a terrible choice for his dearest friend. In another indelible passage, his little crew is sent to uncover a woolly mammoth long frozen in the ice. Through it all, Bayliss is a model of modest goodness and tenderness, one of the most lovable creations in recent fiction. His story is at once horrifying and deeply affecting, a paean to what is eternal in the Russian spirit--and the work of a sharp-eyed humanist whose powers are at full stretch. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Publishers Weekly
- Publisher's Weekly
Opium was a common drug among the ancient Greeks (who extolled the "healing dreams" it brought on), a convenient poison for the Romans, a narcotic in medieval England and a popular painkiller and sedative in 19th-century Europe and America. Veteran British author Booth takes us from P. somniferum to "black gold," compellingly documenting the influential role of the opiate trade throughout history. British colonizers, for example, used both legal and illicit opium production as a chief source of revenue in India, while for Dutch, British and Portuguese traders opium was a means to pacify and carve up China. The CIA's alleged drug-dealing exploitsto finance covert operations and to bribe local leadersare also amply documented here. Although Booth delves into the opiate-taking habits of Graham Greene, Wilde, Cocteau, Dickens, Poe and Coleridge, he doesn't romanticize drug use. While the facts can be rather dry, his comprehensive, nation-by-nation survey of international narcotics trafficking, which he views as a global societal disorder, may deter potential initiates. This history of the mechanics of the heroin trade industry brings us right to the present, where the market for the drug, Booth argues, is tied up with legitimate global trade.
Library Journal
Booth, a writer of novels, films, and documentaries, spent many years living in the Far East and speaks with authority on the worldly impact of one of its most profound and infamous exports. Opium is arguably the first drug discovered by humans. The author carefully documents its transition from a substance of medicinal value to a vehicle for pleasant fantasies. The boundary between its medicinal value and its narcotic effect could be too easily crossed, as patients were tempted to use it to alter perceptions of reality rather than to ease the pain of malady or surgery, and then discovery of the drug's euphoric side effects led to a craving of the substance for itself. As these addicts began to demand the drug in quantities beyond their needs or means, the specter of criminal activity surfaced. Booth explores in detail the link between addiction and crime and the transformation of the trade in opium (and its popular derivative, heroin) into big business. An excellent historical treatment of the development, use, and misuse of the drug, as well as of society's efforts to control it; recommended for all libraries.--Phillip Young Blue, New York State Supreme Court Criminal Branch Lib., New York
The Economist
The books wealth of detail is remarkable.
Kirkus Reviews
This comprehensive opium chronicle is a worthy addition to the recent rush of compendia that seek to place commodities (e.g., oil, potatoes, corn) in their full historical/social context. Opium's healing properties were long known to the ancients, as were its pleasant stupefactions and addictiveness. Eaten, infused, or smoked, purified into morphine or heroin, it has long been a favorite narcotic of both East and West. It inspired poets and artists, sustained economies, fueled wars and imperial conquests, brought relief from pain to millions, yet also ravaged innumerable lives. Opium helped Coleridge produce some of his best poetry ("In Xanadu did Kubla Khan a stately pleasure dome decree"); brought about armed hostilities between England and China (leading to the ceding of Hong Kong); financed an unhealthy portion of the Vietnam War; and killed more than its fair share of rock musicians. In fact, heroin makes up a major portion of the illegal global drug market, whose sales of $500-plus billion a year exceed the GNP's of 90 percent of UN members. As with most commodity histories, this one concerns not so much a substance as the devastations of our pleasures, the folly, greed, and grandeur of human behavior. From the subtleties of Chinese history to the complexities of Golden-Triangle narco-nationalism, novelist and screenwriter Booth ("Dreaming of Samarkand", 1990, etc.) shows a sure grasp of his material and manages to pull the innumerable and far-flung threads (almost) neatly together. While any grand uber account like this is bound to commit some omissions and under-emphases (perhaps we needed more on heroin chic, more on the roots of addiction, more on famous junkies, and more onthe modern 'war on drugs'), Booth's mind is unusually encyclopedic. However, he does tend to editorialize and moralize (gawkily), making certain sections unnecessarily Sunday-schoolish. Not quite intoxicating, but good for at least a pleasant buzz.
From Barnes & Noble
Known to mankind since prehistoric times, opium claims millions of victims around the world, from the poor of Asia and New York junkies to urban housewives, the aristocracy, government officials, rock idols, and diplomats. An acclaimed author tries to explain opium's seductive lure and deadly legacy by exploring its intricate past, cultivation, production, spread, usage, trafficking, and influence.
