Interesting book charting the dark history of Sugar with slavery and the health issues related to mass production and eating of sugary foods and deals with may issues which still haven't been sorted or discussed alot.

I have read somewhere that sugar is more addictive than cocaine.....I wouldn't doubt it, it is EVERYWHERE. Try to find something that does not contain sugar in it, in some form, especially your super manufactured products. Products that you just wouldn't think of. I find it especially disturbing that people who previously had no contact with sugar, or products that contain high levels of it, like fizzy drinks, are being persuaded that they just can't live without the stuff.

To be honest, I had no clue that slavery was at the heart of sugar production, in the early days of it. The lengths that slave owners went to, in order to extract the sugar from the sugar cane, beggars belief. Sugar production ruined lives, cultures, flora and fauna of many countries....and so much more. It introduced animals into ecosystems that upset the balance - the canetoad I am intimately familiar with, having lived in Queensland for over 25 years. Those things are revolting and poisonous to domestic animals, to boot.

This book was fascinating but very disturbing reading. The author clearly did a large amount of research and I have to admit that I will never look at sugar cane fields in the same way again.

4.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Pen & Sword.

I loved this book from cover to cover! “A Dark History of Sugar” by Neil Buttery has two distinct sections, the creation of sugar and the consumption thereafter. Neither is gentle but the creation is especially brutal. I am British by genes and I was familiar with our history of involvement in sugar production and that of the United States, but what preceded that was new and to read one well-written and unbiased account of its history is fascinating, and heart breaking. The ramifications of how humans were treated affects us still today.

The consumption side of things is disconcerting in a different way. We have been told lies, had our understanding managed by corporations, in the efforts to raise profits. A food substance has been assigned a value, a status, to be “sweet” is a good thing. The way the brain science speaks into the way we now consume forms of sweetness in new, far too easy ways is mind-shifting! I found this section more surprising than the first but not less disturbing!

Concise, intellectual and page-turning, it is hard to find a historical book that has all three but this one does! I give it five out of five and highly recommended!

I received a complimentary copy of the book from Pen & Sword History through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I've had an interest in how we get our food resource after reading a book that covered the violent history of bananas. Sugar seemed the next logical one to investigate and I knew it would be a doozy from the little history I learned about its trading in school. This book teaches you the horrifying history about harvesting sugar and the lives it ruined.


I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.

A dark history, indeed. When you get behind the history of Sugar and those forced into its production, the darkness is inevitable. Not a pleasant read but definitely an informative one. If you love history, you’ll love this one.

I enjoyed reading this book, but it’s not my favorite from “A Dark History Of” series. I found this book interesting and learned new things, but for me it didn’t flow naturally and were some gaps/big jumps between times and topics.

There’s nothing sweet about the history of sugar. Having already read A Dark History of Chocolate, I had some idea of what to expect.

Even so, it was horrifying reading chapter after chapter about slavery. Centuries worth of humans enslaving other humans to produce something that was once reserved for royalty but we all now have a taste for. Not content with the human cost of producing sugar, we’ve also done irreparable damage to the environment.

Interestingly, it turns out a spoonful of sugar really does help the medicine go down.

Besides coating medicines in sugar to make them more palatable, it has also been used to ‘treat’ a number of conditions. One of my personal favourites was a remedy to treat conjunctivitis, “made up of powdered sugar, pearls and gold leaf that was blown directly into the eye.” It‘s also been prescribed “to treat diseases of the loins, urinary tract, eyes and chest as well as headaches and inflammation.”

I learned how food manufacturers massage portion sizes so it appears their products contain less sugar than they really do and how they try to hide sugar in plain sight by calling it any number of things on the packaging.

“By 2018 there were at least fifty-six names in use for sugar in ingredients lists.”

This book, exploring both the production and consumption of sugar, was very well researched. It provides a detailed history but, for the most part, it’s just so depressing.

“The World Wildlife Fund reckons that sugar is ‘responsible for more biodiversity loss than any other crop.’”

This is not an easy read but it is an eye opening one.

Content warnings include death by suicide, miscarriage, racism, sexual assault, slavery and torture. Images that accompany the text include those that depict slaves being abused and killed and a close up photo of an ulcerated foot.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Pen & Sword History, an imprint of Pen & Sword Books, for granting my wish to read this book. I’m rounding up from 3.5 spoonfuls of sugar.

This book was very interesting it covers sugar from its origin, the slave trade right up to examining the modern day obsession with sugar. I never knew the impact the impact sugar had in shaping society today, I will be looking far more closely at my sugar intake after reading.This book really opened my eyes. The book is easy to read, has interesting pictures, is full of facts and history it’s a great read. Loved the vintage fry’s advert on the cover…

Interesting take on the history of sugar. However, I disagree with what Neil Buttery considers dark. The darkness did not coke from the production of sugar or its consumption. The darkness comes from the use of slaves, and that darkness is not unique to sugar. Back-breaking labor is seen in cotton production. It is seen in rice cultivation. It is seen in cocoa pod collection. As I said, interesting take...but you have to be a true fan of history to appreciate this.