Coffee: A Dark History

Over thirty thousand copies sold worldwide, translated into Japanese, Chinese, Turkish and French. "...with a dry wit and an admirable muckraking spirit, Wild more than does justice to a story rife with injustices." Newsday. "He writes with (a) wry touch that makes his book a pleasure." Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post "Antony Wild's "Coffee" is as rich and complex as the brew itself." Carlo Wolff, Boston Globe "...this polemical, grandiose, yet thoroughly entertaining book..." Mother Jones "...Coffee is an elegantly written, even witty book, so wide in scope, so rich in detail, so thought-provoking in the subtle way that it develops its central thesis, that it is a challenge to do justice to it." Joanna Blythman, The Sunday Herald "...full of fascinating anecdotal detail about our favourite stimulant." The Ecologist "...a strong espresso of a thoroughly-researched, hugely informative history of the dark side of coffee..." Geographical "This masterful and exhaustive work is about much more than history. We're also treated to eye-opening lessons in economics, ethics, culture and science..." Jennifer Cunningham, The Herald Arguably the most valuable legally traded commodity after oil, coffee's dark five-hundred-year history links alchemy and anthropology, poetry and politics, and science and slavery. Revolutions have been hatched in coffee houses, secret societies and commercial alliances formed, and politics and art endlessly debated. With over a hundred million people looking to it for their livelihood, the coffee industry is now the world's largest and the financial lifeblood of many third-world countries. But with world prices notoriously volatile, the future is always uncertain. In this thought-provoking expose, Antony Wild, coffee trader, novelist and historian, explores coffee's dismal colonial past and its perilous corporate present, revealing the shocking exploitation as the heart of the industry.

About the Author :
During his thirteen years as Director of Coffee at Taylors of Harrogate, Antony Wild introduced many previously unknown coffees to the United Kingdom, and was the first trader to bring the notorious Kopi Luak to the West. He subsequently worked as a consultant, journalist and writer specialising in colonialism and its history. He is the official Historiographer of the East India Company, which has recently republished six of his books, including 'The East India Company: Trade and Conquest from 1600' and 'Remains of the Raj'. His first novel, The Moonstone Legacy, (with Diana de Gunzburg) is published by Pushkin Press in the UK and Hachette India, and is available worldwide as an eBook.