The Sugar Barons

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Product Information

ISBN9780099558453
AuthorsMatthew Parker
PublisherCornerstone
FormatPaperback
Number of pages480
Weight (kg)0.358
Publishing Date02/02/2012
Price (excl. tax)€18.77
Tax€1.13
Price (incl. tax)€19.90
Availability+20 units in external warehouse

Product Description

For 200 years after 1650 the West Indies were the most fought-over colonies in the world, as Europeans made and lost immense fortunes growing and trading in sugar - a commodity so lucrative that it was known as white gold.

Young men, beset by death and disease, an ocean away from the moral anchors of life in Britain, created immense dynastic wealth but produced a society poisoned by war, sickness, cruelty and corruption.

The Sugar Barons explores the lives and experiences of those whose fortunes rose and fell with the West Indian empire. From the ambitious and brilliant entrepreneurs, to the grandees wielding power across the Atlantic, to the inheritors often consumed by decadence, disgrace and madness, this is the compelling story of how a few small islands and a handful of families decisively shaped the British Empire.