Dikötter, Frank
Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China
- ISBN 13:
- 9781849044721
- author:
- Dikötter, Frank
- format:
- Paperback
- publisher:
- C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd
- language:
- English
- Publication Year:
- 2016
- Pages:
- 288
- Dimensions:
- 21.7 x 2.2 x 14.4 cm
- Genre:
- History, Social & Economic History, Health & Welfare,
- Condition:
- New
- Availability:
- Item usually sent within 10 working days
Description
The perception of China's defeat by Britain's opium trade persists, but a new edition of Narcotic Culture challenges this narrative. The real scandal lies not in the expansion of the drug trade, but in the British failure to grasp the consequences of prohibition. In fact, opium was prepared and appreciated in complex rituals with built-in constraints, and was even used as a medicinal panacea. The transition from a tolerated opium culture to a system of prohibition had devastating consequences. The Chinese turned to heroin, morphine, cocaine, and other psychoactive substances, creating a 'cure' that was far worse than the disease. This book delves into a history of drugs and their abuses, offering a sobering portrait of the dangers of prohibition and a revisionist history of imperial and twentieth-century Britain.
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