false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171476918m/101181.jpg 101181 2 Cocaine, writes filmmaker Dominic Streatfeild, "is not some evil spawn of Satan but simply a commodity." Like other commodities, cocaine has a history. When the Spanish conquistadors came to South America and observed that Indians who chewed the leaves of <I>Erythroxylon coca</I> could, it seemed, march over the tallest mountain or through the densest forest for days on end, they knew they were onto something. The newcomers took to growing coca themselves, and in time their product found an audience outside the continent, with users such as Sigmund Freud, Ernest Shackleton (who "took Forced March cocaine tablets to Antarctica in 1909 for the energy boost they gave"), Duke Ellington, and, eventually, half of Hollywood to testify to its powers. Streatfeild's appropriately rapid narrative takes in such key moments and players as "the year of cocaine" 1969, when the film <i>Easy Rider</i> reintroduced the drug to American popular culture, and George Jung, whose exploits are chronicled in Ted Demme's film <I>Blow</I>, to create a portrait of the drug that ranges over centuries. Though he supports legalization, Streatfeild acknowledges the evil and corruption surrounding the trade. Drawing lessons from history, he also suggests the possibility that "cocaine will fizzle out in the year 2015 the way it did in the early twentieth century." At the close of this absorbing book, he adds, "It deserves to." <I>--Gregory McNamee</I> 97555 2002 Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography total:214|5:92|4:84|3:35|2:2|1:1| 214 906 329 43 3 1 false false Mon Dec 29 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Tue Dec 02 15:30:26 -0800 2008 Mon Dec 29 05:14:48 -0800 2008 First of all--a note on the book's tone, which is familiar, cutesy, silly, very British. A bit *too* silly, it is also endearing, & can get the reader through a lot of initially dry but important material such as Inca history, Spanish colonial mines & the forced labor system of mita imp...more...]]> 3 0 true false Sun Feb 22 00:00:00 -0800 2009 Tue Feb 03 21:35:52 -0800 2009 Sun Mar 01 22:00:33 -0800 2009 more...]]> 4 0 false false Sat Apr 25 14:10:15 -0700 2009 Sat Apr 25 14:13:22 -0700 2009 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sat Mar 08 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Mon Feb 25 06:23:18 -0800 2008 Wed Oct 29 09:05:38 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Nov 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Sun Oct 28 19:15:14 -0700 2007 Thu Nov 29 08:30:23 -0800 2007 Dominic Streatfeild does a masterful job of tying together several thousand years of history into 500 pages. This was an ambitious (and dangerous) project, and along every step of the way, you feel as if you're walking alongside him. It's a fascinating book, and a cautionary tale about the dangerou...more...]]> 5 0 false false Fri Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 22 12:55:14 -0700 2007 Fri Jun 22 13:41:47 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Sun Jun 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri May 30 19:52:16 -0700 2008 Sat Jul 19 15:21:31 -0700 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Wed Jan 14 06:34:46 -0800 2009 Wed Jan 14 07:40:42 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Sun Sep 27 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 14:10:19 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 27 17:08:49 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Mar 01 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Wed Sep 12 21:13:32 -0700 2007 Wed Sep 12 21:25:27 -0700 2007 more...]]> 5 0 false false Thu Jul 17 16:22:56 -0700 2008 Thu Jul 17 16:29:36 -0700 2008 more...]]> 4 0 false false Tue Nov 23 00:00:00 -0800 2004 Thu Feb 19 14:25:12 -0800 2009 Thu Feb 19 14:25:12 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Oct 11 09:12:24 -0700 2009 Sun Oct 11 09:12:57 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Tue Jan 27 05:03:18 -0800 2009 Tue Jan 27 05:03:47 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Thu Mar 05 23:21:18 -0800 2009 Thu Mar 05 23:22:23 -0800 2009 5 0 false false Sun Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2006 Mon Sep 03 23:01:13 -0700 2007 Tue Sep 04 06:52:11 -0700 2007 ...more...]]> 4 0 true false Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 -0700 2007 Mon Jan 07 12:06:46 -0800 2008 Mon Jan 07 12:13:24 -0800 2008
That is common knowledge to some people but it is needed for those who are naive an...more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Wed Jan 30 11:40:21 -0800 2008 Wed Jan 30 11:46:51 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2002 Thu Jan 17 20:52:25 -0800 2008 Fri Jan 18 09:57:48 -0800 2008 more...]]> 5 0 false false Mon Apr 07 17:39:30 -0700 2008 Mon Apr 07 17:42:04 -0700 2008 more...]]> http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=101181