The Nutmeg’s Curse

In 1621, the Dutch East Indies Company virtually exterminated the native people of the Bandu Islands in order to seize a monopoly on the lucrative nutmeg trade. Amitav Ghosh uses this central story to imaginatively weave together disparate, seemingly unrelated threads to show how our colonial heritage has shaped the climate dilemma we now face.

There are countless Aha! moments in The Nutmeg’s Curse and many come from the most unlikely of places: from the witch hunts of the 16th and 17th centu...