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17 Books to Read if You Loved ‘Smoke and Ashes’

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Moving deftly between horticultural histories, the mythologies of capitalism and the social and cultural repercussions of colonialism, Smoke and Ashes reveals the pivotal role one small plant has played in the making of the world as we know it – a world that is now teetering on the edge of catastrophe.

Amitav Ghosh’s Smoke and Ashes is a revealing (and often hilarious!) book about civilisational failures and evils. There’s not a single dull moment in this memoir-travelogue that peels the layers of history to show us that at the centre of most major geopolitical events is a literal flower. Unassuming and vivid, but a flower that has a mind of its own.

Now to think that a flower can have a mind of its own is a funny thing. But as Ghosh traces the roots of Imperialism and Colonialism, Afghan wars and global political turmoils to the poppy, the funniness of the matter rapidly dries up.

The history of opium trade is a history rife with violence and horror. That it is often written as an economic history somewhat masks the human cost of the enterprise. Smoke and Ashes stands out. It is both “harrowing” (as one review of the book identifies ably), and self-aware. Debunking the teleological logic of Progress, revealing the historical weight of everyday objects like tea, and our own incredibly delusional perception of the world, this is a book for our times.

Now every day in a postcolonial world is a new dawn impressing an old truth: That the colonists were the muck of the earth. S&A firmly upholds that truth, in hilarious rejoinders and jibes that Ghosh directs at the Empire. In incredibly earnest and accessible prose, Ghosh delineates the complex histories of wars and conflicts in South Asian countries, somehow all focalized around the trade of everyday commodities, from sugar to tea to opium.

Here is a comprehensive list of books to read if you enjoyed reading Smoke and Ashes:

‘In thinking about the opium poppy’s role in history it is hard to ignore the feeling of an intelligence at work. The single most important indication of this is the poppy’s ability to create cycles of repetition, which manifest themselves in similar phenomena over time. What the opium poppy does is clearly not random; it builds symmetries that rhyme with each other.

It is important to recognize that these cycles will go on repeating, because the opium poppy is not going away anytime soon. In Mexico, for instance, despite intensive eradication efforts the acreage under poppy cultivation has continued to increase. Indeed, there is more opium being produced in the world today than at any time in the past.

Only by recognizing the power and intelligence of the opium poppy can we even begin to make peace with it.’

Opium Inc.
by Thomas Manuel

In the nineteenth century, the British East India Company operated a triangle of trade that straddled the globe, running from India to China to Britain. From India to China, they took opium. From China to Britain, they took tea. From…

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Opium Inc.
India's Historic Battles
by Andrew Ward

Of all the horrors that blackened the uprising of 1857, none could match the atrocities committed at Kanpur.In Kanpur, 1857 - part of a new series of books on India's historic battles - historian Andrew Ward gives an unblinking account…

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India's Historic Battles
India's Historic Battles
by Rosie Llewellyn Jones

The city of Lucknow was the epicentre of the uprising of 1857.In Lucknow, 1857 - part of a new series of books on India's historic battles - historian Rosie Llewellyn-Jones examines the conflict in detail, from the British annexation of…

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India's Historic Battles
The Siege of Delhi
by Amarpal Singh

On 10 May 1857, the most serious threat to British supremacy in India appeared at Meerut. After months of increasing tension, sepoys of the 3rd Light Cavalry along with the 11th and 20th Native Infantry pointedly refused to use the…

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The Siege of Delhi
China
by John Keay

Despite the recent rise of China to a position of dominance on the world economic stage, Chinese history remains an elusive subject. Yet it is this vast narrative of appalling loss, superhuman endeavour and incredible invention that has made China…

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China
India
by John Keay

In ‘India: A History’ five millennia of the sub-continent’s history are interpreted by one of our finest writers on India and the Far East. This definitive work combines narrative pace and skill with social, economic and cultural analysis. India’s history…

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India
Royals and Rebels
by Priya Atwal

In late eighteenth-century India, the glory of the Mughal emperors was fading, and ambitious newcomers seized power, changing the political map forever. Enter the legendary MaharajahRanjit Singh, whose Sikh Empire stretched throughout northwestern India into Afghanistan and Tibet.Priya Atwal shines…

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Royals and Rebels
The British Empire in 100 Facts
by Jem Duducu

The British Empire was once the largest and most powerful in the world. Spread as far and wide as Canada, Australia, India and Africa, it used to be said that the sun never set on it as it always had…

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The British Empire in 100 Facts
Hungry Bengal
by Janam Mukherjee

The years leading up to the independence and accompanying partition of India mark a tumultuous period in the history of Bengal. While for the British the priority was to save the empire from imminent collapse, for the majority of the…

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Hungry Bengal
The Flaws in the Jewel
by RODERICK MATHEWS

Roderick Matthews re-examines British rule in India by concentrating on three central themes: its ability to defray the costs of its own maintenance; its impersonal and institutional qualities that gave it continuity and tenacity; and its commitment to a dual…

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The Flaws in the Jewel
Memsahibs
by Ipshita Nath

For young Englishwomen stepping off the steamer, the sights and sounds of humid colonial India were like nothing they'd ever experienced. For many, this was the ultimate destination to find a perfect civil servant husband. For still more, however, India…

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Memsahibs
Wicked Women Of The Raj
by Coralie Younger

Except for the odd woman captured by pirates and sold into a Mughal harem, the first European women to enter India owed their presence to the Portuguese, in the 16th century, and later to the East India Company -- in…

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Wicked Women Of The Raj
True To Their Salt
by Ravindra Rathee

True to Their Salt is a radical retelling of how India came to be colonized by a handful of Europeans in the eighteenth century, how the British held sway over the country for almost two centuries, and their sudden departure…

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True To Their Salt
Peace, Poverty and Betrayal
by Roderick Matthews

How can we explain Britain's long rule in India beyond the cliches of 'imperial' versus 'nationalist' interpretations? In this new history, Roderick Matthews tells a more nuanced story of 'oblige and rule', the foundation of common purpose between colonisers and…

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Peace, Poverty and Betrayal
The Theft of India
by Roy Moxham

In the three centuries that followed Vasco da Gama's discovery of the sea route from Europe to India, European powers made a beeline for India's fabled riches, its spices, gold and gems. Though they ostensibly came for trade and commerce,…

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The Theft of India
India And The Silk Roads
by Jagjeet Lally

India's caravan trade with central Asia was at the heart of the complex web of routes making up the Silk Roads. But what was the fate of these overland connections in the ages of sail and steam? Jagjeet Lally sets…

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India And The Silk Roads
Hooghly
by Robert Ivermee

The Hooghly, a distributary of the Ganges flowing south to the Bay of Bengal, is now little-known outside of India. Yet for centuries it was a river of truly global significance, attracting merchants, missionaries, mercenaries, statesmen, labourers and others from…

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Hooghly

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