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SPICE ROUTE
by
KEAY, JOHN
An exotic saga with the tang of drama in every voyage, The Spice Route transports the reader from the dawn of history to the ends of the earth The Spice Route is one of history's great anomalies. Shrouded in mystery, it existed long before anyone knew of its extent or alignment. Spices came from lands unseen, possibly uninhabitable, and almost by definition unattainable; that was what made them so desirable. Yet more livelihoods depended on this pungent traffic, more nations participated in it, more wars were fought over it, and more discoveries resulted from it than from any other global exchange. In a bid to discover and exploit the spice route, mankind first passed beyond his known horizons to probe the limits of our planet. Epic was the quest, and in this major new study, epic is the treatment as John Keay pieces together a historical process that spans three millennia and a geographical progression that encircles the world.
Stock: In Stock, Delivery: Standard 2-3 Days (inc BFPO), £2.65
Format: Paperback
Published: 19/06/2006
Publisher: JOHN MURRAY GENERAL PUBLISHING DIVISION
ISBN: 071956199X
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Our Price £6.74
List Price £8.99
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Reviewed By: |
BBC History Magazine |
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Date: |
09/08/2006 |
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Reader Rating: |
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Review:
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Next time you pop into your local sainsbury's or tesco take a close look at the spices on sale.£1.44 will buy you six or seven nutmegs,while a handful of small change will get you a large jar of mace.
It was not always thus. Such knock down prices would have had Elizabethan courtiers spluttering into their pomanders. For them and all who preceded them spices were the ultimate luxury item.Mysterious in origin, ruinously expensive and fabously piquant, they were a status symbol without compare.
John Keay's latest book, The Spice Route, recounts the improable history of man's obsession with as he puts it
"desiccated barks,shrivelled berries,knobbly roots,dead buds, crumpled membranes,sticky gums and old fruit stones" It's a colourful story that's well worth telling;as Keay explains, it was the quest for exotic spices that led to the discovery of the world.
By the 1700s, human greed had fuelled the spice race and placed the fabled "spiceries"(Islands in the East Indies) on the map. and this was to prove their downfall.Once their mysterious origin had been debunked and importation began on a Grand Scale the allure was lost and their value plummeted. The once noble nutmeg-which inspired explorers to discover the planet -found itself gathering dust at the back of inumerable kitchen cupboards.
Giles Milton |
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Reviewed By: |
Additional Info |
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Date: |
22/06/2006 |
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Reader Rating: |
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Review:
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Aromatic spices and exotic trade routes mingle headily in this lush, evocative history. This is an exotic saga with the tang of drama in every voyage. "The Spice Route" transports the reader from the dawn of history to the ends of the earth. "The Spice Route" is one of history's great anomalies. Shrouded in mystery, it existed long before anyone knew of its extent or alignment. Spices came from lands unseen, possibly uninhabitable, and almost by definition unattainable; that was what made them so desirable. Yet more livelihoods depended on this pungent traffic, more nations participated in it, more wars were fought over it, and more discoveries resulted from it than from any other global exchange. In a bid to discover and exploit the spice route, mankind first passed beyond his known horizons to probe the limits of our planet. Epic was the quest, and in this major new study, epic is the treatment as John Keay pieces together a historical process that spans three millennia and a geographical progression that encircles the world. |
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