Coffee: A Dark History

New York: W.W. Norton, 2005. First edition, first printing (full number line). Small quarto in maroon color illus jacket; xi, 323 pages: illustrations (some color); 25 cm. Includes bibliographical references (pages 309-310) and index. Three tiny dog-ear hairlines; else very fine in same jacket. . Hardcover. ISBN: 0393060713

"From obscure beginnings in east Africa in the fifteenth century as a stimulant in religious devotion, coffee became an imperial commodity, produced by poor tropical countries and consumed by rich temperate ones. Through the centuries, the influence of coffee on the rise of capitalism and its institutions has been enormous. Revolutions were once hatched in coffeehouses, commercial alliances were forged, secret societies were formed, and politics and art were endlessly debated. Today, while coffee chains spread like wildfire, coffee-producing countries are in crisis: with prices at a historic low, they are plagued by unprecedented unemployment, abandoned farms, enforced migration, and massive social disruption."--Jacket. Contents: 1. The way we live now -- 2. Origins -- 3. Enter the dragon -- 4. The mocha trade -- 5. Coffee and societies -- 6. The fall of mocha -- 7. Slavery and the coffee colonies -- 8. The continental system and Napoleon's alternative to coffee -- 9. Napoleon and St. Helena -- 10. Slavery, Brazil, and coffee -- 11. The great exhibition -- 12. Harar and Rimbaud: the cradle and the crucible -- 13. Modern times -- 14. Coffee, science, and history -- 15. The battle of the hemispheres -- 16. Fair trade -- 17. Espresso: the Esperanto of coffee -- 18. The heart of darkness -- Coda -- Appendix. The find at Kush. Coffee. Coffee -- History. Coffee. Kaffee.