Read Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China

Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China

Unknown Author

4.9/5 (30772 ratings)

Description:To this day, the perception persists that China was a civilization defeated by imperialist Britain's most desirable trade commodity, opium—a drug that turned the Chinese into cadaverous addicts in the grip of dependence. Britain, in an effort to reverse the damage caused by opium addiction, launched its own version of a war on drugs, which lasted roughly 60 years, from 1880 to WWII & the beginning of Chinese communism. But, as Narcotic Culture shows, the real scandal in Chinese history wasn't the expansion of the drug trade by Britain in the early 19th century, but rather the failure of the British to grasp the consequences of prohibition. In an historical reversal, Frank Dikötter, Lars Laamann & Zhou Xun tell this different story of the relationship between opium & the Chinese. They reveal that opium actually had few harmful effects on either health or longevity; in fact, it was prepared & appreciated in highly complex rituals with inbuilt constraints preventing excessive use. Opium was even used as a medicinal panacea in China before the availability of aspirin & penicillin. But as a result of the British effort to eradicate it, the Chinese turned from the relatively benign use of that drug to heroin, morphine, cocaine & countless other psychoactive substances. Narcotic Culture provides evidence that the transition from a tolerated opium culture to a system of prohibition produced a cure that was far worse than the disease. Delving into a history of drugs & their abuses, Narcotic Culture is part revisionist history of imperial & 20th-century Britain & part portrait of the dangers of prohibition.AcknowledgementsConventionsIntroductionThe global spread of psychoactive substances c. 1600-1900Opium before the 'Opium War' c. 1600-1840Opium for the people: status, space & consumption c. 1840-1940The best possible & sure shield: Opium, disease & epidemics c. 1840-1940War on drugs: prohibition & the rise of narcophobia c. 1880-1940Curing the addict: prohibition & detoxification c. 1880-1940Pills & powders: the spread of semi-synthetic opiates c. 1900-40Needle lore: the syringe in China c. 1890-1950China's other drugs c. 1900-50ConclusionBibliographyCharacter ListIndexWe have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China. To get started finding Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Pages: 331

Format: PDF, EPUB & Kindle Edition

Publisher: University of Chicago Press (IL)

Release: —

ISBN: 0226149056

Description: To this day, the perception persists that China was a civilization defeated by imperialist Britain's most desirable trade commodity, opium—a drug that turned the Chinese into cadaverous addicts in the grip of dependence. Britain, in an effort to reverse the damage caused by opium addiction, launched its own version of a war on drugs, which lasted roughly 60 years, from 1880 to WWII & the beginning of Chinese communism. But, as Narcotic Culture shows, the real scandal in Chinese history wasn't the expansion of the drug trade by Britain in the early 19th century, but rather the failure of the British to grasp the consequences of prohibition. In an historical reversal, Frank Dikötter, Lars Laamann & Zhou Xun tell this different story of the relationship between opium & the Chinese. They reveal that opium actually had few harmful effects on either health or longevity; in fact, it was prepared & appreciated in highly complex rituals with inbuilt constraints preventing excessive use. Opium was even used as a medicinal panacea in China before the availability of aspirin & penicillin. But as a result of the British effort to eradicate it, the Chinese turned from the relatively benign use of that drug to heroin, morphine, cocaine & countless other psychoactive substances. Narcotic Culture provides evidence that the transition from a tolerated opium culture to a system of prohibition produced a cure that was far worse than the disease. Delving into a history of drugs & their abuses, Narcotic Culture is part revisionist history of imperial & 20th-century Britain & part portrait of the dangers of prohibition.AcknowledgementsConventionsIntroductionThe global spread of psychoactive substances c. 1600-1900Opium before the 'Opium War' c. 1600-1840Opium for the people: status, space & consumption c. 1840-1940The best possible & sure shield: Opium, disease & epidemics c. 1840-1940War on drugs: prohibition & the rise of narcophobia c. 1880-1940Curing the addict: prohibition & detoxification c. 1880-1940Pills & powders: the spread of semi-synthetic opiates c. 1900-40Needle lore: the syringe in China c. 1890-1950China's other drugs c. 1900-50ConclusionBibliographyCharacter ListIndexWe have made it easy for you to find a PDF Ebooks without any digging. And by having access to our ebooks online or by storing it on your computer, you have convenient answers with Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China. To get started finding Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China, you are right to find our website which has a comprehensive collection of manuals listed.
Our library is the biggest of these that have literally hundreds of thousands of different products represented.

Special Offer | $0.00

Special Offer! | $0.00

Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China

Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China

More Books