<iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-K3L4M3" height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden">

Lead book review

The greed and hypocrisy of the opium trade continue to shock

Amitav Ghosh admits he found writing his history difficult because of the obscene profiteering and suffering he had to cover

10 February 2024

9:00 AM

10 February 2024

9:00 AM

Smoke and Ashes: Opium’s Hidden Histories Amitav Ghosh

John Murray, pp.416, 20

‘A fact that confounds me now when I think back on it,’ writes the acclaimed Indian author Amitav Ghosh at the start of this expansive and thoughtful book, ‘is that for most of my life China was for me a vast, uniform blankness.’ There were many reasons for this, he says.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Get 10 issues
for $20

Subscribe to The Spectator Australia today for the next 10 magazine issues, plus full online access, for just $20.

  • Delivery of the weekly magazine
  • Unlimited access to spectator.com.au and app
  • Spectator podcasts and newsletters
  • Full access to spectator.co.uk
Or

Unlock this article

REGISTER

You might disagree with half of it, but you’ll enjoy reading all of it. Try your first month for free, then just $2 a week for the remainder of your first year.


Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator Australia readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Close