A History of the Cotton Industry is a well written and layman accessible monograph on the cotton industry from ancient times. Originally published in 1984 to coincide with the documentary TV production of "The Rise and Fall of King Cotton", this reformat and re-release due out 6th Feb 2024 from Pen & Sword is 208 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats.
This is a very well researched and annotated volume. The author provides an unvarnished history and overview of the culture surrounding the agriculture and manufacture of cotton. It makes for often brutal reading; from the closely allied trade in human slaves, the politics and corruption of great power and profit (at the cost of human life), and the eventual decline and collapse of the social structures which grew and flourished over centuries.
Readers should be aware that in this second edition, the author has made a conscious decision -not- to remove the 6 historical quotes in the text which use the "n-word". It's shocking and distressing to see it printed in black and white each time it appears, but it's very important in context and the author made the right (albeit presumably difficult) decision to leave the quotes intact. There's also a fair bit of historical material which reflects a breathtaking amount of imperialist/sexist/racist/misogynist world view, which again, is appropriate and important in context to understand the unquestioned historical prevalence.
The language is layman accessible. It's well annotated throughout and the author/publisher have included numerous archival photos and facsimiles of historical documents which add a lot of depth and interest to the read.
Five stars. Well written and very thought provoking reading.
Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.
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