Sidney W. Mintz - Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History

T his book has a lengthy past. I began collecting data for it many years ago, without even knowing it; then writing it took time, too. I began to draft it in 1978, while enjoying a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship. I thank the Department of Anthropology of the University of Pennsylvania, which bestowed on me a visiting title during the year I spent in Philadelphia; and Professor William H. Davenport, who generously afforded me, in addition to his company, half of his precious office space to use as my own.

During the spring of 1978, thanks to the hospitality of the Department of Anthropology of Princeton University, the Christian Gauss Lecture Committee, and their respective chairmen, Professor James Fernandez and Professor Joseph Frank, I was able to try out some of my ideas on thoughtful audiences. Insightful critics, including Professors Natalie Z. Davis, Stanley Stein, and Victor Brombert, did what they could to help me with their queries.

The summers of 1980 and 1981 were spent at that mecca of scholarship, the British Library. The Wenner-Gren Foundation and its director of research, Lita Osmundsen, made it possible for me to go to England during one of those summers. A research grant, provided through the good offices of a great Hopkins dean, the late Dr. George Owen, financed the other.

Of special importance were the people who helped me to find materials, copied and kept in order citations, documents, and references, and typed manuscript revisions. I am particularly grateful to Elise LeCompte, who surely worked as hard on the book as I did, before emigrating to graduate school. Marge Collignon typed the final draft with skill and celerity. Dr. Susan Rosales Nelson worked swiftly and efficiently in preparing the index.

To the librarians who showed me unfailing kindness at the Van Pelt Library (University of Pennsylvania), the British Library, the Wellcome Institute of Medicine Library, the Firestone Library (Princeton University), the Enoch Pratt Free Public Library of Baltimore, and, above all, the Milton S. Eisenhower Library (The Johns Hopkins University), I owe more than I can say. A special salute to the staff of the Interlibrary Loan Department of the Eisenhower Library, whose industry, dedication, and efficiency are unmatched.

Many good friends read and criticized portions of the manuscript at different points in its preparation. Among them I must mention my colleague Professor Ashraf Ghani, as well as Dr. Sidney Cantor, Professor Frederick Damon, Professor Stanley Engerman, Dr. Scott Guggenheim, Dr. Hans Medick, and Professor Richard Price. Rich and detailed critical commentary on the entire manuscript came from Mr. Gerald Hagelberg, Professor Carol Heim, Mr. Keith McClelland, Professor Rebecca J. Scott, Professor Kenneth Sharpe, and Dr. William C. Sturtevant. I have not been able to deal adequately with all of their criticisms and suggestions, but their help improved the text more than they will probably recognize. Special enlightenment was volunteered by a veteran member of the sugar tramp fraternity, Mr. George Greenwood, for which I am most grateful. I also want to thank the members of my departmentfaculty, staff, and students. Their encouragement and support during our first decade together have given new meaning to the word collegiality. My editor, Elisabeth Sifton, awed me with her skill and fired me with her enthusiasm; I thank her warmly.

If anyone suffered more with this book than I, it was my spouse, Jacqueline, to whom it is dedicated with all of my love and gratitudea late present for our twentieth anniversary.

Sidney W. Mintz