Opium Reality’s Dark Dream
Opium: Reality’s Dark Dream by Thomas Dormandy, published by Yale University Press on May 15, 2012, is a comprehensive exploration of the multifaceted history of opium and its derivatives. This 366-page book delves into the dual nature of opium, examining its role as both a source of immense suffering and a powerful means of alleviating pain throughout history. Dormandy presents a narrative that spans from the earliest cultivation of the poppy to contemporary issues surrounding the opium trade, providing readers with a nuanced understanding of this complex substance.
In this edition, readers will find a thorough investigation into opium’s influence on various aspects of society, including its impact on colonialism, the Chinese Opium Wars, and the cultural responses it has inspired, such as Romantic poetry and countercultural movements. Dormandy highlights the drug’s significant role in shaping medical practices and societal attitudes toward health and well-being, while also recounting individual stories of addiction. This book offers insights into the intricate relationship between opium and the historical developments that have surrounded it, making it a valuable resource for those interested in history, social issues, and the life sciences.
Official synopsis Publisher
Is opium a vile curse on society, a blessed medicine from God, or possibly both? This fresh history offers surprising new insights.
Opium and its derivatives morphine and heroin have destroyed, corrupted, and killed individuals, families, communities, and even whole nations. And yet, for most of its long history, opium has also been humanity’s most effective means of alleviating physical and mental pain. This extraordinary book encompasses the entire history of the world’s most fascinating drug, from the first evidence of poppy cultivation by stone-age man to the present-day opium trade in Afghanistan. Dr. Thomas Dormandy tells the story with verve and insight, uncovering the strange power of opiates to motivate major conflicts yet also inspire great art and medical breakthroughs, to trigger the rise of global criminal networks yet also revolutionize attitudes toward well-being.
Opium: Reality’s Dark Dream traverses the globe and the centuries, exploring opium’s role in colonialism, the Chinese Opium Wars, laudanum-inspired sublime Romantic poetry, American “Yellow Peril” fears, the rise of the Mafia and the black market, 1960s counterculture, and more. Dr. Dormandy also recounts exotic or sad stories of individual addiction. Throughout the book the author emphasizes opium’s complex, valuable relationship with developments in medicine, health, and disease, highlighting the perplexing dual nature of the drug as both the cause and relief of great suffering in widely diverse civilizations.
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