Customer Reviews

Hemp - American History Revisited, Vital Resource to Contentious Weed

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you groaned through history class in school this may not be the book for you. If on the other hand, you want an insightful overview of the history of cannabis in America, Hemp - American History Revisited is the perfect introduction to one of the most bizarre smear campaigns in mankind's history. With great detail, Deitch examines the happy prospects of a vibrant natural resource in our budding nation and reveals our founding father's thoughtful attention to their own "budding" interests. He details the failure of the great social experiment, prohibition, and cleverly demonstrates how this mammoth failure in American policy set the stage for the annihilation of the most harmless of home remedies. We learn how the personal interests of a few overshadowed the practical interests of the many; how the timber, petroleum and pharmaceutical power houses covertly manipulated the legislative process monopolize the "legal" resources of a growing industrial nation. The most enlightening aspect of this book is Deitch's straight-on analysis of the economic functions of hemp in our society and the social calamity that ensues when government tampers with free enterprise system. I found this book at the library, but will purchase a copy for my personal collection as I am sure to refer to it often as cannabis war continues.

The word "hemp" should be part of the subtitle rather than the title of this book. Although Deitch follows the history of hemp from our colonization through its industrialization to its politicization, he also spends a large portion of this book discussing agriculture, economics and politics in America through this time making this book an excellent history text along the lines of Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States : 1492-Present" and Daniel Yergin's "Prize : The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power".