The Spice Route: A History (California Studies in Food and Culture) [Hardcover]

John Keay (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2006 | Series: California Studies in Food and Culture (Book 17)

The Spice Route is one of history's greatest anomalies: shrouded in mystery, it existed long before anyone knew of its extent or configuration. Spices came from lands unseen, possibly uninhabitable, and almost by definition unattainable; that was what made them so desirable. Yet more livelihoods depended on this pungent traffic, more nations participated in it, more wars were fought for it, and more discoveries resulted from it than from any other global exchange. Epic in scope, marvelously detailed, laced with drama, The Spice Route spans three millennia and circles the world to chronicle the history of the spice trade. With the aid of ancient geographies, travelers' accounts, mariners' handbooks, and ships' logs, John Keay tells of ancient Egyptians who pioneered maritime trade to fetch the incense of Arabia, Graeco-Roman navigators who found their way to India for pepper and ginger, Columbus who sailed west for spices, de Gama, who sailed east for them, and Magellan, who sailed across the Pacific on the exact same quest. A veritable spice race evolved as the west vied for control of the spice-producing islands, stripping them of their innocence and the spice trade of its mystique. This enthralling saga, progressing from the voyages of the ancients to the blue-water trade that came to prevail by the seventeenth century, transports us from the dawn of history to the ends of the earth.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his latest, author Keay (Last Post) explores the prominent role spices have played in the construction of the modern world, from the development of the word itself to extensive schemes for trading it across continents to the personalities who discovered and disseminated it, noting that "a taste for spices is responsible for the exploration of our planet." The resulting volume, culled from historical commentaries and records, is a colorful and detailed portrait of the astonishing impact man's love for flavor had on the earliest stages of globalization. The route by which Keay's narrative travels is seasoned with facts and anecdotes, ranging from ancient historians' fantastic reports of men with "pendulous upper lips" and the heads of dogs-or none at all-to the Muslim invasion of India and the Islamification of Malaysia. There is a surprising mythology surrounding the spice trade, and Keay does this angle ample justice, citing figures such as Marco Polo, Ibn Batuta and Roman playwright Plautus. Although Keay ends his book with the grim conclusion that the forces of globalization are to blame for the demystification and downfall of "spice," the work itself is nothing short of zesty.
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Review

'A typically droll and beautifully wrought book' -- Literary Review 'A springy, fresh feel!The Spice Route is what happens when you match a writer at the top of his form with a fashionable subject!The result is tremendous.' -- Literary Review-Nick Smith 'Its digressiveness is also a boon, allowing Keay to touch on everything' -- FT MAgazine 20050814 'Fascinating new history' -- Daily Telegraph 20050814 'Absorbing' -- Scotsman 20050814 'Keay more sharply than romantically points up the economic basis of historic trade wars over three millenia.' -- The Times 20050716 'Serves up a feast of detail on a fascinating and little-known subject' -- Sunday Telegraph 20050731 'Keay's retelling of the tale is restrained yet powerful, his choice of facts compelling' -- Guardian 20050910 'Keay has produced another scrupulously researched, persuasive book' -- TLS 20050910 'Consistently interesting' -- Observer/Review: Robert Colville 20060625 'A fascinating tale packed with eye-catching detail' -- Independent 20060624 'Keay's history! begins with romance and wonder, before it gives way to the adventure and violence of the age of maritime exploration' -- Independent: Laurence Phelan 20060623 'Keay crosses centuries as confidently as the great tea-clippers once coursed oceans. He writes elegant, exemplary prose, and this book is as full of bounty as any 18th-century privateer could pray for' -- The Times 20060617 'One of the clearest explanations of the oldest example of global trade and its cultural and political ramifications' -- South China Morning Post 20060604 'Impressively researched' -- Guardian 20050708 'An enthralling and erudite history of the spice trade' -- Traveller 20050708 'A delightful, scholarly and thoroughly readable account' -- Geographical 20050508 'Fascinating! covering 3000 years of history in well-written, easy-to-read prose!The book is full of wonderful facts! Quite a lot to discuss. Exploitation, greed, values. All grist to a reading group's mill' -- Margaret Burgess, NewBooksMag 20050508 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 308 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (July 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520248961
• ISBN-13: 978-0520248960
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,676,890 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pepper, Cloves and other Obsessions, October 22, 2005

By 

dinadan26 "dinadan26" (Burwood, New South Wales Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Spice Route (Hardcover)

For over two millennium the Western world was obsessed with the spice products of the far east - specifically India, Sri Lanka and the islands of the Malaysian and Indonesian Archipelagos. Obsessed to the point that from the time of the Roman empire onwards Europe ran a constant trade deficit with these countries and with the Arab cultures who for much of the time acted as middlemen. This fine book from John Keay provides a history of this trade from the return of Alexander's soldiers from India bringing with them a taste for spices through to the largely unknown trade of Roman and Hellenistic sailors plying the route from the Red Sea to India and onto the Arabs and finally the Europeans sailing around Africa. In documenting this trade Keay's has provided the reader with a concise but encompassing history of a trade which shaped the world as we now know it.

But equally importantly this book invokes the romance inherent with this subject, leaving the reader to dreaming of sailing to places such as the Zanzibar, Malabar and Coromandel Coasts to trade for spices at the height of trade.

After completing this book, I would recommend an earlier book by John Keay, "The Honourable Company", which is a history of the British East Indian Company and provides more details on the European part of the trade.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars `..the allure of spices lay precious in their glorious irrelevance ..', June 20, 2008

By 

J. Cameron-Smith "Expect the Unexpected" (ACT, Australia) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Spice Route: A History (Paperback)

If you've ever wondered about what exactly constitutes a spice, where most spices came from and why they were so valuable, then this book will give you a great overview. Did you know, for example, that mace and nutmeg come from the same plant? Or that salt (which is a mineral) is alone in adding intrinsic preservative value to food?

I found this book provided a perfect blend of the exotic, the heroic and the mundane. The story of the journeys which resulted in the discovery of spices, the desire for the rare and the risks associated with transportation make for fascinating reading. Long before a formal stock market existed, futures were made and lost in this precious trade. The spice trade is a fascinating juxtaposition of an historical process spanning three millennia, a geographic progression that encircles the world and a trade in commodities that have little intrinsic value.

So, if you have ever wondered about the stories behind those small packets or glass bottles containing those mysteriously named ingredients that so many of us use in our cooking, you may like to read this book.

Jennifer Cameron-Smith

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than a book about spices it is about economic history., November 13, 2010

By 

L. Morais (Portugal) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Spice Route: A History (California Studies in Food and Culture) (Paperback)

Let me start by saying that I still haven't finished reading this book but I'm past the middle. Having said that here's my opinion.

I always wondered why spices were such a big deal in the past. I used to think it was because they were used in medicinal ways or as a mean to conserve food. I bought this book to answer my questions... and it did.
This book reveals the history of spices for millenia, explains us the different concepts of spices during that time, the real uses for them, their origin and, more important, talks about the civilizations that walked and sailed the earth after them.
It is a book as much about spices as it is about economic history. In fact, what interests me the most is this last part.