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A Brief History of Cocaine 2nd Edition

by MD Karch (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 12 ratings
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A Brief History of Cocaine, Second Edition provides a fascinating historical insight into the reasons why cocaine use is increasing in popularity and why the rise of the cocaine trade is tightly linked with the rise of terrorism The author illustrates the challenges faced by today's governments and explains why current anti-drug efforts have had only a limited effect on this global market.

This updated edition reexamines the impact of cocaine production, trade, and consumption on society beginning in the 16th century. It shows how the commercialization of cocaine was driven by cartels of Swiss and German pharmaceutical companies and private enterprises across Europe, Asia, and the United States. The author shows how government policies slowly transformed from trade, shipping, and manufacturing regulations, with little or no success in stemming the flow of drugs. The book describes how anti-drug laws, treaties, and costly initiatives involving crop substitution, crop suppression, interdiction, and international cooperation were first attempted more than 400 years ago and why these strategies failed for Colonial Spain and later backfired on the League of Nations. The author shows how economic necessity among growers, the environmental impact of pesticides, the potential for genetic engineering of coca plants, and other loopholes have actually been counterproductive, undermining the current efforts to curb the cocaine trade.

Featuring new and reorganized chapters, A Brief History of Cocaine, Second Edition contains the latest data and statistics relating drug trafficking to terrorism, and explains recent trends in worldwide production, consumption, cost competition, and international transport. This book offers a well-rounded historical perspective that is ideal for criminal justice practitioners, teachers, students, and anyone interested in this topic.

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  1. ISBN-10
    0849397758
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0849397752
  3. Edition
    2nd
  4. Publisher
    Routledge
  5. Publication date
    September 28, 2005
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6.92 x 0.6 x 9.52 inches
  8. Print length
    218 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Say "cocaine history" and most people think of Pablo Escobar or disco or perhaps the original Coca-Cola. Steven Karch takes us back to the drug's critical early years, when the the coca plant was the object of intense curiosity and excitement among botanists and medical researchers. Full of outsized personalities and surprising details, A Brief History of Cocaine is a lively and readable introduction to the discovery, popularization, and globalization of cocaine in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries."

--David Courtwright, author of Dark Paradise and Forces of Habit.



A Brief History of Cocaine is definitely an engaging read. Karch's second edition has been updated to include the most recent information on trafficking, consumption, cost, and trends …. For a relatively short book (188 pages) the author covers a wide variety of topics ranging from its trade as a commodity, the effects of cocaine abuse on society and even celebrity deaths. The common thread in this book is the comparison of old and new. This makes for a refreshing read, and one that is extremely relevant read for practitioners from a wide variety of disciplines.
- Sarah Kerrigan writing in the Journal of Forensic Science,Vol. 52, No.3 May 2007

"The timing is perfect for a book reminding us of the long history of cocaine and the periodic denial of past and present and realities that accompanies each new cocaine epidemic."
- Journal of the American Medical Association, June 14 2006

"…painstakingly researched…both fascinating and enlightening…a detailed analysis of drug policy through centuries."
-New England Journal of Medicine 9/06

"Bursting at the bindings with fascinating facts, Steven Karch's A Brief History of Cocaine is just that: the exploitation of the coca leaf and cocaine. We learn a lot."
- Adrian Branett, in New Scientist Magazine, April 1998

"…Steven Karch does not claim that his book is the definitive history of cocaine, but it is the best volume on the topic…a convenient, scholarly, and well-written outline of cocaine's history."
- David F. Musto, Psychiatry, Yale University, in American Scientist, Volume 86

About the Author

Steven B. Karch MD FFFLM

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Routledge; 2nd edition (September 28, 2005)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 218 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0849397758
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0849397752
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.92 x 0.6 x 9.52 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 12 ratings

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Steven B. Karch

Steven B. Karch

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
12 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

A_2007_reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Well written, unbiased, from an MD-historian
Reviewed in the United States on December 19, 2004
Verified Purchase
The author writes well. The book is short and not packed with sidelights. Along the way the author draws parallels with today's headlines, and shows they are old news ("war on drugs" was tried by the Spanish; "zero tolerance" by the early FDA in the US during 1905).

As a bonus, the author explains medical oddities, as he is also the world's expert on drug effects on the body. For example, why cocaine injected is more toxic than cocaine ingested, why cocaine injected in certain parts of the body leads to fatalities while in other parts of the body does not, and why cocaine and wine (which was the basis for a very popular wine 150 years ago--Mariani wine which was one of the first 'celebrity endorsed' mass advertisement product) is more potent than cocaine alone. Also the origins of Merck (cocaine marketer) and Freud (unwitting or witting promoter), and the different species of cocaine plants (some more potent than others).

Packed with information: Coca-cola and cocaine (not enough drug to give you a buzz); the government sponsored use of cocaine (shades of today's North Korea); early explorers promoting cocaine when they should have known better; urban legends and cocaine; why pure cocaine will induce animals to kill themselves from overdose (unlike morphine, another alkaloid based drug).

As a bonus, you learn about cocaine manufacture (coca leaves plus lime, then add to the solution an organic solvent like kerosene, gasoline, or alcohol, then precipitate the solution into a solid by adding an acid (since the solution is base) like sulfuric acid, to yield almost pure cocaine powder).

Very good book for the intelligent person. You can clearly see that today's 'war on drugs' is distorted: any traveler to South America can drink "matte de coca" (Coca leaf tea) and not get high, but try that in North America and the prison lobby will send you to jail.

Dr. Karch's book is neutral on this issue but implicitly argues against a blunderbuss approach.
9 people found this helpful
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Sleeplessnashadow
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't let the title fool you into thinking this is just another book on coke
Reviewed in the United States on June 6, 2021
Verified Purchase
This book is history from the perspective of a pharmacologist. Not pro or anti, simply facts. Starting with the destruction of the Incan Empire and why. Following the history into Europe with the Mariani Brothers in France and coca-wine, Freud, then onto the USA and Pemberton in GA who was an apothecary pharmacist who founded Coca-Cola. Includes a bit of history on opium and Heroin as it somewhat overlaps with coca history. Including the Opium Wars but also the Japanese basing their currency on opium during WWII as they didn't have enough gold.

Definite 2 thumbs up. Well written and presents a history that everyone should know the background on before trying to give opinions.
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John B. Coffin
3.0 out of 5 stars Informative, frustrating.
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2006
Karch's book covers a vast amount of ground. As he explains, modern views of cocaine tend to ignore the vast literature written before computer indexing. His own papers on heart pathology in cocaine-related deaths led him to find that the topic had been explored a century earlier, and that the knowledge had been forgotten completely.

But... this is one of the most poorly edited books I have ever seen. Whole paragraphs are recycled in chapter after chapter, dates are misprinted, the index is useless etc. etc.

The same book, shortened by dropping the repetitions, or lengthened by following up on some of the tantalizing subjects hinted at (e.g just how did the Japanese military turn surplus cocaine into cash?), would be much more satisfying.
4 people found this helpful
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Big Al in PS
5.0 out of 5 stars an eye-opening chronology of drug use in the world
Reviewed in the United States on May 3, 1999
Verified Purchase
The author, who is also a physician, has now become a historian as well. His lucid and methodical recounting of the history of drugs use in general and cocaine in particular, truly opened my eyes. As a physician, he explains why the drug does what it does and why people use it. As a historian, he documents all his statements of fact with an extensive bibliography. He does not sound like he is on a crusade either for or against drugs, but one can't help come to a conclusion about the current state of affairs in the world's "war on drugs." A must-read book for anyone who claims to have an opinion on the issue of drugs in our society.
19 people found this helpful
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Gato Rebelde
5.0 out of 5 stars The best international history on cocaine trafficking
Reviewed in the United States on January 26, 2014
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I loved the book because Steven B. Karch was able to weave an international political, technological, and business history of cocaine production and commerce. I loved that he focused mainly on the history of its main producers (The Netherlands, USA, Germany, and Japan), and how his arguments are backed up with a well done research, and an easy-to-access writing.
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Engin Consultoria Oswaldo Martins
5.0 out of 5 stars Nice book!
Reviewed in the United States on December 9, 2016
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Book according the description informeted by sellor. Nice book!
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Becky Masterman
5.0 out of 5 stars New edition better than ever
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2005
As a forensic pathologist, and the foremost expert on the pathology of drugs of abuse, Steven Karch is well known around the world. In this new edition, Karch reveals his skill as an historian as well, packing the text with fascinating facts about the centuries of interest this drug has spurred. In some parts, reading like a celebrity tabloid, no person or company is spared the revelation of their involvement in the cocaine business. Freud's testimonials regarding the helpfulness of cocaine in curing morphine addition are worth the price of the book, as are the efforts of the early Parke-Davis, and Merck, to provide enough of the drug to satisfy growing demand.

Despite the seriousness of this subject, Karch never loses a light touch, and a priceless gift for irony: "Herman Knapp...found that when cocaine was applied to his eye and his urethra, the silver nitrate [used for cauterizing and usually very painful] produced no pain whatsoever. Perhaps his enthusiasm had waned by the time he got around to checking his rectum..."

Karch also offers more somber information that suggests a question behind the history--one quarter of incarcerated Americans are in prison for drug offenses. Does that sound like we've won the war?
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Top reviews from other countries

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katsu067
5.0 out of 5 stars 興味深いコカインの歴史
Reviewed in Japan on February 24, 2023
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コカインの歴史を特徴的なトピックと絡めて詳説した本です。類書が色々ある中「試し読み」機能で目次を見て、日本についての記述があるこの本を選びました。

フロイトやコカ・コーラの話も興味深かったですが、やはり日本についての記述が最も目を引きました。戦中戦後の日本における覚せい剤（メタンフェタミン）の生産・販売・使用については多少知識がありましたが、1900年代初め頃から日本がコカインの生産・販売に着手し、国別生産量世界一になったこともあったことや、コカイン（やヘロイン・アヘン）を侵略地の闇市場に流していたこと、そのことに財閥系企業や大手製薬会社、はては政府機関や軍部が積極的に関わっていたこと、そしてその売り上げが大戦の戦費を賄うのに重要な役割を果たしたこと、、、などは初めて知ることばかりで非常に興味深かったです。

これらの政治的な話以外にも、コカの葉から精製されるコカインの量の割合が品種によって変わってくることや精製法の進歩について、コカインが局所麻酔剤として使用されたこと、コカインを「口から飲む」「鼻から吸う」「皮下注射・静脈注射する」場合で効き目がどう変わるかなど、植物学的・工業的・薬理学的な話も歴史的な文脈にそって多く記載されています。

コカインの歴史についての本ですが、記述されている年代範囲は1500年中頃～1946年頃（第二次大戦終了直後くらい）です。なのでその後の歴史（コロンビアやメキシコの麻薬カルテルについてやアメリカ・欧州への密輸・乱用の現状についてなど）の記載はないことに注意が必要です。ただ、これらについて詳しく述べた本は他にたくさんあると思うので、むしろその前段階の歴史について詳しく知りたいという方にはこの本がぴったりだと思います。

英文のレベルや語彙レベルもそこまで高くなく、わかりやすく説明されているので、それなりの英文読解力があればさほどの困難もなく読み進められると思います。非常におすすめな一冊です。

注：私が読んだのは1998年出版のペーパーバック版です。2005年に改訂版が出たようですので、そちらは内容が変わってるかもしれません。
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