Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 Agriculture and Human Values https://doi.org/10.1007/s10460-018-9858-4 James F. Hancock: Plantation crops, plunder and power – evolution and exploitation Routledge, New York, 2017, xiii + 196 pp, ISBN 978-1-138-28576-7 S. Suresh Ramanan 1 Accepted: 14 February 2018 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018 What is a plantation? Why are plantations developed? How should one manage a plantation? Many such aspects of scientifc, agronomic, economic and technical details have been discussed and detailed in books. This book, Plantation Crops, Plunder and Power – Evolution and Exploitation, answers some other questions: How and why has this style of farming emerged? Have plantations turned out to be a source of power and exploitation? What have been the eco- nomic and political implications of plantation development? Horticulturist James Hancock describes the way in which plantations became a source of steady and proftable income in the early 1500s. This subsequently led to the accumulation of power and substantial changes in politics. The author, through his compelling storyline combined with scientifc discoveries, agronomic innovations, history and annotations has made a good attempt to convince readers of the best and worst of plantations among humans. This book is a portrait of the information and intricacies of seven important planta- tion crops, beginning with their domestication, development, spread patterns, economic motivators and political pressures that have led to slavery, plunder, confict and war. Despite his scientifc background, the author has kept a good balance between scientifc information and historical facts. The book has nine chapters, with the frst, as usual, an introduction chapter, but with a unique conclusion chapter. The introductory chapter sets up the plot for the subsequent chapters and gives a preview of the important plantation crops—sugarcane, banana, cotton, tea, tobacco, cofee and rubber. Each crop is dealt with in an individual chapter. I agree with the author’s conclusion that the expansion of plantations as a source of raw materials led to the formation of colonies that were plundered and exploited. And subse- quently, native people were suppressed, savaged and forced into slave labor (Drescher 2010). I have personally heard of Tamil people from India being taken as ‘coolies’ (labour) to tea and rubber plantations in Sri Lanka during the 1800s. The author tells this story and also concludes that the seeds of the recent civil war in Sri Lanka were sown during the transportation of Tamil people there (p. 122). He precisely and concisely outlines other similar, relevant events in India and South Asia. Similarly, the social and political happen- ings in North America, the West Indies, Africa, the Carib- bean, Brazil and other countries are detailed in the same spirit. The author deserves appreciation for his groundwork. Among the plantation crops discussed in this book, the story of banana plantations was indeed a personal surprise. With regard to tea, cofee and other plantation crops, I have heard and read stories of oppression but this was not the case with banana crops (Chap. 2). Thus Chapter 2 became my favorite chapter. Chapter 3 on cotton as a plantation crop was the longest (40 pp.). Cotton, as a global crop, links India, Britain, America, Europe and other countries as it fulflled basic needs—food, clothing and shelter. With most planta- tion crops, laborers were most brutally treated under feld conditions; however, with cotton, brutality was most preva- lent in the cotton mills, spurred by human greed. Chapters 4 and 6 focus on the twin brothers—tea and cofee. Both these crops have been studied extensively. It would have been bet- ter if the chapters had been placed consecutively. However, Chapter 5, which deals with tobacco, avoids possible monot- ony. Some of the readers might be interested to know that the frst tobacco user in Europe was imprisoned for 3 years; and it took another 100 years to further regulate the use of tobacco, in eforts to protect public health. Many such inter- esting facts await the reader of the book. * S. Suresh Ramanan sureshramanan01@gmail.com 1 Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology of Jammu, Chatha, Jammu and Kashmir, India