Bittersweet

At first glance, a book on the subject of the world's most common sweetening agent doesn't exactly set the pulses racing. Yet there's much to recommend this tightly written tale of 'very few heroes and many villains', which manages to combine intrigue, dirty deeds and hugely important historical happenings. Macinnis's deftly humorous touch combines with his forays into self-deprecation and gently ironic prodding to get his message across. He even opens with a quote from Joseph Conrad acknowledging the lack of potential in covering 'the dreariest subject I can think of'. He then joyously proceeds to prove Mr Conrad wrong by covering some 9,000 years, 150 countries and all the major religions to reveal the truth about something that we all take for granted yet 'has influenced all our lives'. It's fair to say that sugar itself plays second fiddle to the complexities of human nature, and Macinnis acknowledges how the delightfully sweet substance was only one of any number of natural riches which our species would have squabbled over. From the volcanoes of Indonesia at the end of the last Ice Age through the side effects of dangerously volatile rum to sugar's ubiquitous presence in today's processed foodstuffs, Macinnis leaves no base uncovered, and no stone unturned in his research. Geographical phenomena, complex botany, man's inhumanity to man, and the payback of those dreaded visits to the dentist all jostle for space in the author's wonderfully woven consideration. The more ground he covers, the more the reader realizes the significance of the subject matter, and the more impressive becomes Macinnis's achievement in drawing it all together in such a concise and entertaining fashion. (Kirkus UK)