“An outstanding book, a superb example of first-rate scholarship written with energy, confidence, respect for facts, and excellent style. In addition it is a readable, fascinating, and important story. . . . It ranks among the very best contributions to several literatures and will be valued by those interested in globalization, development, and economic and business history, as well as anyone simply curious to understand the world.” — American Historical Review
“An indispensable point of departure for serious students of [the history of the cocaine trade].” — The Latin American Review of Books
“A sterling contribution to the literature of cocaine, and should be required reading for anyone seeking to understand cocaine in context.” — Drug War Chronicle
“Thorough, eminently readable, and fascinating. . . . This tour de force illustrates how a fresh, insightful focus on a single commodity can illuminate economic development, political and social concerns, shifting ideologies, and cultural change, both locally and globally. Highly recommended.” — CHOICE
“A book of great insight and academic rigor . . . that unearths this forgotten history.” — Caretas
“Puts the discussion into a global perspective. . . . Gootenberg thus joins a distinguished group of scholars. . . . Indispensable reading for graduate seminars on economic, cultural, and social history, and shall appeal not only to experts on Latin America but also to world historians and those interested in comparative history.” — The Americas
“Excellent. . . . Gootenberg offers a critical perspective on the place of cocaine in the Western imaginary and in the real political and economic world.” — Comparative Studies in Society and Culture
“The anti-cocainism that arose in the United States transformed cocaine into a global threat in the first part of the 20th century. . . . This huge work untangles the multiple mechanisms of cocaine’s social, local, and global construction, which transmuted a medical drug and commodity into a world menace with a war declared against it.Gootenberg has written a history that will make history.” — European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies
“This excellent book adds a definitive archive-based history of cocaine. . . . A model of how to examine a particular drug substance in a specific part of the world while placing that examination in the broadest context.” — Society & History
“[An] exceptionally well-researched and sophisticated world history of cocaine. . . . A provocative, wide-ranging, and convincing account.” — The Historian
