Songs, oral histories, maps, and more than eighty archival illustrations help trace the history of sugar and the sugar trade.

From magic to spice -- Gods and rituals -- The world's first true university -- The storm of God -- Fortress Europe-- The champagne fairs -- Out of war comes sweetness -- The problem with sugar cane -- Hell -- Sidebar : the spherical trade -- A cycle of death and sweetness --The spherical trade -- Portrait gallery of sugar work -- The pulse of sugar life -- Sidebar : Palmares : the Maroon Kingdom -- The overseer -- Back in Europe -- The best sort of chaw -- The age of sugar -- Freedom -- All men are equal -- All men are equal : America -- "Is it lawful to make slaves of others against their will?" -- All men are equal : France -- The sound of liberty -- The sugar purchase and the death state -- Sugar in paradise : "I came seeking the dream" -- Back toour stories: new workers, new sugar -- A new system -- Crossing the black water -- Slavery or freedom? : the in-between -- Reform -- Sugar and science -- Serfs and sweetness Sidebar : the sugar genius -- The lawyer -- Satyagraha.