Picture 1 of 2
Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China
Condition:
Postage:
Located in: San Diego, California, United States
Delivery:
Estimated between Thu, 6 Jun and Tue, 11 Jun to 43230
Returns:
Coverage:
Read item description or contact seller for details. See all detailsSee all details on coverage
(Not eligible for eBay purchase protection programmes)
Shop with confidence
Seller information
- 99% positive feedback
Registered as a Business Seller
Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing.
eBay item number:325891494031
Item specifics
- Condition
- Release Year
- 2004
- ISBN
- 9780226149059
- Book Title
- Narcotic Culture : a History of Drugs in China
- Item Length
- 8.5in
- Publisher
- University of Chicago Press
- Publication Year
- 2004
- Format
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- Item Height
- 1in
- Genre
- Psychology, History, Political Science
- Topic
- Law Enforcement, Asia / China, Psychopathology / Addiction
- Item Width
- 5.5in
- Item Weight
- 19.2 Oz
- Number of Pages
- 256 Pages
About this product
Product Information
To this day, the perception persists that China was a civilization defeated by imperialist Britain's most desirable trade commodity, opium--a drug that turned the Chinese into cadaverous addicts in the iron grip of dependence. Britain, in an effort to reverse the damage caused by opium addiction, launched its own version of the "war on drugs," which lasted roughly sixty years, from 1880 to World War II and the beginning of Chinese communism. But, as Narcotic Culture brilliantly shows, the real scandal in Chinese history was not the expansion of the drug trade by Britain in the early nineteenth century, but rather the failure of the British to grasp the consequences of prohibition. In a stunning historical reversal, Frank Dikötter, Lars Laamann, and Zhou Xun tell this different story of the relationship between opium and the Chinese. They reveal that opium actually had few harmful effects on either health or longevity; in fact, it was prepared and appreciated in highly complex rituals with inbuilt constraints preventing excessive use. Opium was even used as a medicinal panacea in China before the availability of aspirin and penicillin. But as a result of the British effort to eradicate opium, the Chinese turned from the relatively benign use of that drug to heroin, morphine, cocaine, and countless other psychoactive substances. Narcotic Culture provides abundant evidence that the transition from a tolerated opium culture to a system of prohibition produced a "cure" that was far worse than the disease. Delving into a history of drugs and their abuses, Narcotic Culture is part revisionist history of imperial and twentieth-century Britain and part sobering portrait of the dangers of prohibition.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
University of Chicago Press
ISBN-10
0226149056
ISBN-13
9780226149059
eBay Product ID (ePID)
6068688
Product Key Features
Book Title
Narcotic Culture : a History of Drugs in China
Format
Hardcover
Language
English
Topic
Law Enforcement, Asia / China, Psychopathology / Addiction
Publication Year
2004
Genre
Psychology, History, Political Science
Number of Pages
256 Pages
Dimensions
Item Length
8.5in
Item Height
1in
Item Width
5.5in
Item Weight
19.2 Oz
Additional Product Features
Lc Classification Number
Hv5840.C6d55 2004
Reviews
[This is an] informative, scholarly and dispassionately fascinating book. . . . Drawing on a wealth of recent research, Narcotic Culture explodes various myths surrounding the use of opium in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century China. Conventionally, and also according to Communist propaganda, the West (especially the beastly British) willfully debilitated the Chinese empire by turning its denizens into emaciated opium addicts, stripping it of huge quantities of hoarded silver in the process. When the Chinese objected, the British responded with a show of brute imperialist force. Skillfully deploying historical and medical evidence, Narcotic Culture stands all this on its head. The British and their mercantile allies may actually have done the Chinese a favour. In an age when modern medicines were unavailable, opium became a near-universal, inexpensive panacea against the symptoms of dysentery, cholera, malaria and other endemic diseases. . . . Narcotic Culture teases out the complex relationship between tolerance and suppression. It needs to be read far outside the community of Sinologists whence it has emanated., "[This is an] informative, scholarly and dispassionately fascinating book. . . . Drawing on a wealth of recent research,Narcotic Cultureexplodes various myths surrounding the use of opium in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century China. Conventionally, and also according to Communist propaganda, the West (especially the beastly British) willfully debilitated the Chinese empire by turning its denizens into emaciated opium addicts, stripping it of huge quantities of hoarded silver in the process. When the Chinese objected, the British responded with a show of brute imperialist force. Skillfully deploying historical and medical evidence,Narcotic Culturestands all this on its head. The British and their mercantile allies may actually have done the Chinese a favour. In an age when modern medicines were unavailable, opium became a near-universal, inexpensive panacea against the symptoms of dysentery, cholera, malaria and other endemic diseases. . . .Narcotic Cultureteases out the complex relationship between tolerance and suppression. It needs to be read far outside the community of Sinologists whence it has emanated."--Justin Wintle,Independent(UK)
Table of Content
Acknowledgments Conventions 1. Introduction 2. The Global Spread of Psychoactive Substances ( c. 1600-1900) 3. Opium before the 'Opium War' ( c. 1600-1840) 4. Opium for the People: Status, Space and Consumption ( c . 1840-1940) 5. 'The Best Possible and Sure Shield': Opium, Disease and Epidemics ( c . 1840-1940) 6. War on Drugs: Prohibition and the Rise of Narcophobia ( c . 1880-1940) 7. Curing the Addict: Prohibition and Detoxification 8. Pills and Powders: The Spread of Semi-Synthetic Opiates ( c . 1900-1940) 9. Needle Lore: The Syringe in China ( c . 1890-1950) 10. China's Other Drugs ( c . 1900-1950) 11. Conclusion Bibliography Character List Index
Copyright Date
2004
Target Audience
Trade
Lccn
2003-025285
Dewey Decimal
394.1/4
Dewey Edition
22
Illustrated
Yes
Item description from the seller
Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing.
eBay item number:325891494031
Postage and handling
Item location:
San Diego, California, United States
Post to:
Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan Republic, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde Islands, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon Republic, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Greece, Greenland, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Croatia, Republic of the Congo, Romania, Rwanda, Saint Kitts-Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Vatican City State, Vietnam, Wallis and Futuna, Western Samoa, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Excludes:
Barbados, French Guiana, French Polynesia, Guadeloupe, Libya, Martinique, New Caledonia, Reunion, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Venezuela
| Postage and handling | To | Service | Delivery*See Delivery notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free postage | United States | Economy Postage (USPS Media MailTM) | Estimated between Thu, 6 Jun and Tue, 11 Jun to 43230 |
| Handling time |
|---|
| Will usually post within 2 business days of receiving cleared payment. |
| Taxes |
|---|
| Taxes may be applicable at checkout. Learn moreLearn more about paying tax on eBay purchases. |
Sales Tax for an item #325891494031
Sales Tax for an item #325891494031
Seller collects sales tax for items shipped to the following states:
| State | Sales Tax Rate |
|---|
Return policy
| After receiving the item, contact seller within | Refund will be given as |
|---|---|
| 30 days after the buyer receives it | Money Back |
The buyer is responsible for return postage costs.
Popular categories from this store
Seller feedback (11,149)
g***r (37)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past month
Verified purchase
Great price, book in good condition, fast shipping. Great seller!
k***m (112)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past month
Verified purchase
Spine almost detached. Needs resuscitation!
k***e (946)- Feedback left by buyer.
Past month
Verified purchase
Excellent Seller A+++++!!! Super Fast Delivery. CD in the Great condition. I´ll hope that we´ll meet again very soon.
Many thanks from Finland Europe!