Smoke and Ashes

An absolutely fascinating delve into the history of the opium trade in China and India. Which, for me, proves the existence of karma. Britain and other colonial powers used India and China as a great stream of revenue by cultivating opium poppies and creating a monster that they could not get back i......more

Wow! I had not anticipated learning deep world history in the context of the opium trade. Amitav Ghosh seems to provide “Smoke and Ashes” as a non-fiction pairing to his fictional Ibis Trilogy (that I have not yet read), enlightening us in the decades of research he invested in to write his stories.......more

As entertaining as the book is, it is insightful to yet another level. The level of research that has gone into the background of this book, is reflected in its filtered content. The book has a powerpack that starts with details on the origins of so many addictive substances that progress into a pow......more

Amitav Ghosh is a unique writer, equally adept at both fiction and non-fiction. To my mind, his non-fiction travelogue kind writing is the best - In an Ancient Land (about Egypt and India) is one of my favourites. ‘Smoke and Ashes’ is a kind of post-writing analysis, generated by the Ibis trilogy (Se......more

I might give up reading this one and I will for sure never read this author again. I don't like it's writing style, I find it confusing, full of details but they have little importance (or he gave them little importance) and I don't think the chapters are well divided. The author also have a huge ego......more