The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis
AMITAV GHOSH
The history of the nutmeg is one of conquest and exploitation – of both human life and the natural environment – and the origin of our contemporary climate crisis.
Tracing the threats to our future to the discovery of the New World and the sea route to the Indian Ocean, The Nutmeg’s Curse argues that the dynamics of climate change are rooted in a centuries-old geopolitical order constructed by Western colonialism. The story of the nutmeg becomes a parable revealing the ways human history has always been entangled with earthly materials – spices, tea, sugarcane, opium, and fossil fuels. Our crisis, Ghosh shows, is ultimately the result of a mechanistic view of the earth, where nature exists only as a resource for humans to use for our own ends, rather than a force of its own, full of agency and meaning.
Writing against the backdrop of the global pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests, Ghosh frames these historical stories in a way that connects our shared colonial past with the deep inequality we see around us today. By interweaving discussions on everything from the global history of the oil trade to the migrant crisis and the animist spirituality of indigenous communities around the world, The Nutmeg’s Curse offers a sharp critique of contemporary society and speaks to the profoundly remarkable ways in which human history is shaped by non-human forces.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
AMITAV GHOSH grew up in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Iran, and his work – both fiction and non-fiction – reflects his fascination with realms touched by the Indian Ocean. His work is distinguished by his mastery of complex narratives and an amplitude and pacing that recalls the great Victorian novels.
Amitav Ghosh’s novel Sea of Poppies was shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2008. He was also shortlisted, for his entire body of work, for the Man Booker International Prize 2015. He holds two lifetime achievement awards and four honorary doctorates. In 2018, Ghosh became the first English-language writer to receive the Jnanpith Award, India’s highest literary honour, and in 2024, he was awarded the Laureate Erasmus Prize. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
PRAISE
“Do not miss this book.”
— Naomi Klein
MORE INFORMATION
Imprint: Allen Lane
Published: 2021
ISBN: 9780670095629
Format: Hardback
Pages: 339