Seeds of Wealth: Four Plants That Made Men Rich - Hardcover

Hobhouse, Henry

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1593760442 ISBN 13: 9781593760441

Publisher: Counterpoint, 2004

Synopsis

Following the widely celebrated Seeds of Change (1985) comes Seeds of Wealth, a collection of four elegant essays focusing on the economic and cultural consequences of the exploitation of timber, tobacco, rubber, and the wine grape. These cash crops have bound together trade relations for the past three centuries and have had a profound if little noted effect on our world.

As early as Shakespeare’s time, timber quantities in England had become deficient, promoting the use of coal and leading to the industrial revolution. Conversely, the abundance of timber and excellent growing conditions for tobacco in the United States led to great wealth and power for the young nation. The cultivation of the rubber tree and its importance in modern society helped to create the nations of Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. And good wine, Hobhouse observes, makes people wealthy as well as mellow and wise.

These four plants enormously increased the wealth of those who dealt with them, created new industries, shaped destinies, and changed the course of history.

About this title

About the Author

Henry Hobhouse was born in Somerset in 1924 and educated at Eton. From 1946 to 1954 he worked as a journalist for the Economist, News Chronicle, Daily Express, and Wall Street Journal, becoming, in 1948, one of the first Directors of CBS-TV News. His other books are Forces of Change and Seeds of Change.

From Booklist

The four "plants" of the subtitle are timber, wine, rubber, and tobacco. Timber, Hobhouse points out, was important in the history of England and the 13 North American colonies. The colonies supplied timber to the mother country, and it was American timber that aided the development of fishing and whaling, railroads, and wooden houses in new cities such as Chicago. Hobhouse discusses the wealth-creating potential of wine from before the time of Periclean Athens, through the Roman and medieval eras, up to the present. Rubber, the author reminds, has generated wealth for many nations and has largely created three new ones: Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Tobacco, a plant with a negative contemporary image, had historically profound effects on Anglo-American relations. The cigarette was invented in the 1840s and the cigarette-making machine developed in the 1870s. Hobhouse posits that the greatest beneficiaries in most countries "have been, since about 1920, the tax gatherers." Written in the form of essays, this book lucidly illustrates how these four plants created new industries and changed the course of history. George Cohen
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Edition details

• Publisher: Counterpoint
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1593760442
• ISBN 13: 9781593760441
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 272