{"product_id":"the-poppy-a-cultural-history-from-ancient-egypt-to-flanders-fields-to-afghanistan","title":"The Poppy: A Cultural History from Ancient Egypt to Flanders Fields to Afghanistan","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the aftermath of the horrific trench warfare of the First World War  the poppy  sprouting across the killing fields of France and Belgium  then immortalised in John McCraes moving poem  became a worldwide icon. Yet the poppy has a longer history  as the tell-tale sign of human cultivation of the land  of the ravages of war and of the desire to escape the earthly realm through inspired Romantic opium dreams or the grim reality of morphine drips. This is a story spanning three thousand years  from the ancient Egyptian fights over prized medicinal potions to the addicted veterans returning home from the American Civil War  from the British political machinations during the Opium Wars with China to the struggle to end Afghanistans tribal narcotics trade. Through it all  there stands the transformative poppy.  Nicholas J. Saunders brings us the definitive history of this ever-enduring but humble flower of the fields  a story that is at turns tragic  eye-opening and  most essentially  life-affirming  a gift to us all.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44947571802165,"sku":"ByrdShop_185168705X","price":91.58,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781851687053.jpg?v=1770019034","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-poppy-a-cultural-history-from-ancient-egypt-to-flanders-fields-to-afghanistan","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}