{"product_id":"the-sugar-barons-family-corruption-empire-and-war-in-the-west-indies","title":"The Sugar Barons: Family  Corruption  Empire  and War in the West Indies","description":"\u003cp\u003eTo those who travel there today  the West Indies are unspoiled paradise islands. Yet that image conceals a turbulent and shocking history. For some two hundred years after 1650  the West Indies were the strategic center of the Western worlds greatest power struggles as Europeans made and lost immense fortunes growing and trading in sugar-a commodity so lucrative it became known as \"white gold.\" Matthew Parker vividly chronicles how the wealth of her island colonies became the foundation and focus of Englands commercial and imperial greatness  underpinning the British economy and ultimately fueling the Industrial Revolution. Yet with the incredible wealth came untold misery: the horror endured by slaves  on whose backs the sugar empire was brutally built; the rampant disease that claimed the lives of one-third of all whites within three years of arrival in the Caribbean; the cruelty  corruption  and decadence of the plantation culture. Broad in scope  rich in detail  The Sugar Barons freshly links the histories of Europe  the West Indies  and North America and reveals the full impact of the sugar revolution  the resonance of which is still felt today.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44945026351157,"sku":"ByrdShop_0802777988","price":146.46,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780802777980.jpg?v=1769867365","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-sugar-barons-family-corruption-empire-and-war-in-the-west-indies","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}