# Smoke and Ashes: Opium's Hidden Histories - Hardcover

by **Amitav Ghosh** (Author)

**Named a Most Anticipated Book of 2024 by _Foreign Policy_, _Literary Hub_, and _The Millions_**

**Ghosh unravels the impact of the opium trade on global history and in his own family―the climax of a yearslong project.  
**  
When Amitav Ghosh began the research for his monumental cycle of novels the Ibis Trilogy, he was startled to learn how the lives of the nineteenth-century sailors and soldiers he wrote about were dictated not only by the currents of the Indian Ocean but also by the precious commodity carried in enormous quantities on those currents: opium. Most surprising of all, however, was the discovery that his own identity and family history were swept up in the story.

_Smoke and Ashes_ is at once a travelogue, a memoir, and an essay in history, drawing on decades of archival research. In it, Ghosh traces the transformative effect the opium trade had on Britain, India, and China, as well as the world at large. The trade was engineered by the British Empire, which exported Indian opium to sell to China to redress their great trade imbalance, and its revenues were essential to the empire's financial survival. Following the profits further, Ghosh finds opium central to the origins of some of the world's biggest corporations, of America's most powerful families and prestigious institutions (from the Astors and Coolidges to the Ivy League), and of contemporary globalism itself.

Moving deftly between horticultural history, the mythologies of capitalism, and the social and cultural repercussions of colonialism, in _Smoke and Ashes_ Ghosh reveals the role that one small plant has had in making our world, now teetering on the edge of catastrophe.

### Author Biography

**Amitav Ghosh** is the author of the bestselling Ibis Trilogy, composed of _Sea of Poppies_ (shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize), _River of Smoke_, and _Flood of Fire_. His other novels include _The Circle of Reason_, which won the Prix M馘icis 騁ranger, and _The Glass Palace_. He is the author of many works of nonfiction, including _The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable_ and _The Nutmeg's Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis_. He has received two lifetime achievement awards and five honorary doctorates. In 2018, Ghosh became the first English-language writer to win the Jnanpith Award, India's highest literary honor. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

**Number of Pages:** 416

**Dimensions:** 1.65 x 9.29 x 6.38 IN

**Illustrated:** Yes

**Publication Date:** February 13, 2024

## Details

- **Price:** 32.0 USD
- **Vendor:** Books by splitShops
- **Type:** Books
- **Tags:** Books by splitShops, Shopify Collective

## Variants

| Variant | Price | Available |
|---------|-------|-----------|
| Default Title | 32.00 USD | In stock |

## Images

- Smoke and Ashes: Opium's Hidden Histories - Hardcover

---

> Source: [Smart supply deals](https://smartsupplydeals.com/products/smoke-and-ashes-opiums-hidden-histories-hardcover)
> Updated: 2026-07-21