The Mystique of Opium (English, French, German, Hardcover)

Whilst the 20th century was one long war for control of the world's oil supplies, opium was a key strategic raw material during the four preceding centuries. Opium consumption dates back to Ancient Egypt. Initially a useful pharmaceutical product called laudanum, it quickly became popular in Britain. It then became the basis for trade with isolationist China as soon as the Opium Wars obtained trading rights for Western companies and the Chinese began smoking it in industrial quantities. This book offers a tastefully illustrated history of this toxic substance, its paraphernalia and era. About the author: Donald Wigal Donald Wigal is a retired art, music and theology professor. He was an art and architecture indexer of the Academic American Encyclopedia and contributed biographical profiles of artists including Leonardo da Vinci, John Dee, Carl Jung, Joseph Campbell and other artists and visionaries to several encyclopedias.