by Sarah Rose
bookshelves: nonfiction, autumn-2012, history, published-2009, biography, colonial-overlords, victorian, recreational-drugs, war, fraudio, china, india, gardening, pirates-smugglers-wreckers Read on November 05, 2012 Read by the author herself.Blurb - A dramatic historical narrative of the man wh...
Ms. Rose has written a very interesting popular history, that would have been strengthened with more detailed discussions of several subjects: e.g., the relationship between tea and opium, the tea manufacturing process, the playing out of the demise of the East India Co., and the rise of the tea cl...
Read by the author herself.Blurb - A dramatic historical narrative of the man who stole the secret of tea from China.In 1848, the British East India Company, having lost its monopoly on the tea trade, engaged Robert Fortune, a Scottish gardener, botanist, and plant hunter, to make a clandestine trip...
This history seemed scant compared to what I was expecting as the norm in the history/natural history/biography genre, though it had its moments. Overall, it was more biographical and much less informational than I hoped for. I would have been reasonably happy changing my expectations, but I'm surpr...
As a self-proclaimed theic (one who is addicted to tea), I am thrilled someone, in modern times, has tackled this vast, interwoven tale of a name that changed so much but it little remembered. Tea is like wine. Growing seasons, climates, picking times, drying, storing and shipping all affect the...
Interesting story, some things I had never heard about before, but I wished for more detail and a map tracing Robert Fortune's adventures in China. Three and a half stars rounded up to four. Somewhat recommended, but tea fanciers should enjoy this one. For the complete review, please go here:http:/...
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