2nd Presentation-Sweetness and Power

For my second presentation, I will be discussing Sweetness and Power by Sidney Mintz. I'll mainly be talking about Mintz's discussion on the production of sugar in the Caribbean islands. I believe were one of the strongest parts of the book. I also enjoyed this part because it gave the reader a better idea of what was going on in terms of sugar production and trade during that time.

In the second chapter of Sweetness and Power, Mintz begins by breaking down the production of sugar on the plantation colonies of the Caribbean. Although he begins with a broader overview of earlier French and Spanish colonies, Mintz eventually turns his focus to the British “sugar islands”. He takes the reader through the entire process of sugar production and in my opinion, succeeds in giving his audience a clear idea of how production in particular, changed over time. Mintz effectively uses statistical data showing the link between production rates and consumption. In doing so, Mintz demonstrates the increasing economic demand between colonies and their mother country.
There is a point where Mintz crystallizes how, as sugar became economically significant, “its consumption by the powerful came to matter less; at the same time, the production of sugar acquired that importance precisely because the masses of English people were now steadily consuming more of it, and desiring more of it than they could afford it” (Mintz 1985, 45). Mintz leads into “Consumption” by pointing out how increased sugar production directly influenced the change of consumers from aristocracy to the general public as well as the manner in which sugar was consumed in England.