Description
Perhaps the least appreciated dramatis personae in human history are plants. Humans, like all other animals, cannot produce their own food as plants do through photosynthesis, and must therefore acquire organic material for survival and growth by eating plants or by eating other animals that eat plants. Humans depend on plants not only as a food source, but also as building and clothing materials and as sources of medicines, psychoactive substances, spices, pigments, and more. With plants being such valuable resources, it is therefore not surprising that plants have been involved in practically all violent conflicts among different human societies. Ironically, plants have also been the source of materials to construct weapons or weapon parts.
Wars have always constituted a large part of human history, and the overall theme of this book is that to understand the history of violent human conflict, we need to understand what specific materials plants make that people find so useful and worth fighting over, and what roles such plant products have played in specific conflicts. To do so, Plants and Human Conflict begins with a chapter explaining the basic biological facts of the interdependence between plants and humans, and the subsequent seven chapters describe the physical and chemical properties of specific plant products demonstrating how the human need for these products has led to wars as well as contributed to the prosecution of wars. These chapters recount some well-known (and some lesser known) historical events in which plants have played a central role.
This book uniquely combines the modern scientific knowledge of plants with the human history of war, introducing readers to a new paradigm that will make them reconsider their understanding of human history, as well as to bring about a greater appreciation of plant biology.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Author
Chapter 1 Natural Resources as Causes of Violent Conflicts
Universal History
War and Living Organisms
Notes
Chapter 2 Fighting Grains
Grains Are Targets of War
Grains Are the Perfect Food for War
Grains and Man-Made Famines in the 20th Century
The Russian Famine of 1932–1933
The Chinese Famine of 1959–1961
The Cambodian Famine and Genocide of 1975–1979
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 3 War and Slavery Capitalism – Sugarcane, Tobacco, and Cotton
Transcontinental Staples
Sugarcane
Tobacco
Cotton
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 4 Killer Spices
The Spice Trade Until the End of the 15th Century – The Rise and Fall of Venice, the First Predatory Company Masquerading as a State
The Spice Trade in the 16th to 18th Centuries – The Rise and Fall of VOC, a Rogue State Masquerading as a Company
The Attraction of Spices to Humans – Is It Chemistry or Metachemistry?
Conclusions
Notes
Chapter 5 Caffeine, Opium, and Other Drugs for the Masses
Why Plants Make Psychoactive Compounds
Caffeine
Opium and The Opium Wars
Cocaine, Tetrahydrocannabinol, and Modern Wars
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 6 Wood and Rubber
Wood
Wood in Land Warfare
Wood in Sea Warfare
Rubber’s Good Qualities
Rubber’s Contribution to Human Misery
Rubber in Modern Wars
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 7 Modern Land Grabs – Hawaii, Palestine, and Latin America
Farmland Ownership and National Identity
Sugarcane and Hawaii
Oranges and Zionism in Palestine
Bananas and Central America
Conclusion
Notes
Chapter 8 Black Plant Power – Coal and Oil
Coal and Oil Are Biochemicals that Store Sunlight Energy
Formation of Coal
Formation of Petroleum
The Crucial Roles that Coal and Oil Have Played in Recent Human History
Coal, Coal Miners, and Social Strife
Oil and Social Strife
Conclusion
Notes
Appendix: Chemical Notations
Scientific Glossary
Index
