“Sugar Changed the World” by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos

The authors, Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos purpose for writing, “Sugar Changed the World” is to inform readers how sugar was tied into families and many primary events in history. “Sugar Changed the World” was an informative text that shows how sugar got passed around and may even be tied into your life. The authors had dealt with many conflicting viewpoints throughout their book and handled them by providing data from previous times in history to how the truth behind what happened with sugar. For example, in the video, “Louisiana Sugar Farmer” it talks about how sugar farming is in their bloods and they enjoy it. While in the book the authors talks about the blood and sweat behind the farming of the tasty substance. Although the authors of, ¨Sugar Changed the World” had a neutral explanation for conflicting viewpoints in their own book, such as page 43 and how it displays a drawing with an overseer watching over them so they would not make any mistakes. Sugar for instance had a impact on family heritage and history although there are many different sides to the story, some good others bad. 

First off in, “Sugar Changed the World” the authors talk about the reason why they decided to write the informative book. It states, “It was a typically hot day, dry day in Jerusalem. Marine and I were sitting on a sun-warmed stone patio when I learned my family’s sugar story.” page one, paragraph one. This is the start to showing how sugar was important in many ways either in history or in families around the world. Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos, the authors told how sugar was intertwined in their families and shows what sugar did to their families. On page 2, Marc’s section it states, 'As a result, their rivals were desperate to find a new way to create sugar. They turned to beets.' This piece of text evidence is representing how Marc Aronson’s family had a rivalry and they needed a new way to make a sweet substance. So Nina, Marc's cousin, had a grandfather who invented a machine that could turn the raw beets into a sweet substance. This invention provided Nina's grandfather with his freedom and became a rich man who married his daughter to a noble. Marc's family had a bittersweet experience with sugar because they started off as slaves but then ended up being very wealthy people. On the other hand Marina also lived a bittersweet life. In the text she states, 'Ever since I was a little girl, I had heard about our house Guyana. It was beautiful: a long white box with a series of windows, each shaded by delicate lattice shutters.'(page 3) This house shows the time in between her family moving to British Guiana to work on the sugar plantations and their life in India. Marina's parents used to live in India and moved to British Guiana for a better life. Her father later on becomes in charge of the church from all of his successes. He decided to marry his children off to Christian. Soon the whole family was moving up and up and increasing social status. In the end Marina visited the home described and it was long gone but she understood and was still excited to learn her sugar story. The authors are two major examples that can show how sugar was included in families in unexpected ways. 

Next in this text the others shows the ways sugar made its impacts into important times in history. In 'Sugar Changed the World' there are many times where sugar was apart of important dates that even you might not have known. One the timeline on page 134 it shows all of the important times sugar was in history. The timeline says, 286 B.C. - first mention of sugar cane in china.' It also states on page 73, 'The British Parliament had placed a tax on sugar without giving the North Americans any voice in the matter, and the colonist were angry.' The sentence shows how sugar was once given a tax and how people started to rebel because of it by, 'rolling barrels off ships' (73) Sugar was also had a major impact on slavery. Slaves would work all day to cut the cane and produce the sweet substance or sugar. Pages 42-55 include vast amounts of pictures showing what slaves did on the farms. These pictures consisted of men, women, and even young children working on the fields doing harvesting, planting, sugar grinding, and steamy boiling. Without slaves there would be no sugar, believed many and on page 32 it states, 'Thus, sugar drove 900,000 people into slavery.' This amount of people is only 100,000 off of a million, which is absolutely insane. Sugar was also involved with Christopher Columbus, an explorer. Part Two, Hell, in paragraph two says, 'The plants that Columbus brought with him to the island he called Hispaniola flourished.' Columbus helped sugar go all around the world by just bringing in a few plants to try out in this newfoundland. 

Seeing the people once learned before be included in sugar just has readers wanting to engulf themselves in this shocking information. The author's way of showing sugars ways of importance in history was an important attribute to their book. Lastly Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos had conflicting ideas with the outlook on sugar. In 'Sugar Changed the World' showed the blood and sweat put into the sugar cane and how it was a monstrous thing. But in the video, 'Louisiana Sugar Farmer' it shows that they grew up with sugar in their blood and they enjoyed the farming. While different people have different experiences with sugar the book and the video are two complete opposite point of views. In 'Sugar Changed the World' it states, 'The millions of Africans taken to work in the sugar were not taught to read and write. They were not meant to speak, but to work.' (35) On the other hand in the video Mr. Blanchard states, 'I got sugar in my blood.' This refers to how he has grown up with it and how he enjoy working the sugar cane farms. Nowadays many people decide rather they want to work these farm or not, while back then people were forced into the brutal labor. These two different ways of showing sugar plantation farming shows how different people have different experiences. This video is a conflicting viewpoint to the book, 'Sugar Changed the World'. The authors decided to take the informative route while the Blanchard family took the opinionated route. The authors handle the conflict in a very subtle way by details. Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos gave an informative text on sugar and its way around history and in some heritages. Although they ended up with some conflicting viewpoints they gave facts from the past not the present. 

The authors book, 'Sugar Changed the World' is an informative text informing us on the way sugar impacted society then and now. Videos such as, 'Louisiana Sugar Farmers' are conflicting to the idea of farming in the past. Videos and texts like newer ones show slavery wasn't as bad as it actually. The dark side of sugar was slavery and the slaves’ work was a brutal form of work. Work today is nothing compared to a slaves work back then. The authors give good evidence and provide a solid way of sugar and shows how it is involved in history and maybe even your life. 

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