Opium: A Portrait of the Heavenly Demon

by Barbara Hodgson

Chronicle Books, 152 pp., $22.95

Lush and decadent, Opium chronicles the history and social effects of the use and trade of opium. Colonialism, medicine, literature, and the drug war all have roots in opium culture, and Hodgson traces them from the past to the present — opium remains one of the most widely cultivated drugs in the world. With details of the implements and various techniques employed to ingest it as well as writers’ descriptions of the dimly lit, smoky opium dens, Opium brings you close to the pipe without leaving you hung over.

This article appears in December 24 • 1999.

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