Flowers in the Blood
The Story of Opium
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Narrated by:
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Stephen McLaughlin
About this listen
The incredible and complex history of opium throughout the world.
Opium has played a dramatic and varied role in human history, inspiring religious veneration, scientific exploration, the bitterest rancor, and the most fanciful ecstasy. Now, authors Jeff Goldberg and Dean Latimer have provided a complete, insightful history of opium. Flowers in the Blood lifts the veil of mystery that has surrounded opium down through the ages.
Inside, discover:
- Why a three-thousand-year-old statue of a Greek goddess was crowned with poppies
- The formulas for Hippocrates’s ancient opium remedies
- Why the Islamic councils of the wise vilified hashish but venerated opium
- Why there was no opium problem in nineteenth-century England and America despite unprecedented and unrestricted consumption of opiates
- What really provoked the Opium Wars in China
- Why John Jacob Astor quit the opium trade
- The unique role played by Chinese opium in the birth of the American labor movement
Along the way, the authors provide details of the addictions of S. T. Coleridge, Thomas De Quincey, and other literary opium-eaters of the nineteenth century, as well as chronicling the progress of antidrug laws and the ongoing search for an addiction cure.
Originally published in 1981, this edition of Flowers in the Blood has been updated with a new preface by Goldberg. At times disconcerting, raising serious questions about attitudes and approaches toward powerful drugs and their control, Flowers in the Blood is an essential addition to the literature of opium, and a wide-awake look at the stuff that dreams (and nightmares) are made of.
©2014 Jeff Goldberg and Dean Latimer. Introduction by William Burroughs (P)2013 Audible, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
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-
Story
Martin A. Lee traces the dramatic social history of marijuana, from its origins to its emergence in the 1960s as a defining force in a culture war that has never ceased. Lee describes how the illicit marijuana subculture overcame government opposition and morphed into a dynamic, multibillion-dollar industry. Colorful, illuminating, and at times irreverent, this is a fascinating listen for recreational users and patients, students and doctors, musicians and accountants, Baby Boomers and their kids, and anyone who has ever wondered about the secret life of this ubiquitous herb.
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A hard book for me to rate
- By Blake on 05-08-13
By: Martin A. Lee
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This is Your Country on Drugs
- The Secret History of Getting High in America
- By: Ryan Grim
- Narrated by: Milton Bagby
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Past antidrug campaigns actually encouraged drug use. A few years ago, America stopped dropping acid altogether. The meth epidemic peaked a long, long time ago. NAFTA opened the border and created a bonanza for cocaine and meth traffickers just as President Clinton knew it would. President Reagan may have inadvertently caused the crack epidemic. Kids today are doing fewer illegal drugs than kids from any time in the recent past, and for a surprising reason.
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A good book but....
- By steve on 10-28-10
By: Ryan Grim
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Quackery
- A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything
- By: Lydia Kang, Nate Pedersen
- Narrated by: Hillary Huber
- Length: 10 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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What won't we try in our quest for perfect health, beauty, and the fountain of youth? Well, just imagine a time when doctors prescribed morphine for crying infants. When liquefied gold was touted as immortality in a glass. And when strychnine - yes, that strychnine, the one used in rat poison - was dosed like Viagra. Looking back with fascination, horror, and not a little dash of dark, knowing humor, Quackery recounts the lively, at times unbelievable, history of medical misfires and malpractices.
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Computer-generated Narrator. Dated Humour.
- By Nemo on 12-28-18
By: Lydia Kang, and others
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The Book of Gin
- A Spirited World History from Alchemists' Stills and Colonial Outposts to Gin Palaces, Bathtub Gin, and Artisanal Cocktails
- By: Richard Barnett
- Narrated by: Richard Shelton
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
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In The Book of Gin, Richard Barnett traces the life of this beguiling spirit, once believed to cause a new kind of drunkenness. In the 18th century, gin-craze debauchery (and class conflict) inspired Hogarth's satirical masterpieces "Gin Lane" and "Beer Street". In the 19th century, gin was drunk by Napoleonic War naval heroes, at lavish gin palaces, and by homesick colonials, who mixed it with their bitter anti-malarial tonics.
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Great history on my favorite drink
- By Lucas Samples on 10-18-20
By: Richard Barnett
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Dr. Benjamin Rush
- The Founding Father Who Healed a Wounded Nation
- By: Harlow Giles Unger
- Narrated by: Robert Petkoff
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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A revealing biography of Dr. Benjamin Rush - fiery signer of the Declaration of Independence, prominent physician, ardent politician, zealous social reformer, passionate humanitarian, and dedicated educator. Known primarily as America's most influential and leading physician, Rush was also among the first to call for the abolition of slavery, equal rights for women, free education and health care for the poor, slum clearance, citywide sanitation facilities, an end to child labor, and universal public education, among other causes.
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A Great Humanitarian
- By Jean on 10-08-19
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When America First Met China
- An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail
- By: Eric Jay Dolin
- Narrated by: A. T. Chandler
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Ancient China collides with newfangled America in this epic tale of opium smugglers, sea pirates, and dueling clipper ships. Brilliantly illuminating one of the least-understood areas of American history, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin now traces our fraught relationship with China back to its roots: the unforgiving nineteenth-century seas that separated a brash, rising naval power from a battered ancient empire. It is a prescient fable for our time, one that surprisingly continues to shed light on our modern relationship with China.
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Superior book! Excellent read!
- By melissa c. on 01-28-23
By: Eric Jay Dolin
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Get Well Soon
- History's Worst Plagues and the Heroes Who Fought Them
- By: Jennifer Wright
- Narrated by: Gabra Zackman
- Length: 7 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1518, in a small town in Alsace, Frau Troffea began dancing and didn't stop. She danced until she was carried away six days later, and soon 34 more villagers joined her. Then more. In a month more than 400 people had been stricken by the mysterious dancing plague. In late-19th-century England an eccentric gentleman founded the No Nose Club in his gracious townhome - a social club for those who had lost their noses, and other body parts, to the plague of syphilis for which there was then no cure.
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Didn't know syphilis could be so fascinating.
- By Kindle Customer on 02-09-17
By: Jennifer Wright
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American Overdose
- The Opioid Tragedy in Three Acts
- By: Chris McGreal
- Narrated by: Dan Woren
- Length: 11 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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The opioid epidemic has been described as "one of the greatest mistakes of modern medicine." But calling it a mistake is a generous rewriting of the history of greed, corruption, and indifference that pushed the US into consuming more than 80 percent of the world's opioid painkillers. Journeying through lives and communities wrecked by the epidemic, Chris McGreal reveals not only how Big Pharma hooked Americans on powerfully addictive drugs but the corrupting of medicine and public institutions that let the opioid makers get away with it.
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An important read
- By Macmom4 on 02-18-19
By: Chris McGreal
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Bellevue
- Three Centuries of Medicine and Mayhem at America's Most Storied Hospital
- By: David Oshinsky
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 14 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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David Oshinsky, whose last book, Polio: An American Story, was awarded a Pulitzer Prize, chronicles the history of America's oldest hospital and in so doing also charts the rise of New York to the nation's preeminent city, the path of American medicine from butchery and quackery to a professional and scientific endeavor, and the growth of a civic institution.
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Fascinating
- By Jean on 12-14-16
By: David Oshinsky
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Blitzed
- Drugs in the Third Reich
- By: Norman Ohler, Shaun Whiteside - translator, Claire Bloom - director
- Narrated by: Stefan Rudnicki
- Length: 7 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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The Nazi regime preached an ideology of physical, mental, and moral purity. But as Norman Ohler reveals in this gripping new history, the Third Reich was saturated with drugs. On the eve of World War II, Germany was a pharmaceutical powerhouse, and companies such as Merck and Bayer cooked up cocaine, opiates, and, most of all, methamphetamines, to be consumed by everyone from factory workers to housewives to millions of German soldiers.
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The best "Gotterdammerung" book I have ever read.
- By James Carl Barsz, MD on 05-06-17
By: Norman Ohler, and others
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An American Plague
- The True and Terrifying Story of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793
- By: Jim Murphy
- Narrated by: Pat Bottino
- Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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In An American Plague, Jim Murphy tells the story of the 1793 yellow fever epidemic. Bizarre medical practices of the time are discussed, as well as popular historical figures, such as George Washington and Benjamin Rush, who were involved in finding a cure for this horrific outbreak. Pat Bottino's captivating narration adds appeal to this interesting historical tale.
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Don't expect technical depth...
- By Ebird on 01-27-06
By: Jim Murphy
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Pale Rider
- The Spanish Flu of 1918 and How It Changed the World
- By: Laura Spinney
- Narrated by: Paul Hodgson
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In this gripping narrative history, Laura Spinney traces the overlooked pandemic to reveal how the virus travelled across the globe, exposing mankind's vulnerability and putting our ingenuity to the test. As socially significant as both world wars, the Spanish flu dramatically disrupted - and often permanently altered - global politics, race relations, and family structures while spurring innovation in medicine, religion, and the arts.
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A Predilection for Those in the Prime of Life
- By Cynthia on 02-12-18
By: Laura Spinney
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The Fever
- Malaria Has Ruled Humankind for 500,000 Years
- By: Sonia Shah
- Narrated by: Maha Chehlaoui
- Length: 8 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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In recent years, malaria has emerged as a cause célèbre for voguish philanthropists. Bill Gates, Bono, and Laura Bush are only a few of the personalities who have lent their names - and opened their pocketbooks - in hopes of curing the disease. Still, in a time when every emergent disease inspires waves of panic, why aren’t we doing more to eradicate one of our oldest foes? And how does a parasitic disease that we’ve known how to prevent for more than a century still infect 500 million people every year, killing nearly 1 million of them?
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Solid but not amazing account of malaria
- By S. Yates on 04-11-16
By: Sonia Shah
What listeners say about Flowers in the Blood
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-09-23
Great historical overview of Opium
The book covers almost any historical overview of the famous flower that has by anyone’s measure one of the the most important plants in human history.
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- Richard
- 04-30-14
Historical Illumination
What made the experience of listening to Flowers in the Blood the most enjoyable?
This deepened my knowledge of the oft- taboo subject of the opium poppy with its associated travails, successes against pain and sociological plunders across the ages. The author(s) weave a fascinating account of exactly how imbedded this uncommon flower and its byproducts have been in humanity's development, from Asia to Europe, and across the railroad-tracked plains of North America, then into our modern cities and ultimately into our legal system. The story seems to come to a halt in the 1970s, so in my view what is lacking is a chapter or two filling the audience in on developments into the 21st century.
What other book might you compare Flowers in the Blood to and why?
Incomparable
What about Stephen McLaughlin’s performance did you like?
Crisp, not-too-fast pace well-suited for listening in fast track mode when review was needed.
Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?
No- my emotions don't tend to run away when listening to historical, semi-scientific subject matters, though the book never ceased to be eminently entertaining.
Any additional comments?
Three cheers for an update to bring this landmark work up to the present year of 2014.
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1 person found this helpful
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- chetyarbrough.blog
- 06-18-14
OPIATE DECRIMINALIZATION
Published in 1981, “Flowers in the Blood” argues for decriminalization of opiates. The idea remains controversial in 2014. Written by Jeff Goldberg and Dean Latimer, a listener feels misdirected by historical information.
Goldberg and Latimer explain that punishing the addicted with prison is a mistake. Those who succumb to addiction need help; not punishment. One can readily accept that argument but opiate regulation by the government is a step too far. This may be a distinction without a difference but Alcohol and cigarettes are still a private sector choice with government intervention (principally tax increases and education) based on political input.
The loss of Philip Seymour Hoffman in February 2014 comes to mind. Hoffman dies at the age of 46, John Belushi at 33, Kurt Cobain at 27, Billie Holiday at 44, River Phoenix at 23; all from opiate overdoses. If opiates were legalized, would these artists have been saved—who knows? They chose addiction to escape the insecurity and stress of life. Their choice is their choice. Insecurity and stress are facts in every human’s life. America’s failure is related to treatment; not government control of human choice.
“Flowers in the Blood” fails to nuance legalization of opiates. It leans more toward influencing uneducated poor, educated middle class, and idle rich to experiment with addictive drugs.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Susan
- 02-11-16
Some Things Never Change
This book might also be entitled 'History of the War on Drugs'. It's about legal and illegal drug trade, medically sanctioned drug use and recreational drug use.
Though the author details the politic and commercial circumstances that led to the opium wars in China in the 1800s he doesn't stop there. The book follows the opium trade through the 1960s, especially relevant in light of the current epidemic of new heroin addicts.
As successful traders have learned to repackage opium into more potent and more marketable morphine and heroin, science remains stymied in its attempt to understand and cure addiction.
The author takes us to opium dens in China, to respectable Victorian homes replete with Laudemun, to the fringes of modern urban America where addicts shiver under bridges.
He makes his point, addiction has remained constant and intractable, an old story with no end in sight.
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1 person found this helpful