Andean Cocaine: The Making of a Global Drug

by Paul Gootenberg

Overview

Illuminating a hidden and fascinating chapter in the history of globalization, Paul Gootenberg chronicles the rise of one of the most spectacular and now illegal Latin American exports: cocaine.

Gootenberg traces cocaine's history from its origins as a medical commodity in the nineteenth century to its repression during the early twentieth century and its dramatic reemergence as an illicit good after World War II. Connecting the story of the drug's transformations is a host of people, products, and processes: Sigmund Freud, Coca-Cola, and Pablo Escobar all make appearances, exemplifying the global influences that have shaped the history of cocaine. But Gootenberg decenters the familiar story to uncover the roles played by hitherto obscure but vital Andean actors as well--for example, the Peruvian pharmacist who developed the techniques for refining cocaine on an industrial scale and the creators of the original drug-smuggling networks that decades later would be taken over by Colombian traffickers.

Andean Cocaine proves indispensable to understanding one of the most vexing social dilemmas of the late twentieth-century Americas: the American cocaine epidemic of the 1980s and, in its wake, the seemingly endless U.S. drug war in the Andes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780807887790
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	06/01/2009
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	464
Sales rank:	785,923
File size:	4 MB

About the Author

Paul Gootenberg is professor of history at Stony Brook University in New York and author or editor of four other books, including Between Silver and Guano: Commercial Policies and the State in Postindependence Peru.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Chronology: Cocaine, 1850-2000 xv

Introduction: Cocaine as Andean History 1

I Cocaine Rising

Chapter 1 Imagining Coca, Discovering Cocaine, 1850-1890 15

Chapter 2 Making a National Commodity: Peruvian Crude Cocaine, 1885-1910 55

II Cocaine Falling

Chapter 3 Cocaine Enchained: Global Commodity Circuits, 1890s-1930s 105

Chapter 4 Withering Cocaine: Peruvian Responses, 1910-1945 143

Chapter 5 Anticocaine: From Reluctance to Global Prohibitions, 1910-1950 189

III Illicit Cocaine

Chapter 6 Birth of the Narcos: Pan-American Illicit Networks, 1945-1965 245

Chapter 7 The Drug Boom (1965-1975) and Beyond 291

Appendix Quantifying Cocaine 325

Table A.1 Sample Peruvian Exchange Rates, 1875-1965 328

Table A.2 Coca and Cocaine Exports from Peru, 1888-1910 329

Table A.3 Reported Cocaine Factories by Region, Peru, 1885-1920s 331

Table A.4 Active Cocaine Factories in Peru, 1920-1950 334

Table A.5 Cocaine Smuggling: Reported Seizures, 1935-1970s 336

Notes 337

Bibliographic Essay: A Guide to the Historiography of Cocaine 377

Bibliography 385

Index 413

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

This is a scrupulously detailed historical account of both the coca leaf and cocaine as global commodities. It argues convincingly that most attempts to stamp them out have proved counterproductive, ignoring both the enormous differences between coca and cocaine, and the ancient history of coca leaf use by indigenous Andean peoples. A thoughtful contribution to the growing literature on commodity chains.—Sidney W. Mintz, author of Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History

There is simply no other work comparable to Andean Cocaine. The methodology, the evidence, and the interpretations come together in mutually reinforcing ways that make this arresting study an outstanding example of what scholars in history and anthropology should aspire to in their own work.—William O. Walker III, University of Toronto, author of Drug Trafficking in the Americas

Andean Cocaine is an important intellectual achievement. Gootenberg uses a fluent narrative and a new and sophisticated interpretation to discuss the link between local and global events and to explain the roles played by unequal actors and institutions. A first-class book.—Marcos Cueto, Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, Lima, Peru

Editorial Reviews

An outstanding book, a superb example of first-rate scholarship written with energy, confidence, respect for facts, and excellent style. In addition it is a readable, fascinating, and important story. . . . It ranks among the very best contributions to several literatures and will be valued by those interested in globalization, development, and economic and business history, as well as anyone simply curious to understand the world.—American Historical Review



An indispensable point of departure for serious students of [the history of the cocaine trade].—The Latin American Review of Books



A sterling contribution to the literature of cocaine, and should be required reading for anyone seeking to understand cocaine in context.—Drug War Chronicle



Thorough, eminently readable, and fascinating. . . . This tour de force illustrates how a fresh, insightful focus on a single commodity can illuminate economic development, political and social concerns, shifting ideologies, and cultural change, both locally and globally. Highly recommended.—Choice



A book of great insight and academic rigor . . . that unearths this forgotten history.—Caretas



Puts the discussion into a global perspective. . . . Gootenberg thus joins a distinguished group of scholars. . . . Indispensable reading for graduate seminars on economic, cultural, and social history, and shall appeal not only to experts on Latin America but also to world historians and those interested in comparative history.—The Americas



Excellent. . . . Gootenberg offers a critical perspective on the place of cocaine in the Western imaginary and in the real political and economic world.—Comparative Studies in Society and Culture



The anti-cocainism that arose in the United States transformed cocaine into a global threat in the first part of the 20th century. . . . This huge work untangles the multiple mechanisms of cocaine's social, local, and global construction, which transmuted a medical drug and commodity into a world menace with a war declared against it.Gootenberg has written a history that will make history.—European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies



This excellent book adds a definitive archive-based history of cocaine. . . . A model of how to examine a particular drug substance in a specific part of the world while placing that examination in the broadest context.—Society & History



[An] exceptionally well-researched and sophisticated world history of cocaine. . . . A provocative, wide-ranging, and convincing account.—The Historian

From the Publisher