The Illustrated Practical Book of Country Cooking: A Celebration of Traditional Country Cooking, with 170 Timeless Recipes Book

A more accurate (and long-winded) title for this would have been "A History of the Slave Trade Resulting from the Sugar Industry." Abbott's research is meticulous and her prose is adequate, faltering only when she tries to wax eloquent, but her ability to stay on topic is sorely lacking. At least two-thirds of the text is devoted to a thorough exploration of slavery, which, while obviously an important topic in itself, is not the professed subject of this book. Had Abbott shortened the section on slavery by at least half and sought a more balanced narrative of the sugar trade (temporally, geographically, and economically), "Sugar" may have merited three or even four stars. As it stands, this text is well intentioned, fairly well written and certainly well researched, but Abbott's favoring of her preferred subjects over others cripples any attempt toward academic objectivity she may have made and leads to an unfocused, meandering and unbalanced text. Not recommended.