70 pages • 2 hours read
Marc Aronson, Marina BudhosSugar Changed the World
Nonfiction | Book | YA | Published in 2010A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Essay Topics
Do you think Aronson and Budhos’s inclusion of brief essays explaining their personal relationship to the subject benefits their argument? What do you think their personal stories add to their historical writing?
Define the Age of Honey and the Age of Sugar in your own words. How would you describe the differences between them?
A recurring point in Sugar Changed the World is how connected different societies throughout world history have been, even before the Age of Sugar. Identify and discuss at least three examples from the book that illustrate this interconnection.
The idea of an Age of Sugar, during which sugar changed not only diets but also economies, trading systems, and societies, is at the heart of the book. Do you find the case Aronson and Budhos make for the Age of Sugar shaping the modern world convincing? Why or why not?
The plantation was apparently the “only way to make a lot of sugar” (27). How did methods of sugar production encourage the plantation system? Do you think there might have been alternatives to this method of sugar production and trade?
Do you agree with the authors that slavery and the sugar trade ultimately resulted in a better world? Why or why not?
Aronson and Budhos use primary sources to give personal perspectives and additional details to their history, whether it is the testimonies of ex-slaves or quotes from the songs of sugar laborers. Discuss at least two examples of the authors using such primary sources. What do you think they add to the book?
One of the core questions Aronson and Budhos identify is, “How were sugar and slavery related to the struggle for freedom?” (127). In your own words, how do you think they answer that question?
Aronson and Budhos argue that a growing international push for human rights ended the Age of Sugar. However, they also write that science and technological advancements played a role. Do you think the Age of Sugar would have ended without social factors like abolitionism or scientific advancements like beet sugar? Or were both necessary?
The conflict between property rights and human rights is another major theme of Sugar Changed the World. How do you see the sugar trade relating to this conflict? Do you agree with the authors that sugar had an influence on human rights?
