Celebrated writer Amitav Ghosh’s new book “The Nutmeg’s Curse: Parables for a Planet in Crisis”, revealing the remarkable ways in which human history is shaped by non-human forces, was released.
The book, written against the backdrop of the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests, claims to interweave discussions on everything from climate change, the migrant crisis, to the animist spirituality of indigenous communities around the world.
Ghosh, 65, who is now considered an influential voice on the climate crisis, has previously penned “The Great Derangement: Climate Change and the Unthinkable”, a work of non-fiction.
In his latest book, Ghosh, a Padma Shri and Sahitya Akademi awardee, argues that the nutmeg’s violent trajectory from its native islands is revealing of a wider colonial mindset which justifies the exploitation of human life and the natural environment, and which dominates geopolitics to this day.
Other books written by the author include, “Shadow Lines”, “The Glass Palace”, “The Hungry Tide”, “Gun Island” and Ibis Trilogy — “Sea of Poppies”, “River of Smoke”, “Flood of Fire” — chronicling the opium trade between India and China run by the East India Company.