Where there's smoke: a 19th-century engraving of opium addicts - Archive Collection / Alamy Stock Photo There are rumours that swirl in the writing world: all the publishing houses of the UK now have ...

NEW DELHI, (IANS) – Opium nearly smoked out China, made Britain acquire tainted wealth, laid the foundation of the fortunes of many a notorious trading house, and made several early 19th-century ...

After the mid-18th century, when the British East India Co. was importing tea from China, few could have guessed that the industry would be revolutionized by a different plant: the opium poppy. Over ...

Opium: How an Ancient Flower Shaped and Poisoned Our World by John H. Halpern and David Blistein Hachette Books, 2019 ($29) Humanity's complicated relationship with the opium poppy dates back to our ...

Part 1. Opium in antiquity. The mysterious origins of the opium poppy ; Papyruses and poppies ; A journey around the Mediterranean. Part 2. Opium and the birth of modern medicine. Classic cures, ...

It is believed that mankind has been utilizing opium poppies for recreational and medicinal uses dating as far back as 7,000 B.C., according to a new book, "Opium: How An Ancient Flower Shaped And ...

Does art produce empathy? Namwali Serpell argues it doesn’t and writes that we should stop concerning ourselves with this supposed “ethical” characteristic of art: “This idea is particularly prevalent ...

Milk of Paradise: A History of Opium. By Lucy Inglis. Pegasus Books; 448 pages; $28.95. Macmillan; £25.00. HUNTINGTON, West Virginia, is dying. As a share of the town’s population, overdoses kill more ...