The editors of Fragrant Frontier have produced an impressively researched book on the contemporary growers, in northern Vietnam and Southwest China, of three spices—star anise, black cardamom, and cinnamon, each of which has local, regional, and international economic importance—as well as the human links in the global commodity chain of these spices. This volume is much more coherent than many edited volumes, and readers should not skip any of it, as there are nice little surprises waiting here and there in the text.
A good example is the “Preface and Acknowledgements” section, as this not only provides interesting information on how the volume came into being but also links to websites and scannable QR codes for “story maps” on the three spices and the places mentioned in the rest of the volume. This is a nice touch that gives this volume about the recent situation of farmers, local traders, marketplace...
