In writing Sugar and Civilization, April Merleaux takes on an ambitious project: telling the history of the US sugar empire from 1898 up to World War II. During this period, the United States assumed control over its own overseas sugar empire while continental producers in the United States expanded production of sugar beet, setting up a series of battles over the meaning of sugar and the making of American empire. Merleaux details these battles in myriad places and spaces, from the halls of Congress, the beet fields of Nevada, the sugar mills of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the candy counters of Buffalo, New York. In the process, Merleaux highlights a wide range of issues from congressional debates over tariff rates and the economic and political status of Cuba, Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and the Philippines to concerns over child labor in the sugar beet fields and debates...

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