Coffeeland

Coffeeland: One Man’s Dark Empire and the Making of Our Favorite Drug by Augustine Sedgewick

In Coffeeland, historian Augustine Sedgewick traces the global story of coffee through the life of James Hill, an Englishman who built a coffee empire in El Salvador in the early 20th century. What begins as the tale of a single entrepreneur unfolds into a sweeping history of how coffee shaped economies, labor systems, and daily rituals across the world.

With meticulous research and gripping narrative, Sedgewick reveals the hidden costs behind the cup: colonial legacies, exploitation, and the human stories often left untold. Coffeeland invites readers to reconsider coffee not just as a beverage, but as a force that has shaped politics, culture, and livelihoods on a global scale.

This book is for coffee lovers curious about the deeper history of their daily ritual and anyone interested in the intersection of food, power, and society.

Special Features

• Award-winning historical narrative, blending biography with global history
• Illuminates the hidden power structures behind coffee’s rise to global dominance
  
• Essential reading for people who want to understand the social and political dimensions of coffee

About the Author

Augustine Sedgewick is a historian and writer specializing in global political economy, labor, and the history of food. He earned his PhD from Harvard University and has taught at Harvard, Columbia, and the City University of New York. Coffeeland is his acclaimed debut, praised for its vivid storytelling and meticulous research into the hidden history of coffee.

Book Details

• Title: Coffeeland: One Man’s Dark Empire and the Making of Our Favorite Drug
• Author: Augustine Sedgewick
• Format: Paperback
• Subject: Coffee history, El Salvador coffee
• Publication Date: 2020
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Dimensions: 200 x 130 x 28mm
• Weight: 340