Unrefined: How Capitalism Reinvented Sugar

by Carisma Webb
published on 03 July 2026

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Singerman's "Unrefined: How Capitalism Reinvented Sugar" is a thorough examination of the history of sugar and how imperialism and capitalism shaped the world through this substance. This book covers themes from the domination of nature to human labor and even law. "Unrefined" will be appreciated by those already familiar with dense historical texts, whether they be historians or academics.

Unrefined: How Capitalism Reinvented Sugar is a deeply researched book, exploring every avenue of the history of sugar. It is a book that historians, academics, and scholars alike will appreciate, as it does not simplify the language used to explain the chemistry, standardization, machinery, or the political and economic processes that were involved in the sugar industry. It is a meticulous exploration of how sugar shaped capitalism into the force that it is today, which Singerman refers to as "sugar capitalism."

David Singerman is Assistant Professor of History and American Studies at the University of Virginia. He specializes in science, technology, and capitalism. Singerman also wrote his PhD dissertation on sugar, which influenced this book.

Unrefined is organized into three parts and eleven chapters, each part detailing how sugar transformed everything from how plantations are constructed, the standardization of goods, monopolies, and even how it influenced corruption. The chapters are accompanied by contemporary photographs and ephemera to help the reader visualize what the author is detailing in the text. The book is a fascinating read, since it uncovers each facet that the "sugar revolution" has transformed. Readers experience the Caribbean plantations where the enslaved were in charge due to their skills that the overseerers and planters could not discern, as well as the refineries of New York and workshops in Glasgow with its top-of-the-line machinery. The first part explores the industrialization of the sugar plantation and the enslaved workers that made the aforementioned industrialization possible; the second part dives into the federal aspects of the sugar trade, such as tariffs, related laws, and the ensuing monopolization of the sugar trade by companies that were able to bypass laws meant to regulate their behavior. The third part of the book discusses standardization of sugar and the finicky–and perhaps false–nature of this standardization.

In this book, we see how sugar capitalism and today's capitalism aren't much different – those in charge of the mills tried to extract power from the labor force by relying more on machinery, but this ultimately put more stress on the laborers. Singerman also alludes to how monopolies are created and how easily corruption can infiltrate a booming industry. In addition, sugar was judged based on its color and placed in a hierarchy – the whitest being the most coveted and the darkest less so – which is a reflection of the society's desire to compartmentalize everything based on its hue. Western sugar was deemed the purest, whereas foreign sugar was not. Through sugar, readers understand that the obsession with categorization and standardization that is at the core of capitalism allows for conspiracies and corruption, as whoever has the power can change the rules.

Singerman's book is an intriguing read as it connects the topic of sugar to many other subjects that might pique a reader's interest, such as the history of capitalism and the Industrial Revolution. Unrefined is a great way to understand capitalism through the medium of sugar, and it is a masterful examination of how science, bureaucracy, slavery, and corruption shaped capitalism as we know it today.

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