Plantation System: The Rise and Fall

Phillip Curtin's The Rise and Fall of the Plantation Complex contextualizes the plantation by seeing it not just as a mode of life but as an institution, a complex that originated in one place and then migrated to various other places, picking up adaptations as it went. As such, Curtin's book is tremendously enlightening, going far beyond most other works on the subject in terms of its perspective, which couples the high-level view of the broad historian that explains paradigm shifts with the detailed view of the specialist that adds rich detail and deeper understanding. Curtin does a masterful job of describing the beginnings of the plantation complex and the forces that operated to move it from place to place. Most importantly, the reasons for developments in the plantation complex are explained in the manner of the old PBS series Connections, which shows how events fit together to promote the plantation concept. From his explanation of how sugar production was carried out to the cultural milieu in which it occurred, Curtin's book depicts plantation and life and the plantation system as the product of multiple forces and opportunities. It is his insights on the myriad factors that characterized and affected the plantation complex and how they operated to do so that makes this book so interesting and informative.

Curtin starts by describing the origins of the plantation complex in the Mediterranean and the characteristics of the mature plantation com

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