Mahogany trade: Human consumerism and it's ecological impact.

Jennifer Anderson’s introduction in Mahogany: The Costs of Luxury in Early America is intriguing and pulls the reader in. She uses mahogany as a lens to view the now familiar themes in commodities history which I found to be surprisingly compelling. Last week’s book on emeralds gave us a commodity that was different from the previous commodities we’ve learned about and this week’s book followed in its path. Anderson proposes that mahogany is different from sugar, tobacco, chocolate, coffee, bananas, etc because of “its limited availability, its durability, and its increasing scarcity.” (7) I find it an unusual commodity because of its status as a nonrenewable resource, but to categorize it as such makes it even more interesting as a luxury commodity. 

Another aspect of the story that I really liked was her inclusion of slave labor, another commodity, depending on who you talk to, and the part it played in the mahogany trade.  Slaves weren’t the only part of the commodity web that she traces. Although her strength isn’t found in the discussion of slave labor it is found in her discussion of other players in the mahogany commodity web. Her other players include woodcutters, naturalists, sailors, cabinetmakers, furniture buyers, and Anglo and American consumers. One of the most important things I took away from this book, like Soluri's book, is the long-lasting ecological impact that human desire and consumerism can cause. 

Nadine