But then "How One Man's Dithering Changed the Course of History" is not such an uplifting message, is it?

The Guardian Spice up your history | History books | The Guardian

T]he monks vaunted nutmeg's ability to prevent sore throats, hemorrhoids, scarlet fever and ailments of the spleen. The English may have been thugs and pirates but at least the natives, when they had a choice, preferred us to the Dutch. His nonfiction books include Nathaniel's Nutmeg, Big Chief Elizabeth, Samurai William, The Riddle and the Knight, White Gold, Paradise Lost, Wolfram, Russian Roulette, Fascinating Footnotes from History. Thought to have the power to cure everything from the plague to flatulence to the common cold, nutmeg was "the most coveted luxury in seventeenth-century Europe, a spice held to have such medicinal properties that men would risk their lives to acquire it.

The prize for which so many died is now worthless, while the consolation prize, a piece of land nobody cared for, is now the richest place on earth – built not by violence at the service of looters but by the power of unbridled innovation and uncoerced (read free) trade. His books have been translated into more than twenty-five languages and have been serialised on both the BBC and in British newspapers.

Nutmeg (The Diary of Samuel Pepys) Nutmeg (The Diary of Samuel Pepys)

Read about William Hawkins's dealings with the psychotic and unpredictable Moghul Emperor Jehangir (endless piss-ups, gladiatorial competitions between people and lions); Captain William Keeling making his crew put on Hamlet (in Africa, in 1607, possibly the first amateur production); and the Massacre of Amboyna, where the Dutch tortured and then murdered the English inhabitants on trumped-up charges. In this period, popular belief held that getting a nutmeg at New Year and keeping it in your pocket throughout the year would prevent you from breaking even the smallest bone. Even after the fleet of Sir Thomas Dale sent from England to Run had been defeated by the Dutch governor of the archipelago, Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the decision never changed. Fashionable French gourmets would bring their own nutmeg graters to add their nutmeg to appropriately improve on a wealthy host's dinner.Days can pass without unearthing anything of interest: I liken it to those metal-detecting treasure-hunters of North Carolina who scour the Outer Banks in the hope of turning up a Jacobean shilling or signet ring. Thanks to Courthope's defence of the island however, Britain was able to barter its legal title to the island of Run with the Dutch, for another island by the name of Manhattan. You will probably hear how the story demonstrates that the true goal of trade is economic colonization. This is the story of pre-enlightenment mischief sanctioned by absolute rulers for the enrichment of a few.