Merchants of deceit : opium, American fortune & the China trade Cover Image

Book

Merchants of deceit : opium, American fortune & the China trade

Friswell, Richard J. 1945- (author.).

Record details

ISBN: 1667826654
ISBN: 9781667826653
Physical Description: 316 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
print
Publisher: Clinton, Connecticut : Hammonasset House Books, [2022].
Copyright: ©2022

Content descriptions

Bibliography, etc. Note:

Includes bibliographic references (pages 291-292) and texts of 1879 correspondence regarding Russell & Co history (pages 293-294) and Qing emperors' letters to British Crowns, 1783 and 1839 (pages 298-302).

Summary, etc.:

"In the late summer of 1819, Samuel Russell, a young mill-goods agent from Connecticut, sets sail for China, seeking to make a name--and a fortune--for himself. After a tempestuous, months-long sea passage, Russell arrives in the ancient city of Canton, on the banks of the Pearl River. He steps into an exotic new world, a teeming, gritty waterfront crammed with sampans and street vendors, dockworkers and beggars, entrepreneurs, charlatans, and opportunists, an exciting intermingling of the familiar and the mysterious. A world that will be his home for the next twelve years. Restless and ambitious, Russell wins friends and makes enemies; succumbs to love's temptation; strikes a bargain--or two--with the devil; and saves lives--even as he puts millions more at risk. And while he trusts few, he is often plagued by doubt and self-recrimination, isolation, fitful dream-addled sleep, and profound loneliness. In the end, he comes to know tragedy and betrayal, as a series of events force him to flee China for his very life"--Back cover.