Jared Ross Hardesty’s new book “Mutiny on the Rising Sun: A Tragic Tale of Slavery, Smuggling, and Chocolate” has plenty of thematic elements to make it an exhilarating story. Unfortunately, the book doesn’t live up to its themes.
I am always up for stories of adventure, even mutiny, on the high seas. When I received this book from New York University Press, I couldn’t wait to start reading it. The author lays out the story’s premise and how it revolved around smuggling chocolate or, more specifically, cacao. Cacao beans come from the cacao tree which, as the author points out, is indigenous to the Americas.
