 He constantly brings up how unsympathetic historians once were to China's millions of addicts. They were blamed for the opium trade. Much of the opium sold by the British Empire was grown in India, but the impacts touch us all, even now. Ghosh dives into how the opium trade created some of America's most respectable fortunes, like the family which built the boat upon which a certain anthem was written, the Star Spangled Banner.