For most of us, chocolate is an indulgence synonymous with pleasure. But behind the sweet image of the cocoa bean there is a long history of exploitation, corruption, greed and slavery. In Bitter Chocolate, Carol Off traces the history of the cocoa craze from the eighteenth century onwards, through its evolution under such overseers as Hershey, Cadbury and Mars, and its connection to the violence in Cote d'lvoire, the West African nation that produces almost half of the world's cocoa beans. Groundbreaking and eye-opening, Bitter Chocolate is a social history, a passionate investigative account and a stirring exposé of the inner workings of a multi-billion dollar industry that has institutionalised misery as it has served our pleasures.