Bittersweet Empire : Billionaire Sugar Barons and the Ghosts of Slavery

Bestselling author and award-winning investigative journalist Sandy Tolan exposes the bitter history behind the powerful, secretive sugar industry, and the Fanjuls, the Succession-like family who owns Domino Sugar and profits from it the most. For well over a century—going back to the slave trade in Cuba and into modern-day South Florida—deep-pocketed sugar barons have accumulated billions of dollars in wealth, while their cane cutters remain trapped in an endless cycle of what can only be described as modern-day feudalism. Considered lucky if they can earn more than four dollars a day, their offshore workers become deeply indebted for seeking medical care and are often forced to live out their lives in the fields they tend, lacking the proper paperwork needed to travel freely. Of the families that have profited the most from the historically brutal sugar industry, none is more prosperous or notorious than the Fanjul family—owners of Domino Sugar and Florida Crystals, and recipients of hundreds of millions of dollars from the U.S. government “sugar program.” Their epic family history begins in a village in northern Spain before blazing a path of environmental destruction and social upheaval, through revolution in Cuba, exile and resettlement in sparkling Palm Beach, and acquisition of more than 400,000 acres of sugarcane, from the Everglades to the Dominican Republic. Along the way, through millions of dollars in campaign contributions and lobbying to both parties, their influence stretches all the way to the White House. In Bittersweet Empire, Sandy Tolan draws on more than five years of on-the-ground reporting—which caused the U.S. to block the import of sugar from the Fanjul family’s operations in the Dominican Republic. For the first time, he spins the tale of a 160-year family dynasty and juxtaposes their vast wealth, built upon mountains of sweet, tempting crystals that cause major health issues, with the stark reality wrought upon the communities in which they do business. Eye-opening and meticulously reported, Bittersweet Empire shines a light on the most influential family you’ve never heard of, giving a critical voice to those whose stories have been silenced across generations.