Additional information
by Ann Armbrecht (Author)
From tulsi to turmeric, echinacea to elderberry, medicinal herbs are big business--but do they deliver on their healing promise--to those who consume them, those who provide them, and the natural world?
"An eye-opener. . . . [Armbrecht] challenges ideas of what medicine can be, and how business practices can corrupt, and expand, our notions of plant-based healing."--The Boston Globe
"So deeply honest, sincere, heartful, questioning, and brilliant. . . . [The Business of Botanicals] is an amazing book, that plunges in, and takes a deepening look at those places where people don't often venture."--Rosemary Gladstar, author of Rosemary Gladstar's Medicinal Herbs
"For those who loved Braiding Sweetgrass, this book is a perfect opportunity to go deeper into understanding the complex and co-evolutionary journey of plants and people." --Angela McElwee, former president and CEO of Gaia Herbs
"Armbrecht masterfully manages the challenges and complexity of her source material . . . [She] is a spirited storyteller . . . [and] presents all this with the skill of an anthropologist and the heart of an herbalist."--Journal of the American Herbalists Guild
Author Biography
Ann Armbrecht is a writer and anthropologist (PhD, Harvard 1995) whose work explores the relationships between humans and the earth, most recently through her work with plants and plant medicine. She is the director of the Sustainable Herbs Initiative, which she founded in 2016 to help bridge the gaps between the values of herbal medicine and the reality of sourcing and producing herbs on a global scale. She is also the coproducer of the documentary Numen: The Healing Power of Plants and the author of the award-winning ethnographic memoir Thin Places: A Pilgrimage Home, based on her research in Nepal. Ann was a 2017 Fulbright-Nehru Scholar, documenting the supply chain of medicinal plants in India. She now lives with her family in central Vermont.
