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The Early Modern Atlantic Economy. Edited by John J. McCusker and Kenneth Morgan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. 383 pp. Cloth, $60.00. ISBN 0-521-78249-X.
When Jacob Price published his first article on the Chesapeake tobacco trade in 1954, few scholars had investigated the nature of transatlantic commerce during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Price's work influenced a generation of historians who, following his lead, detailed the settlement of the New World, charted the expansion of trade, described the production and export of tropical commodities, and demonstrated merchants' roles in these activities. Now, a half-century after Price's initial work, John J. McCusker and Kenneth Morgan have assembled essays from thirteen important historians of Atlantic trade, who reflect back upon the vibrant discourse of scholarship Price encouraged and offer their own interpretations of the complex workings of the Atlantic economy.
McCusker and Morgan group the essays in The Early Modern Atlantic Economy around four main themes: "the role of merchants and their connections; the development of trades; imperial economies; and colonial working societies" (p. 2). The breadth of this assemblage reflects the pattern of Price's research as the authors examine the Atlantic economy from both macro- and micro-perspectives. Together, these approaches enable the reader to understand the development of Atlantic commerce by illuminating the "interlocking commercial relationships" of individual businessmen, imperial policy, ports, and labor systems (p. 2).
Essays describing the contribution of individual merchants to the development of the Atlantic economy, a major focus of study during the last forty years, dominate this volume. Both Peter Mathias and Kenneth Morgan explicate the mechanisms merchants employed to overcome the risks of Atlantic trade....