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Book SynopsisOffers a broad view of the many ethnic groups and distinct populations who toiled in the oyster and shrimp industries. Relying heavily on contemporary newspapers, oral histories, and interviews to create a rich picture of the industry and its workers, the author presents the history of laboring people who often went unheard and unrecognised.Trade ReviewThe Mississippi Gulf Coast Seafood Industry is a unique and appealing work that gets inside its subject through stories of immigration and labor, while also covering business, technology, government, and global economics. Telling a people's history that concentrates on Polish Americans, African Americans, Croatians, Cajuns, and Vietnamese, Deanne Love Stephens tells the story of the seafood industry through the lives of individuals, often in their own words. The book is thorough, humane, and well illustrated. The Mississippi Gulf Coast Seafood Industry is the definitive work on the subject of coastal seafood culture and industry in Mississippi and will appeal to anyone interested in the topic. In The Mississippi Gulf Coast Seafood Industry, Deanne Love Stephens has filled an important gap in the economic, industrial, and cultural history of Mississippi and the Gulf Coast. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, Stephens carefully collected the oral histories that made this book possible and wove them into a narrative of the diverse group of migrants and immigrants who built the seafood industry and changed the culture of the area and, in the process, adds significantly to the historiography. The Mississippi Gulf Coast Seafood Industry: A People’s History adds to an overall understanding of how the Mississippi Coast came to be its twenty-first-century self. The Coast’s seafood story, in the past, has been told in bits and pieces, but with Deanne Love Stephens's latest book, we get a broader understanding of how oysters and shrimp shaped a region that continues to lure diners and sports fishermen as well as to maintain a local fleet and farming experiments to keep seafood viable in challenging times. To appreciate the storytelling and history in this book, you don’t have to be a former shrimper like me. After all, seafood and its history are important to all of us who visit or call the Mississippi Coast home.

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Book SynopsisWhen President James Monroe announced in 1824 that the large public debt inherited from the War for Independence, the Louisiana Purchase, and the War of 1812 would be extinguished on January 1, 1835, Congress responded by crafting legislation to transform that prediction into reality. Yet John Quincy Adams, Monroe's successor, seemed not to share the commitment to debt freedom, resulting in the rise of opposition to his administration and his defeat for reelection in the bitter presidential campaign of 1828\. The new president, Andrew Jackson, was thoroughly committed to debt freedom, and when it was achieved, it became the only time in American history when the country carried no national debt. In A Nation Wholly Free: The Elimination of the National Debt in the Age of Jackson, award-winning economic historian Carl Lane shows that the great and disparate issues that confronted Jackson, such as internal improvements, the “war” against the Second Bank of the United States, and the crisis surrounding South Carolina's refusal to pay federal tariffs, become unified when debt freedom is understood as a core element of Jacksonian Democracy. The era of debt freedom lasted only two years and ten months. As the government accumulated a surplus, a fully developed opposition party emerged—the beginning of our familiar two-party system—over rancor about how to allocate the newfound money. Not only did government move into an oppositional party system, the debate about the size and role of government distinguished the parties in a pattern that has become familiar. The partisan debate over national debt and expenditures led to poorly thought out legislation, forcing the government to resume borrowing. As a result, after Jackson left office in 1837, the country fell into a major depression. We have been borrowing ever since on an enormous scale. A thoughtful, engaging account with strong relevance to today, A Nation Wholly Free is the fascinating story of an achievement that now seems fanciful.

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisA detailed analysis of how government in India was financed during the period of direct British rule. This book explores the financial relationship between the Indian government, as represented by the India Office, and the City of London during the period of direct British rule. The universally accepted view is that the Office acted in the interests of the City and to the detriment of India. Financing the Raj disputes this conclusion. It argues that India was a constituent part of the City, contributing to and benefitting from its operation throughthe formation of close symbiotic and trust relationships, the exchange of gifts, the recycling of funds, and, perhaps most significantly, the support of the gold standard. The book examines the Office's activities from a British and practical perspective. In the first part, the issue and sale/purchase on the London market of Indian government debt is explored. Next, the author discusses the purchase of silver and the 'scandal' of 1912, when the awardof a major contract to the family firm of the Under Secretary of State for India led to accusations of cronyism and fraud. The finance of Indian trade, the management of exchange rates and the transfer from India to London of themoney needed to meet the Indian government's UK commitments are then investigated. The book concludes with an analysis of the Office's investment role and its management of the three cash reserves held in the capital. Financing the Raj overturns many myths, demonstrating that those involved in Indian finance did work in the best interests of India and were well aware of the close interrelationship between Indian finance, the City of London andthe wider British economy. It will be of interest both to historians of empire and historians of finance. DAVID SUNDERLAND is Reader in Business History at the University of Greenwich and the author of four monographs and numerous articles on the economic history of London, British Imperialism and nineteenth-century social capital. He is also Series and Collection editor of Pickering & Chatto's Britain and Africa series of source monographs.Trade ReviewOne cannot fail to be impressed by the amount of archival research that has gone into producing this volume, nor the sheer amount of detail that Sunderland has managed to fit into a relatively small number of pages. * HISTORY *Makes the nances of the Raj more transparent, and sheds new light on the economics of the British Empire in India. * BUSINESS HISTORY *A detailed research monograph that describes and analyzes the operations of the India Office in its relationships with the City of London's capital, money, and bullion markets. Those with an interest in those subjects should read it. * BUSINESS HISTORY REVIEW *A valuable addition to the administrative history of the British Empire and its gentlemanly arm in the City. It will be the first reference for anyone interested in the Raj's financial operations in London and a source of leads for those wishing to set India's experience in a wider context. Most importantly, Sunderland shows what kept the complex mechanisms of Indian finance in the City in motion and ultimately made them tick. * REVIEWS IN HISTORY *Table of ContentsIntroduction The Issue of Government Loans: Purpose, Location of Issue and Purchasers The Issue of Government Loans: Demand The Issue of Government Loans: Yields, Assets and Repatriation Other London Debt The Purchase of Silver and Other Currency Activities The Finance of Indian Trade Council Bills: Purpose and Nature Council Bills: Price Indian Government Difficulties in Cashing Bills and Other Methods of Remittance Gold Standard and Paper Currency Reserves Home Balances Conclusion Appendix 1: The Recyling of Funds Appendix 2: Finance of Indian Trade Bibliography

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Book SynopsisExamines how and why the East India Company was transformed from a commercial trading company to an institution of government, and then abolished. This book examines the development of British commercial, financial and political relations with India and the Far East during the final period of the East India Company's reign as the sovereign power in India. This was a most turbulent period for British commerce with India. The period began with the renewal of the East India Company's Charter and its component monopolies of trade with India and China, but this was quickly followed by the outbreak of theNapoleonic Wars, which spread to the east and saw the completion of Britain's assertion of power over India and much of Southeast Asia. However, the war also strengthened those political forces in Britain campaigning against the Company's monopolies of trade with India and China, which were consequently abolished under the Charter Acts of 1813 and 1833. The spectacular growth of the British economy following industrialisation brought new forces to bear upon India, with the rise of manufactured exports to the east. But the course of commercial relations did not run smoothly, and economic crises in Britain and India in 1833 and 1848 swept away commercial firms in both countries, andcaused severe economic retrenchments. This instability severely hampered efforts to facilitate the export of capital to India during the first half of the century. Finally the rebellion of 1857 spelt the death knell for the Company, and ushered in a new phase of Anglo-Indian economic relations, in which British foreign investment grew substantially. Anthony Webster is Programme Leader - History, in the Department of Humanities and Social Scienceat Liverpool John Moores University.Trade ReviewOf great value for anyone interested in the history of India. * HISTORYOFWAR.ORG *A fascinating business history replete with larger than life characters who make Bill Gates, Henry Ford, Steve Jobs, Sergey Brin and their ilk look puny. * AUSMARINE *[An] excellent new book. [...] Many historians will find valuable new insights in these pages. * ASIAN AFFAIRS *Makes an important contribution to our understanding, not only of British imperialism in general, but also of the way in which the transition between mercantilism and liberalism actually took place and the nature of the challenges that the free market economy created. * INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MARITIME HISTORY *Mines new territory by delving into the sparsely explored role played by British commercial and industrial pressure groups in Manchester, Glasgow and Liverpool in challenging the East India Company's monopoly in Asian trade. [...] This well researched and written book adds an important bookend to the history of the East India Company's demise. Highly Recommended. * CHOICE *

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Book SynopsisShows how merchants sought to minimise losses by forging strong bonds of interpersonal trust amongst a range of employees, partners, and clients. Fruitfully combining approaches from economic history and the cultural history of commerce, this book examines the role of interpersonal trust in underpinning trade, amid the challenges and uncertainties of the eighteenth-centuryAtlantic. It focuses on the nature of mercantile activity in two parts of Spain: Cadiz in the south, and its trade with Spain's American empire; and Bilbao in the north, and its trade with western and northern Europe. In particular, it explores the processes of trade, trading networks and communications, seeking to understand merchant behaviour, especially the choices made by individuals when conducting business - and specifically with whom they chose to deal. Drawing from a broad range of Spanish, Peruvian and British archival sources, the book reveals merchants' experiences of trusting their agents and correspondents, and shows how different factors, from distance to legalframeworks and ethnicity, affected their ability to rely on their contacts. Xabier Lamikiz is Associate Professor of Economic History at the University of the Basque Country. .Trade Review[This] well-written and interesting book is a welcome addition to the growing sub-field of research that situates the history of the Atlantic world on the Atlantic Ocean itself. * JOURNAL OF LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES *An original and commendable study. * INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MARITIME HISTORY *This marvellous book brings theoretical rigour and insightful analysis to bear on an exceptional body of previously unknown primary-source material. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *Sheds very welcome light on how Spaniards and foreign merchants in Spain traded with other markets. [...] It is both a very enjoyable and a very intelligent book. * JOURNAL OF LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES *[An] excellent book. [The] arguments are sophisticated, nuanced and well supported, and the clarity of their presentation makes them wholly accessible to all historians. This superb book is highly recommended. * ENGLISH HISTORICAL REVIEW *A major contribution not only to Atlantic history, but to colonial Latin American history in general. COLONIAL * LATIN AMERICAN HISTORICAL REVIEW *Very well written, with a good index, an extensive bibliography, and several useful maps and tables. Anyone interested in the Early Modern period would profit from reading it. * INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MARITIME HISTORY *Table of ContentsIntroduction Bilbao merchants Basque ship captains and seamen Trading with Peru Long distance communications Merchants and networks Confidentiality Risk and competition

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Book SynopsisProvides for a new interpretation of the agrarian economy in late Tudor and early modern Britain. This volume revisits a classic book by a famous historian: R.H. Tawney's Agrarian Problem in the Sixteenth Century (1912). Tawney's Agrarian Problem surveyed landlord-tenant relations in England between 1440 and 1660, the period of emergent capitalism and rapidly changing property relations that stands between the end of serfdom and the more firmly capitalist system of the eighteenth century. This transition period is widely recognised as crucial to Britain's long term economic development, laying the foundation for the Industrial Revolution of the eighteenth century. Remarkably, Tawney's book has remained the standard text on landlord-tenant relations for over a century. Here, Tawney's book is re-evaluated by leading experts in agrarian and legal history, taking its themes as a departure point to provide for a new interpretation of the agrarian economy in late Tudor and early modern Britain. The introduction looks at how Tawney's Agrarian Problem was written, its place in the historiography of agrarian England and the current state of research. Survey chapters examine the late medieval period, a comparison with Scotland, and Tawney's conception of capitalism, whilst the remaining chapters focus on four issues that were central to Tawney's arguments: enclosure disputes, the security of customary tenure; the conversion of customarytenure to leasehold; and other landlord strategies to raise revenues. The balance of power between landlords and tenants determined how the wealth of agrarian England was divided in this crucial period of economic development - this book reveals how this struggle was played out. JANE WHITTLE is professor of rural history at Exeter University. Contributors: Christopher Brooks, Christopher Dyer, Heather Falvey, Harold Garrett-Goodyear, Julian Goodare, Elizabeth Griffiths, Jennifer Holt, Briony McDonagh, Jean Morrin, David Ormrod, William D. Shannon, Jane Whittle, Andy Wood. Foreword by Keith WrightsonTrade ReviewA thought-provoking collection. * EH.NET *The book's overall achievement is to nuance many of the views and arguments of Tawney while simultaneously exploring current and future questions in early modern agrarian history. * LANDSCAPE HISTORY *Table of ContentsForeword - Keith Wrightson Tawney's Agrarian Problem Revisited - Jane Whittle The Agrarian Problem, 1440-1520 - Christopher Dyer Common Law and Manor Courts: Lords, Copyholders and Justice in Early Tudor England - R. Harold Garrett-Goodyear Negotiating Enclosure in Sixteenth-Century East Yorkshire - Briony McDonagh The Politics of Enclosure in Elizabethan England: Contesting 'Neighbourship' in Chinley, Derbyshire - Heather Falvey Athelstan's Gift: Custom, Memory and Malmesbury's Common Lands, 1608-13 - Andy Wood In Search of the Scottish Agrarian Problem - The Transfer to Leasehold on Durham Cathedral Estate, 1541-1626 - Jean Morrin The Financial Rewards of Winning the Battle for Secure Customary Tenure - Jennifer Holt Risks and Rewards in Wasteland Enclosure: Lowland Lancashire c. 1500-1650 - William Shannon Improving Landlords or Villains of the Piece? A Case Study of Early Seventeenth-Century Norfolk - Elizabeth Griffiths The Agrarian Problem in Revolutionary England - Christopher W Brooks Agrarian Capitalism and Merchant Capitalism: Tawney, Dobb, Brenner and Beyond - David Ormrod Conclusions - Jane Whittle

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Book SynopsisWhat were the consequences of the German occupation for the economy of occupied Europe? After Germany conquered major parts of the European continent, it was faced with a choice between plundering the suppressed countries and using their economies to supply its needs. The choices made not only differed from country to country, but also changed over the course of the war. Individual leaders; the economic needs of the Reich; the military situation; struggles between governors of occupied countries and Berlin officials; and finally racism, all had an impact on the outcome. In some countries the emphasis was placed on production for German warfare, which kept these economies functioning. New research, presented for the first time in this book, shows that as a consequence the economic setback in these areas was limited, and therefore post-war recovery was relatively easy. However, in other countries, plundering was more characteristic, resulting in partisan activity, a collapse of normal society and a dramatic destruction not only of the economy but in some countries of a substantial proportion of the labour force. In these countries, post-war recovery was almost impossible.Table of ContentsPreface Part 1 - IntroductionChapter 1 Occupied Economies and Total WarChapter 2 On Total WarChapter 3 Economy, Total War and Nazi GermanyChapter 4 The Economies of Occupied Europe Part 2 - ExploitationChapter 5 Exploitation: an IntroductionChapter 6 Expansion and Exploitation Chapter 7 The Periods of ExploitationChapter 8 Dissimilarities in Occupied EuropeChapter 9 The Exploitation of Occupied EuropeChapter 10 The Hunt for LabourChapter 11 Exploitation: a Conclusion Part 3 - Economic LifeChapter 12 Economic Life During Occupation: an IntroductionChapter 13 Financing Occupation and ExploitationChapter 14 TradeChapter 15 ProductionChapter 16 Conclusion Part 4 - Economic Consequences of the Occupation: Conclusions Chapter 17 Consumption Chapter 18 DamageChapter 19 Conclusions Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe House of Argyll acquired its Kintyre lands in 1607 and sold them in 1956. During that period, the Campbells exerted a powerful influence in Kintyre, through politics, religion, and agrarian reform. The core of this book is the 5th Duke of Argyll's estate instructions to his Kintyre chamberlain, or manager, from 1785 to 1805. Through these annual directions, and the chamberlain's responses, emerge the complex workings of a West Highland estate. Kintyre historian Angus Martin has taken the late Eric R. Cregeen's hitherto unpublished transcript of the instructions and illuminated them with a lengthy series of commentaries, explaining agricultural practices, social customs and cultural nuances, and providing biographical sketches of the chief personalities of the time. The study is informatively introduced by both Cregeen and Martin, enhanced by 72 illustrations, ranging from eighteenth century portraits to present-day photographs, contains a reproduction of George Langlands' celebrated 1801 map of Kintyre, and is fully furnished with references, notes and index.Trade Review'Angus Martin, taking up where Eric Cregeen left off, ... provides commentaries [containing] both factual information and informed rumination of a sort bearing witness to the many years Martin has spent studying, and thinking about, Kintyre. Taken together with the original texts at this book's core, they add up to a fine publication.' James Hunter, Emeritus Professor of History, University of the Highlands and Islands in the Scottish Historical Review.

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Book SynopsisExamines the growth and transformation of the Middle East economy during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The text looks at how the region's economic structures were fundamentally altered by the growing impact of European trade and finance, and by the internal reforms of the rulers of Egypt. It also examines in detail the impact of this process on the four central areas of the Middle East. The result, the author argues, was the creation of a fixed pattern of agricultural, industrial and financial activity. The states formed after the collapse of teh Ottoman Empire found that altering this pattern in their attempts to promote a less dependent form of development was frought with difficulty; and the problems they faced and their different approaches are still highly relevant to the Middle East's economic development today.Table of ContentsThe Middle East economy in 1800; the economic consequences of the age of reforms, 1800-1850; the expansion of trade with Europe, 1800-1850; The Ottoman road to bankruptcy and the Anatolian economy, 1850-1881; Egypt, 1850-1882 - from foreign borrowing to bankruptcy and occupation; the provinces of Greater syria, 1850-1880 - the economic and social tnesions of the 1850s and their consequences; the Iraqi provinces, 1850-1880; Anatolia and Istanbul, 1881-1914; the Egyptian economy, 1882-19114; Mount Lebanon, Syria and Palestine, 1880-1914; the Iraqi provinces, 1880-1914.

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Book SynopsisWages have always been a major expense for businesses. This fascinating book studies the impact of spiralling wage demands in a cotton factory in Ghent during the 19th century and the efforts of management to reduce this cost through investment in new technology and stricter employment policies. The workers' responses to wage cutting are also considered. The importance of this study lies in its unique collection of wage data -- more than 200 pay books and 100 ledgers from the Voortman cotton factory -- which show, in great detail, the hourly, daily and yearly wages for all categories of workers between 1835-1913. Various aspects of wages are addressed including: changing living and working conditions; wages of women and children in relation to the 'family wage economy'; wage comparison between workers at Voortman and workers in other industries and regions; productivity, purchasing power and industrial relations.Trade Review'Scholliers's grim story of Voortman's century-long reliance on low-wage competition vividly conveys the harsh logic of nineteenth-century capitalism.'Economic History Review'The abiding value of this work lies in its firm basis in original sources. The rich mass of business archives ... is here presented in accessible form to the dedicated scholar. A superb series of statistics ... (provides) historians with a positive treasury of valuable information. ... The work deserves to reach a readership extending beyond the circles of those interested in the history of business, labour and of textiles.'Besprechungen'The book provides a well-focused analysis of the problems of the 1970s and it is readily accessible to undergraduates of economics and history. It provides an important supplement to those texts dealing with the half-century since the war.'Business History'the author has made this study of real importance to both economic and social historians who are interested inTable of ContentsContents: Ghent and the Cotton Industry - The Voortman Mill: A Typical Cotton Factory? - Women, Men and Young People at Voortman - Wages as a Cost of Production - Wages as an Income - Conclusion: Income Strategy Versus Wage Policy

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