Customer Reviews

Citizens of the World: London Merchants and the Integration of the British Atlantic Community, 1735-1785

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This fascinating book has something in it for almost everyone interested in eighteenth-century history. Business historians will find keen analysis of the techniques that a remarkable group of entrepreneurs used to propel themselves from the periphery to the center of Britain's imperial economy. Cultural historians will acquire new insights into what it meant to be British at the moment that identity was being forged. Students of British and American history in general will discover how intricately social ambition, commerce, war, and slavery interacted in the construction of the first empire. And anyone at all who admires intricate argument, imaginative research, and stylish prose will find "Citizens of the World" a delight.
Fred Anderson, University of Colorado at Boulder (from the dust jacket)

This is a well-written text dealing with the movement of peripheral outsiders into primacy in the London metropolis. Hancock spends a great deal of time supporting his thesis, though occasionally he does get bogged down in lists and facts. This is not merely an economic history of late eighteenth century trans-Atlantic trade, but an in-depth examination of how a select group of outsiders made their way into the depths and heights of London's metropolis society. Hancock's narrative style makes this an interesting and engaging read. I would recommend this text to anyone interested in how outsiders gained prominence in the London middle class and how those same outsiders became landed `gentlemen' in the late eighteenth century.

"Citizens" is a vivid, readable portrait of a group of men who, by virtue of their merchant enterprises, helped to shape the destiny of the American colonies in the 18th century. The author, while not stinting on historic detail, manages to squeeze in enough lively anecdotes about the men, their times, and their lives, to make "the Associates" human -- and utterly fascinating.

David Hancock has written a striking account of the careers of twenty-three very successful London merchants who invested together in several particularly challenging and rewarding branches of British overseas trade in the eighteenth century. His masterful study is based on intense and imaginative research in Britain, the continent, the United States and the West Indies. From his rich findings, he has developed a thoughtful and probing treatment of topics such as the wholesale slave trade, the Scots element in the City of London and the large government contractors in the Seven Years War. His achievement is most impressive.
Jacob M. Price, University of Michigan (from the dust jacket)

"Citizens of the World" is perhaps the finest study ever written on a mercantile group. Hancock moves gracefully from the counting house to the country house, from slaving to art collecting, in reconstructing the lives of the Associates. Beautifully written and extraordinarily well researched, "Citizens of the World" represents an outstanding scholarly achievement.

Peter Coclanis, Univ. of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (from the dust jacket)