Drawing on a careful and systematic analysis of the english Levant Company's substantial archive, vlami underscores the increasing demand for the abandonment of protective measures under which British trade had operated in the eighteenth century. This is a work that will surely interest economic and cultural historians, and specialists in the Ottoman empire and the eastern mediterranean - in ... Read moreshort, this is a book that, thanks to its author's intelligence and sensitivity, makes an excellent scholarly contribution to our understanding of an important moment in the history of the european economy when Britain emerged as the world's dominant economic force.' Anthony Molho Emeritus Professor of History, The European University institute and Brown University' Despina Vlami dresses scholarship in enjoyable style. she shows well how the transition from monopoly to free trade marks the destiny of the Levant Company. its structure, interwoven with the people working for or against it, comes out in the text as an intricate web of human relations, of ambition and action, of success or failure. entrepreneurial strategies blend with lively descriptions of the actors' social identity and everyday life. a good piece of historical writing. Georges Dertilis, Directeur d'etudes, Ecole des hautes Etudes en sciences sociales Show Less