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![The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61jcfnLntpL._SL160_.jpg)
Book Review
The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World
In The Fabric of Civilization: How Textiles Made the World, Virginia Postrel expertly demonstrates how the history of textiles is the story of human progress. Although textiles have shaped society in many ways, their central role in the development...
![Smoke and Ashes: Opium's Hidden Histories](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51OPMlx9OtL._SL160_.jpg)
Book Review
Smoke and Ashes: Opium's Hidden Histories
Written in engaging language, Smoke and Ashes is a scholarly follow-up to the author’s famous Ibis trilogy, a collection of fiction that uses the opium trade as its backdrop. In Smoke and Ashes, the author draws on his years-long research...
![The Global Merchants: The Enterprise and Extravagance of the Sassoon Dynasty](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51rNxyBpHYL._SL160_.jpg)
Book Review
The Global Merchants: The Enterprise and Extravagance of the Sassoon Dynasty
Centered around the story of the Sassoons, a Jewish family in Ottoman Baghdad that spanned two continents, this book is not only a family story but also a story of global trade and global capitalism. Although different members of the Sassoon...
![The World of Sugar: How the Sweet Stuff Transformed Our Politics, Health, and Environment over 2,000 Years](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41sRdihwvNL._SL160_.jpg)
Book Review
The World of Sugar: How the Sweet Stuff Transformed Our Politics, Health, and Environment over 2,000 Years
While granulated sugar was produced in India as early as the 6th century BCE, its usage for a long time remained limited to royalty or ceremonial purposes. It was not until the 13th century that sugar became a major commercial product throughout...
![The Currency of Empire: Money and Power in Seventeenth-Century English America](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51eHbVeHg2S._SL160_.jpg)
Book Review
The Currency of Empire: Money and Power in Seventeenth-Century English America
Jonathan Barth argues that England expanded its empire overseas throughout the 1600s in order to collect precious metals and wealth. Barth’s thesis is that colonists tolerated economic subordination to England as long as they had political...
![Insight Guides Silk Road (Travel Guide)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51wQG6vDbcL._SL160_.jpg)
Book Review
Insight Guides Silk Road (Travel Guide)
Over the last 20 years, there has been quite a boom in the publication of books about the Silk Road. The Silk Road would more accurately be referred to as the plural "Silk Roads," since it was a network of roads rather than a single highway...
![Expansion and Global Interaction: 1200-1700](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/512--wdS4kL._SL160_.jpg)
Book Review
Expansion and Global Interaction: 1200-1700
Before he passed away in 2020, David Ringrose was Professor Emeritus of History at the University of California, San Diego. He was an expert on the history of Spain while also having an interest in world history at large. As the book's Preface...
![Naukratis: Trade in Archaic Greece](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/513rSqYD+mL._SL160_.jpg)
Book Review
Naukratis: Trade in Archaic Greece
Naukratis: Trade in Archaic Greece is an edited and translated adaptation of Astrid Möller's doctoral thesis from 1990. She provides the first complete account of the archaeology and ancient history of Naukratis. The author has a wonderfully...
![Trade, Traders and the Ancient City](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51uUigxOe1L._SL160_.jpg)
Book Review
Trade, Traders and the Ancient City
This book on trade and commerce in antiquity is a blend of papers that originated from a conference at the University of St Andrews on 11 and 12 July 1995. Additional contributions were also made by several scholars. The project aims at a...
![The Greeks in Asia](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51s7ZosAkYL._SL160_.jpg)
Book Review
The Greeks in Asia
Written by Britain's most esteemed historian of ancient Greek art and culture, Dr. John Boardman's The Greeks in Asia surveys the historical and cultural influence of the ancient Greeks in the Near East, the Indian Subcontinent, and Central...