Merchant Kings Book by Stephen R. Bown - Bookswagon
Home > General > Merchant Kings
Merchant Kings

Merchant Kings


     4.4  |  8 Reviews 
5
4
3
2
1



International Edition


About the Book

Commerce meets conquest in this swashbuckling story of the six merchant-adventurers who built the modern world

It was an era when monopoly trading companies were the unofficial agents of European expansion, controlling vast numbers of people and huge tracts of land, and taking on governmental and military functions. They managed their territories as business interests, treating their subjects as employees, customers, or competitors. The leaders of these trading enterprises exercised virtually unaccountable, dictatorial political power over millions of people.

The merchant kings of the Age of Heroic Commerce were a rogue's gallery of larger-than-life men who, for a couple hundred years, expanded their far-flung commercial enterprises over a sizable portion of the world. They include Jan Pieterszoon Coen, the violent and autocratic pioneer of the Dutch East India Company; Peter Stuyvesant, the one-legged governor of the Dutch West India Company, whose narrow-minded approach lost Manhattan to the British; Robert Clive, who rose from company clerk to become head of the British East India Company and one of the wealthiest men in Britain; Alexandr Baranov of the Russian American Company; Cecil Rhodes, founder of De Beers and Rhodesia; and George Simpson, the Little Emperor of the Hudson's Bay Company, who was chauffeured about his vast fur domain in a giant canoe, exhorting his voyageurs to paddle harder so he could set speed records.
Merchant Kings looks at the rise and fall of company rule in the centuries before colonialism, when nations belatedly assumed responsibility for their commercial enterprises. A blend of biography, corporate history, and colonial history, this book offers a panoramic, new perspective on the enormous cultural, political, and social legacies, good and bad, of this first period of unfettered globalization.


About the Author:

Stephen Bown is the author of Madness, Betrayal and the Lash; Scurvy; and A Most Damnable Invention. He lives in Canada.


Best Sellers



Product Details
  • ISBN-13: 9780312616113
  • Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
  • Publisher Imprint: Thomas Dunne Books
  • Depth: 19
  • Language: English
  • Returnable: Y
  • Spine Width: 30 mm
  • Weight: 503 gr
  • ISBN-10: 0312616112
  • Publisher Date: 07 Dec 2010
  • Binding: Hardback
  • Height: 239 mm
  • No of Pages: 336
  • Series Title: English
  • Sub Title: When Companies Ruled the World, 1600-1900
  • Width: 157 mm


Similar Products

Add Photo
Add Photo

Customer Reviews

     4.4  |  8 Reviews 
out of (%) reviewers recommend this product
Top Reviews
Rating Snapshot
Select a row below to filter reviews.
5
4
3
2
1
Average Customer Ratings
     4.4  |  8 Reviews 
00 of 0 Reviews
Sort by :
Active Filters

00 of 0 Reviews
SEARCH RESULTS
1–2 of 2 Reviews
    BoxerLover2 - 5 Days ago
    A Thrilling But Totally Believable Murder Mystery

    Read this in one evening. I had planned to do other things with my day, but it was impossible to put down. Every time I tried, I was drawn back to it in less than 5 minutes. I sobbed my eyes out the entire last 100 pages. Highly recommend!

    BoxerLover2 - 5 Days ago
    A Thrilling But Totally Believable Murder Mystery

    Read this in one evening. I had planned to do other things with my day, but it was impossible to put down. Every time I tried, I was drawn back to it in less than 5 minutes. I sobbed my eyes out the entire last 100 pages. Highly recommend!


Sample text
Photo of
    Media Viewer

    Sample text
    Reviews
    Reader Type:
    BoxerLover2
    00 of 0 review

    Your review was submitted!
    Merchant Kings
    Thomas Dunne Books -
    Merchant Kings
    Writing guidlines
    We want to publish your review, so please:
    • keep your review on the product. Review's that defame author's character will be rejected.
    • Keep your review focused on the product.
    • Avoid writing about customer service. contact us instead if you have issue requiring immediate attention.
    • Refrain from mentioning competitors or the specific price you paid for the product.
    • Do not include any personally identifiable information, such as full names.

    Merchant Kings

    Required fields are marked with *

    Review Title*
    Review
      Add Photo Add up to 6 photos
      Would you recommend this product to a friend?
      Tag this Book Read more
      Does your review contain spoilers?
      What type of reader best describes you?
      I agree to the terms & conditions
      You may receive emails regarding this submission. Any emails will include the ability to opt-out of future communications.

      CUSTOMER RATINGS AND REVIEWS AND QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS TERMS OF USE

      These Terms of Use govern your conduct associated with the Customer Ratings and Reviews and/or Questions and Answers service offered by Bookswagon (the "CRR Service").


      By submitting any content to Bookswagon, you guarantee that:
      • You are the sole author and owner of the intellectual property rights in the content;
      • All "moral rights" that you may have in such content have been voluntarily waived by you;
      • All content that you post is accurate;
      • You are at least 13 years old;
      • Use of the content you supply does not violate these Terms of Use and will not cause injury to any person or entity.
      You further agree that you may not submit any content:
      • That is known by you to be false, inaccurate or misleading;
      • That infringes any third party's copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights or rights of publicity or privacy;
      • That violates any law, statute, ordinance or regulation (including, but not limited to, those governing, consumer protection, unfair competition, anti-discrimination or false advertising);
      • That is, or may reasonably be considered to be, defamatory, libelous, hateful, racially or religiously biased or offensive, unlawfully threatening or unlawfully harassing to any individual, partnership or corporation;
      • For which you were compensated or granted any consideration by any unapproved third party;
      • That includes any information that references other websites, addresses, email addresses, contact information or phone numbers;
      • That contains any computer viruses, worms or other potentially damaging computer programs or files.
      You agree to indemnify and hold Bookswagon (and its officers, directors, agents, subsidiaries, joint ventures, employees and third-party service providers, including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc.), harmless from all claims, demands, and damages (actual and consequential) of every kind and nature, known and unknown including reasonable attorneys' fees, arising out of a breach of your representations and warranties set forth above, or your violation of any law or the rights of a third party.


      For any content that you submit, you grant Bookswagon a perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, transferable right and license to use, copy, modify, delete in its entirety, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from and/or sell, transfer, and/or distribute such content and/or incorporate such content into any form, medium or technology throughout the world without compensation to you. Additionally,  Bookswagon may transfer or share any personal information that you submit with its third-party service providers, including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc. in accordance with  Privacy Policy


      All content that you submit may be used at Bookswagon's sole discretion. Bookswagon reserves the right to change, condense, withhold publication, remove or delete any content on Bookswagon's website that Bookswagon deems, in its sole discretion, to violate the content guidelines or any other provision of these Terms of Use.  Bookswagon does not guarantee that you will have any recourse through Bookswagon to edit or delete any content you have submitted. Ratings and written comments are generally posted within two to four business days. However, Bookswagon reserves the right to remove or to refuse to post any submission to the extent authorized by law. You acknowledge that you, not Bookswagon, are responsible for the contents of your submission. None of the content that you submit shall be subject to any obligation of confidence on the part of Bookswagon, its agents, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners or third party service providers (including but not limited to Bazaarvoice, Inc.)and their respective directors, officers and employees.

      Accept

      New Arrivals



      Inspired by your browsing history


      Your review has been submitted!

      You've already reviewed this product!