Synopses & Reviews
Abigail L. Swingenandrsquo;s insightful study provides a new framework for understanding the origins of the British empire while exploring how Englandandrsquo;s original imperial designs influenced contemporary English politics and debates about labor, economy, and overseas trade. Focusing on the ideological connections between the growth of unfree labor in the English coloniesandmdash;particularly the use of enslaved Africansandmdash;and the development of British imperialism during the early modern period, the author examines the overlapping and often competing agendas of planters, merchants, privateers, colonial officials, and imperial authorities in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
About the Author
Abigail Swingen is assistant professor of history at Texas Tech University. She lives in Lubbock, Texas.