The British-atlantic Trading Community, 1760-1810 ─ Men, Women, And the Distribution of Goods

The literature on trans-Atlantic trade, complains Haggerty (Early Modern British history, U. of Nottingham, UK) rarely goes beyond the elite of large- scale importing and exporting merchants and usually ignores the contribution of women in providing for themselves and families in the absence of men or in an entrepreneurial capacity. In seeking to rectify this, she expands the definition of commerce to include any aspect of buying and selling at the local and trans-Atlantic levels. After defending this approach to the topic, she presents case studies of the trading communities in Liverpool and Philadelphia between 1760 and 1810, comparing and contrasting the functions and numbers of the trading sectors for each in her effort to demonstrate the importance of lesser traders, including women, to the distribution process. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Sheryllynne Haggerty, Ph.D. (2002) in History, University of Liverpool, is Lecturer in Early Modern British History at the University of Nottingham. She has published on the trading communities and business culture of Liverpool and Philadelphia in the eighteenth century.