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9780773547261

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By far the most complete narrative on the lives of Matheson and Jardine to date, Opium and Empire adds significantly to our understanding of the period and provides extensive references, many of which appear for the first time in print. Paul A. Van Dyke, Department of History, Sun Yat-sen University, and the author of The Canton Trade: Life and Enterprise on the China Coast, 1700-1845 [a] comprehensive and engaging chronicle. Wall Street Journal Opium and Empire is impressive: a rattling read with psychological heft. South China Morning Post

A riotously entertaining book. John Sandoe [Books] Ltd. London A comprehensive and engaging chronicle. Wall Street Journal A painstakingly researched and illuminating study of the two men who put together the soon thriving commercial concern that still bears their names. Northern Scotland Opium and Empire is a fine book that should command scholarly interest. It is crisply written, absorbing, and Grace successfully challenges prevailing interpretations of Jardine and Matheson. Far from their caricature-like portrayals as `sinophobe warmongers' and `drug lords', the book reveals the partners' complex, multifaceted characters. Journal of Scottish Historical Studies Richard Grace has produced a well-structured and readable book which approaches the so-called Opium War from a refreshingly new angle, exploring the growing tensions on the China coast through the perspectives of the two men who established themselves as the dominant merchants there ... Whether Grace's conclusions will settle historical debate about the driving force for war remains to be seen, but this study will be a point of scholarly reference for many years to come. English Historical Review Grace provides an intricately researched exposition of the complexities, rivalries, and corruption involved in China's tightly controlled trade with the 'barbarian west' and how Jardine and Matheson were best at the game. Choice

A riotously entertaining book. John Sandoe [Books] Ltd. London

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Richard J. Grace is professor of history at Providence College.

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