The Princeton Companion to Atlantic History - by Joseph C Miller (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The first encyclopedic reference to Atlantic history

Between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries, the connections among Africa, the Americas, and Europe transformed world history--through maritime exploration, commercial engagements, human migrations and settlements, political realignments and upheavals, cultural exchanges, and more. This book, the first encyclopedic reference work on Atlantic history, takes an integrated, multicontinental approach that emphasizes the dynamics of change and the perspectives and motivations of the peoples who made it happen. The entries--all specially commissioned for this volume from an international team of leading scholars--synthesize the latest scholarship on central themes, including economics, migration, politics, war, technologies and science, the physical environment, and culture.

Part one features five major essays that trace the changes distinctive to each chronological phase of Atlantic history. Part two includes more than 125 entries on key topics, from the seemingly familiar viewed in unfamiliar and provocative ways (the Seven Years' War, trading companies) to less conventional subjects (family networks, canon law, utopias).

This is an indispensable resource for students, researchers, and scholars in a range of fields, from early American, African, Latin American, and European history to the histories of economics, religion, and science.

• The first encyclopedic reference on Atlantic history
• Features five major essays and more than 125 alphabetical entries
• Provides essential context on major areas of change:
• Economies (for example, the slave trade, marine resources, commodities, specie, trading companies)
• Populations (emigrations, Native American removals, blended communities)
• Politics and law (the law of nations, royal liberties, paramount chiefdoms, independence struggles in Haiti, the Hispanic Americas, the United States, and France)
• Military actions (the African and Napoleonic wars, the Seven Years' War, wars of conquest)
• Technologies and science (cartography, nautical science, geography, healing practices)
• The physical environment (climate and weather, forest resources, agricultural production, food and diets, disease)
• Cultures and communities (captivity narratives, religions and religious practices)
• Includes original contributions from Sven Beckert, Holly Brewer, Peter A. Coclanis, Seymour Drescher, Eliga H. Gould, David S. Jones, Wim Klooster, Mark Peterson, Steven Pincus, Richard Price and Sophia Rosenfeld, and many more
• Contains illustrations, maps, and bibliographies

Review Quotes

"Companion to Atlantic History lives up to the promise of its title, offering its readers not only an intelligently structured and comprehensive work of reference, but a clear sense of the continuing conversation across geographical boundaries, chronological periods, and scholarly generations which stands at the heart of the enterprise known as Atlantic history."---Natalie Zacek, New West Indian Guide

"The Princeton Companion to Atlantic History is a helpful guide to the rich scholarship that has emerged in the field of Atlantic history and reflects the field's diversity and variety. The volume makes abundantly clear that Atlantic world historians and scholars are not simply rehashing old-style 'colonial' histories in repackaged form. There is a lot of exciting and intellectually stimulating work being done as the field continues to evolve."---Abigail L. Swingen, Journal of Southern History

"Designed for scholars and advanced students, this encyclopedic is the first on Atlantic history, a historical perspective for understanding the interactions of people, events, and natural phenomena of the Atlantic Ocean region from the mid-15th century through the mid-19th century."-- "Choice"

"Miller brings together an impressive group of international contributors, including some of the most well-known scholars in Atlantic history. . . . This volume is the first of its kind for Atlantic history. . . . It should be on the shelves of any graduate student or practicing scholar of Atlantic history as a reference work."---Erica Johnson, H-Teach

"One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 2015"

"Predominantly historical, interlaced with anthropology and economics, this is a very useful book that one will be able to dip into in those odd moments and come out much better informed."---Stewart Rayment, Liberator

"The authors' analytical, historiographical approaches reveal multidisciplinary themes and trends from regional perspectives . . . Highly recommended."-- "Choice"

"The other Princeton books I have reviewed recently have been superbly made and this volume is no exception. . . . For the right audience, those who have a sufficient grounding in the subject, it will earn its keep."---John George Kendall, Reference Reviews

About the Author

Joseph C. Miller, T. Cary Johnson Jr. Professor Emeritus at the University of Virginia's Corcoran Department of History, is a specialist in African history, Atlantic history, and the study of slavery. A past president of the American Historical Association, he is the author of The Problem of Slavery as History: A Global Approach. Vincent Brown is the Charles Warren Professor of American History and professor of African and African American studies at Harvard University. Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra is the Alice Drysdale Sheffield Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin. Laurent Dubois is the Marcello Lotti Professor of Romance Studies and History at Duke University. Karen Ordahl Kupperman is the Silver Professor of History at New York University.