"For those looking to enhance their teaching on Atlantic World commerce or seeking a readable overview of how British America's overseas trade developed and functioned, Truxes's well-written and richly documented account is an excellent starting point."--Franklin Sammons, Business History Review "Packed with information regarding colonial overseas trade from its late-15th-century beginnings through the American Revolution. This highly readable account is a valuable addition to colonial history."--D. M. Hall, Choice Recipient of The Society of Colonial Wars in the State of New York's 69th Annual Distinguished Book Award "Thomas Truxes demonstrates that trade was the essential element in the success of Britain's American colonies--and of their revolution. He weaves together contemporary opinion and modern analysis in highly readable prose, always with the telling detail."--Karen Ordahl Kupperman, author of Pocahontas and the English Boys "A dazzling tour de force of erudition and empirical heft.

This is an indispensable and extraordinary work, immediately the authority in the field."--Trevor Burnard, University of Hull "We could have no better guide than Truxes explaining incisively how American colonial merchants enriched their communities through licit and illicit trade, and how this enrichment was the product of slavery and the slave trade."--Nicholas Canny, author of Imagining Ireland's Pasts "Sailing across four centuries and comprehending multiple perspectives, Thomas Truxes offers us a fascinating new understanding of a complex development that subjugated black laborers, strengthened white enterprisers and inhabitants, and ultimately facilitated an uneasy independence."--David Hancock, University of Michigan.