Silver, Trade, and War

"All serious students of Spain's national tragedies should find room for the book on their shelves."

"Sets a new standard for the writing of Spanish imperial history."

"[The authors'] ability to synthesize a broad and disparate historiography on economic, political, and diplomatic developments in early modern Europe as they related to the new opportunities created by the opening of American territories represents a significant achievement and contributes to our understanding of the relationship between economic trends and political formation."

"This book is highly recommended to a broad array of scholars... The authors make a compelling case for the centrality of the Spanish Empire in the emergence of Europe's economic and political hegemony."

"This is a brilliant and pioneering study packed with research and is original in both its presentation and its conclusions... While communicating concrete historical information, the study stimulates the reader to speculate more widely on the fundamental problem of economic growth and the specific case of Spain. The authors inevitably take account of the evolution of the whole Atlantic world; in choosing so vast a canvas on which to execute their magisterial composition, they encourage scholars to take a more global vision of the problems of empire."

"This is a magisterial work from two scholars who have spent a lifetime investigating the economic history of Spain's overseas empire. It will be impossible for the next generation of scholars not to cite the Steins' latest book when writing about the early imperial economies of Europe."

"What could one say of the beginnings of a Chaunu-like magnum opus other than to highlight its demonstration of a great depth of reading and research and the profound learning behind it? This is perhaps the most comprehensive, detailed examination in English of Spain and empire since Haring took up the subject during World War I."

"This book presents a compelling vision of the role of American silver in the making of Spain, the Americas, and Europe, and it merits a wide readership."

"The authors survey and comment on the complex historiography of Spain's rise and fall in the Atlantic world and Western Europe. This work is also deeply grounded in archival research... that allows ample insight into the functioning of the Spanish court and colonial bureaucracy."

"The authors successfully develop the economic interaction of Spain, her colonies, and Europe in a book that is an unparalleled example of Spanish imperial history. Their emphasis on the vital role played by American silver is fully convincing. They point out the negative consequences of silver production and the transatlantic trading system on Spanish administrative institutions and economic development in Peru and New Spain, arguing that by the close of the Hapsburg era the institutions were 'involuted,' the economy dependent and immobile."