Prior to 1914, Germany dominated the worldwide production of synthetic organic dyes and pharmaceuticals like aspirin. When World War I disrupted the supply of German chemicals to the United States, American entrepreneurs responded to the shortages and high prices by trying to manufacture...

Introduction. The material (con)texts of global modernity -- I. The empire's new clothes: British publics and imperial politics, 1650-1720 -- Patterns for plantation: New World silk and the natural history of settler colonialism -- Indo-Atlantic modernity: the early cotton trade and the...

In this probing and original study, Parks M. Coble examines the devastating impact of Japan's invasion and occupation of the lower Yangzi on China's emerging modern business community. Arguing that the war gravely weakened Chinese capitalists, Coble demonstrates that in occupied areas the...