Preindustrial businesses: the time of the merchant -- The many paths to industrialization -- British and German businesses during industrialization -- Big and small businesses in industrializing America -- Japanese and Chinese businesses during industrialization -- American, British, and German...

Introduction: consumer revolutions -- The English commercial empire expands -- The rise of a "tea-fac'd generation" -- Politicizing American consumption -- The global dimensions of the American tea crisis -- Repatriating tea in revolutionary America -- Chinese tea and American commercial...