Review
"A corrective to decades of historiography that laissez-faire doctrine guided the Gilded Age . . . a splendid book." Thomas Zeiler, author of Free Trade, Free World (reviewed in E-International Relations)
"In a US election year thick with controversy over the impact of free trade and globalisation on jobs and wages, Palen's absorbing study of the nineteenth-century version of these debates is timely. The Exeter University historian contrasts the British commitment to free trade with what were the then dominant currents of US economic nationalism and protectionism." Tony Barber, Financial Times
"While the majority of recent interpretations suggest that the currently dominant neoliberal ideas originated in the twentieth century in the USA, this work suggests deeper historical roots in the late nineteenth century debates between free traders and protectionists ... strongly recommended to students of international economic relations, and the ideological history of policy-making in the Anglo-American world in the nineteenth century." Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, President, Institute of Development Studies, Kolkata (reviewed in Studies in History)
"In this boldly argued and richly detailed study, Marc-William Palen shows us why we should know much more than we do about the debate over the tariff in the nineteenth century. The 'Conspiracy' of Free Trade demonstrates how questions of tariffs and trade were ideologically charged and central to American conceptions of imperialism and global economic integration in the age of British power." Jay Sexton, University of Oxford
"In this illuminating study, Marc-William Palen cuts across the conventional domestic versus foreign approach to American history, showing the role of trade politics as an instrument of a resurgent and highly influential American economic nationalism in the late nineteenth century. He makes clear the eddying global effects of trans-Atlantic controversies over tariffs upon the shaping of US imperialism and Anglo-American relations." Ian Tyrrell, University of New South Wales, Australia
"Palen marshals considerable resources to challenge the Revisionist 'OpenDoor imperialism' thesis, and his work is deeply engaged with decades of secondary literature on trade policy and Anglo-American relations." Nicole M. Phelps, Diplomatic History
"brings into proper light a genuine ideological rift across the nineteenth-century world, which is replete with contemporary parallels and implications ... powerfully conceived, vigorously written, and is genuinely revisionist in its conclusions with regard to our understanding of American domestic politics and of global political economy in the later nineteenth century and beyond." A. C. Howe, author of Free Trade and Liberal England, 1846-1946 (reviewed in History)
"This is a fascinating story, and its one that Palen tells with admirable clarity and concision. Each of the nine main chapters deals with a different, and often quite diverse, subject, but the central organising theme of Cobdenite-Listian conflict remains always in focus." Daniel Peart, H-Diplo Roundtable Review
"This is an expansive and impressive achievement. For scholars of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era with interests in the political economy of empire, Palen's observations ought to be the new starting place." April Merleaux, Journal of the Gilded Age and Progressive Era
"Based on a voluminous and thorough use of primary and secondary sources, The 'Conspiracy' of Free Trade is an important work." Tom Mertes, Journal of American History
"... provides a thorough chronological study of the positions and clashes between Cobdenites and Listians, is a precious resource for economic and imperial historians. ... for anyone hoping to gain broader understanding of the globalisation debate this book deserves, at the very least, a careful read-through." Marcin Menkes, Polish Yearbook of International Law
"In a US election year thick with controversy over the impact of free trade and globalisation on jobs and wages, Palen's absorbing study of the nineteenth-century version of these debates is timely. The Exeter University historian contrasts the British commitment to free trade with what were the then dominant currents of US economic nationalism and protectionism." Tony Barber, Financial Times (2016 Financial Times Summer Reading List)
Book Description
This book explores the controversial Anglo-American struggle over empire and economic globalization in the mid- to late-nineteenth century.
About the Author
Dr Marc-William Palen is a historian of empires and globalization at the University of Exeter.
