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In 1832 William Jardine and James Matheson es- tablished what would become the greatest British trading company in East Asia in the nineteenth century. After the termination of the East India Companys monopoly in the tea trade Jardine Matheson Companys aggressive marketing strategies concentrated on the export of teas and the import of opium sold offshore to Chinese smugglers. Jardine and Matheson recognized as giants on the scene at Macao Canton and Hong Kong have often been depicted as one-dimensional villains whose opium commerce was ruthless and whose imperial drive was insatiable. In Opium and Empire Richard Grace explores the depths of each man their complicated and sometimes inconsistent internal workings and their achieve- ments and failures. He details their decades-long journeys between Britain and China their busi- ness strategies and standards of conduct and their inventiveness as gentlemanly capitalists. The commodities they marketed also included cotton rice textile goods and silks and they functioned as agents for clients in India Britain Singapore and Australia. During the First Opium War Jardine was in London giving advice to Lord Palmerston while Matheson was detained under house arrest at Canton in the spring of 1839 an incident which helped prompt the armed British response. Moving beyond the caricatures of earlier ac- counts Opium and Empire tells the story of two Scotsmen whose lives reveal a great deal about the type of tough-minded men who expanded the global markets of Victorian Britain and played major roles in changing the course of modern history in East Asia. A comprehensive and engaging chronicle. Wall Street Journal Richard J. Grace is professor of history at Providence College. 1 4 M Q U P S P R I N G 2 0 1 6 W O R L D H I S T O R Y B I O G R A P H Y n e w i n pa p e r Opium and Empire The Lives and Careers of William Jardine and James Matheson richard j. grace Grace provides an intricately researched exposition of the complexities rivalries and corruption involved in Chinas tightly controlled trade with thebarbarian westand how Jardine and Matheson were best at the game.Choice S P E C I F I C AT I O N S May 2016 978-0-7735-4726-1 29.95T 26.95T 18.99 paper 6 x 9 472pp 2 bw photos 2 maps Ebook available