Commerce and Its Discontents in Eighteenth-Century French Pol... - 9781107005648

Commerce and Its Discontents in Eighteenth-Century French Political ThoughtAuthor(s): Anoush Fraser Terjanian\nFormat: Hardback\nPublisher: Cambridge University Press, United Kingdom\nImprint: Cambridge University Press\nISBN-13: 9781107005648, 978-1107005648\nSynopsis\nHistories of economics tend to portray attitudes towards commerce in the era of Adam Smith as celebrating what is termed doux commerce, that is, sweet or gentle commerce. Commerce and Its Discontents in Eighteenth-Century French Political Thought proposes that reliance on this doux commerce thesis has obscured our comprehension of the theory and experience of commerce in Enlightenment Europe. Instead, it uncovers ambivalence towards commerce in eighteenth-century France, distinguished by an awareness of its limits - slavery, piracy and monopoly. Through a careful analysis of the Histoire des deux Indes [tel], the Enlightenment's best-selling history of comparative empires, Anoush Fraser Terjanian offers a new perspect.