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For two generations after independence, Americans viewed the Mediterranean as the new commercial frontier. From common sailors to wealthy merchants, hundreds of Americans flocked to live and work there. Documenting the eventful lives of three American consuls and their families at the ports of Tangier, Livorno, and Alicante, Lawrence A. Peskin portrays the rise and fall of America's Mediterranean community from 1776 to 1840. We learn how three ordinary merchants became American consuls; how they created flourishing communities; built social and business networks; and interacted with Jews, Muslims, and Catholics. When the bubble burst during the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812, American communities across the Mediterranean rapidly declined, resulting in the demise of the consuls' fortunes and health. A unique look into early American diplomacy, Three Consuls provides a much-needed overview of early consular service that highlights the importance of US activities in the Mediterranean region.
‘Three Consuls brings to life a lost world, the one constructed by the networks of American merchants, ship captains, sailors, and adventurers who ventured into the western Mediterranean in the early nineteenth century. All students of the early American republic stand indebted to Lawrence Peskin for his richly detailed evocation of this fascinating place in time, an era when many believed that the nation’s destiny lay in mercantile expansion to the Mediterranean.’
Christine Leigh Heyrman - University of Delaware
‘Lawrence Peskin’s vivid depiction of the lives of three American consuls tells us of the hopes, concerns, and deceptions of US commercial interests in the politically complex mediterranean.’
Silvia Marzagalli - Université Côte d'Azur
‘Lawrence Peskin has skillfully mined an impressive range of archives to present a detailed picture of the networks and experiences of individuals who navigated the challenges and opportunities presented by US consular work in the Mediterranean.’
Nicole M. Phelps - University of Vermont
‘Lawrence Peskin’s fascinating composite biography of the cosmopolitan commercial community of Americans that flourished and then foundered in the Mediterranean has much to tell us about competing visions for the young nation’s development. Readable and accessible yet nuanced and analytically significant, Three Consuls makes an important contribution to the history of American identity, diplomacy, and commerce.’
Matthew Raffety - author of The Republic Afloat: Law, Honor, and Citizenship in Maritime America
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