Mr. Smith Goes to China: Three Scots in the Making of Britain's Global Empire

xiii, 240 pp. This book delves into the lives of three Scottish private traders - George Smith of Bombay, George Smith of Canton, and George Smith of Madras - and uses them as lenses through which to explore the inner workings of Britain's imperial expansion and global network of trade, revealing how an unstable credit system and a financial crisis ultimately led to greater British intervention in India and China.