Building the Atlantic empires : unfree labor and imperial states in the political economy of capitalism ca. 1500 1914 Building the Atlantic Empires explores the relationship between state recruitment of unfree labor and capitalist and imperial development. In contrast to much imperial and labor history this collection of essays shows Western European states as an agent of capitalist expansion. Extending the prolific literature on racial slavery these essays help transcend imperial colonial geographic and historiographic boundaries through comparative insights into multiple forms and ideologies of unfree labor as they evolved over the course of four centuries in the Dutch French English Spanish and Portuguese empires. The book raises new questions for scholars seeking connections between the history of servitude and slavery and the ways in which capitalism and imperialism transformed the Atlantic world and beyond. Contributors are: Pepijn Brandon Rafael Chambouleyron James Coltrain John Donoghue Karwan Fatah Black Elizabeth Heath Evelyn P. Jennings and Anna Suranyi Provided by publisher