Yankee India
In this splendid work, Bean, curator of South Asian and Korean  art and culture at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA,  provides insights into the experiences of New England traders  who sailed the world in search of trade just after America won  its independence. Initially, this trade consisted of buying  goods in one Asian port and selling them at another until there  was enough profit to finance a return trip to America. Then in  1833, ice from New England became a major commodity; traders  flush with funds could then imitate the British by buying  cotton, shipping it to New England to be made into textiles, and  selling the manufactured goods in India. A particularly  noteworthy aspect of this narrative of cultural exchange are the  extensive extracts from diaries of New Englanders, dating from  1789 to 1854, which describe their encounters with Asia and  especially India. Bean also provides a visual dimension,  illustrating the text with artifacts from the Peabody Essex  Museum, which was founded in 1799 as the East India Marine  Society. A worthwhile addition for public and academic libraries  concerned with art, anthropology, economic history, religion,  India, or New England history. Donald Clay Johnson, Univ. of  Minnesota Lib., MinneapolisCopyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.