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AAS Book Talk with Hannah Farber, March 31, 2022

The Program in the History of the Book in American Culture (PHBAC) is hosting series of Virtual Book Talks. This installment features Hannah Farber, who will present on her recent book, Underwriters of the United States: How Insurance Shaped the American Founding (UNC Press, 2021).

Unassuming but formidable, American maritime insurers used their position at the pinnacle of global trade to shape the new nation. The international information they gathered and the capital they generated enabled them to play central roles in state building and economic development. During the Revolution, they helped the U.S. negotiate foreign loans, sell state debts, and establish a single national bank. Afterward, they increased their influence by lending money to the federal government and to its citizens. Even as federal and state governments began to encroach on their domain, maritime insurers adapted, preserving their autonomy and authority through extensive involvement in the formation of commercial law. Leveraging their claims to unmatched expertise, they operated free from government interference while simultaneously embedding themselves into the nation’s institutional fabric. By the early nineteenth century, insurers were no longer just risk assessors. They were nation builders and market makers. Deeply and imaginatively researched, Underwriters of the United States uses marine insurers to reveal a startlingly original story of risk, money, and power in the founding era.

Questions may be directed to Kevin Wisniewski, Director of Book History and Digital Initiatives, at kwisniewski@mwa.org.

Additional information on future PHBAC book talks may be found at https://www.americanantiquarian.org/virtual-book-talks

Mar 31, 2022 02:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)