A Singular Case is a solid piece of work. Interested in early modern European and Chinese economic history, Millar focuses on discussions of Chinese political economy in Europe (mostly France and Britain) in the eighteenth century (specifically, 1696 to 1776). A detailed description of China by Louis Le Comte provides the starting point, and the appearance of Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations (which discussed the Chinese economy, among others) marks the point of conclusion. Hers, she stresses, “is a study of the construction of knowledge on China’s political economy in eighteenth-century Britain and France”; it is a history of ideas related to economic history (7). Those curious about attitudes to China during the century of the Enlightenment will find in the book a wealth of information. So will students beginning to explore any of the eight influential thinkers of the period—six representing the French (François Quesnay, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Jean-Jacques Rousseau,...

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