Not long ago, it was rare to find Spanish-language scholarship that showed more than a passing familiarity with English-language work on the same or related topics, and vice versa. That situation has changed dramatically in recent years. In the volume under review, Spanish-language scholars address a topic already well represented in English—the relationship between war and state formation in the early modern centuries. The effect of organizing and financing warfare affected governmental structures, the cost of materials, logistics, public-private partnerships, supply chains, and myriad other elements. The volume's authors, part of the Imperial Network–Contractor State Group, analyze the Hispanic world—a vast global space essential to a full understanding of the early modern period.
Each of the essays is based on extensive archival research, whether in Spain, Spanish America, the Philippines, or a combination thereof. Nearly all the essays include tables, and some have graphs, charts, maps, or all these visual...
