In Trade and Romance, Michael Murrin examines the complex relations between the expansion of trade in Asia and the production of heroic romance in Europe from the second half of the thirteenth century through the late seventeenth century. He shows how these tales of romance, ostensibly meant for the aristocracy, were important to the growing mercantile class as a way to gauge their own experiences in traveling to and trading in these exotic locales. Murrin also looks at the role that growing knowledge of geography played in the writing of the creative literature of the period, tracking how accurate, or inaccurate, these writers were in depicting far-flung destinations, from Iran and the Caspian Sea all the way to the Pacific. With reference to an impressive range of major works in several languages—including the works of Marco Polo, Geoffrey Chaucer, Matteo Maria Boiardo, Luís de Camões, Fernão Mendes Pinto, Edmund Spenser, John Milton, and more—Murrin tracks numerous accounts by traders and merchants through the literature, first on the Silk Road, beginning in the mid-thirteenth century; then on the water route to India, Japan, and China via the Cape of Good Hope; and, finally, the overland route through Siberia to Beijing. All of these routes, originally used to exchange commodities, quickly became paths to knowledge as well, enabling information to pass, if sometimes vaguely and intermittently, between Europe and the Far East. These new tales of distant shores fired the imagination of Europe and made their way, with surprising accuracy, as Murrin shows, into the poetry of the period.

Can you pinpoint a time in your life where you realized you are completely and utterly screwed?I can. I got the dreaded phone call, the one every baseball player hopes and prays never comes. I was traded. Yeah, that phone call.Traded from my long time team of over ten years. And not just to any team, but my childhood rivals; the Chicago Rebels. Completely and utterly screwed, right? Wrong. The trade was the least of my concerns.I met a girl. Natalie. Man, she's perfect.I swore I would never get involved with anyone during the season. Too complicated. But can you believe I have zero restraint when it comes to this girl? I couldn't get her out of my head and the more I talked to her, the more I realized I needed her in my life. So what's the problem? Why am I screwed? Because, Natalie, the girl I can't stop crushing on, yeah . . . she's married. At least, that's what I was told . . .

Excerpt from The Romance of Trade This volume aims to be a useful as well as an entertaining gossip-book about commerce. In the annals of trade are to be found incidents and episodes quite as striking and memorable as any in those fields of history which are commonly supposed to have a monopoly of romantic facts; and these episodes and incidents, when traced back to their causes or followed out through their effects, furnish trains of circumstances that are full of romance. Some of them are here set forth in groups and series designed to illustrate certain notable phases of commercial progress. The whole history of commerce, if read aright, is as interesting as it is instructive. I have only selected pages from that history; but I have endeavoured so to select and so to arrange as that the reader may obtain broad and comprehensive views of the great subjects handled. I trust that the work will not be less amusing than its title would lead the reader to expect, because it attempts to show that, if there is a romance, there is also a philosophy of trade. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Tina Chen just wants a degree and a job, so her parents never have to worry about making rent again. She has no time for Blake Reynolds, the sexy billionaire who stands to inherit Cyclone Systems. But when he makes an off-hand comment about what it means to be poor, she loses her cool and tells him he couldn’t last a month living her life. To her shock, Blake offers her a trade: She’ll get his income, his house, his car. In exchange, he’ll work her hours and send money home to her family. No expectations; no future obligations. But before long, they’re trading not just lives, but secrets, kisses, and heated nights together. No expectations might break Tina’s heart...but Blake’s secrets could ruin her life. Trade Me is the first book in the Cyclone series.