Shipping has been the international business par excellence in many national economies, one that preceded trends in other, more highly visible sectors of international economic activity. Nevertheless, in both business or economic history, shipping has remained relatively overlooked. That gap is filled by this exploration of the evolution of European shipping through the study of two Greek shipping firms. They provide a prime example of the regional European maritime businesses that evolved to serve Europe's international trade and, eventually, the global economy. By the end of the twentieth century, Greeks owned more ships than any other nationality. The story of the Vagliano brothers traces the transformation of Greek shipping from local shipping and trading to international shipping and ship management, while the case of Aristotle Onassis reveals how international shipping was transformed into a global business.

‘Gelina Harlaftis has written an indispensable work on the history of our globalized world. Based on remarkable archival research, including unprecedented access to the Onassis archives, it moves seamlessly from the local to the transnational, from the world of the nineteenth-century Black Sea grain trade to the world we inhabit today. It is a remarkable achievement.'

Mark Mazower - Columbia University

‘At last we have a powerfully researched, scholarly study of global shipping's most referential personality in the twentieth century. By coupling the Onassis story to that of the Vaglianos, Gelina Harlaftis, our foremost historian of modern Greek shipping, shows how the rise of Greek shipping magnates to global preeminence paralleled the creation of cross-oceanic networks that tie our world together today.'

Michael Miller - University of Miami

‘Gelina Harlaftis has produced a remarkable contribution to understanding of the evolution of the global economy. Ambitious in scope, scholarly in execution and exceptionally fluently argued, her study of the role of the Vagliano and Onassis enterprises in fashioning the global bulk shipping market, which underpins much of today's world system, is outstanding.'

Sarah Palmer - University of Greenwich

‘To understand globalization means understanding its fundamental components - technology, institutions, business culture and entrepreneurial forces active in the realm of the international economy. In this seminal book, which summarizes years of accurate research, Gelina Harlaftis provides invaluable evidence for those interested in the complex and articulated universe of global entrepreneurship.'

Andrea Colli - Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi