In the introduction of his comprehensive and fascinating opus 'In the Eye of All Trade', Michael J. Jarvis, Associate Professor of History at the University of Rochester, New York, outlines the scope of his extensive research into Bermuda, Bermudians and the Maritime Atlantic world spanning the period from settlement to the emergence of the United States of America.

He also presents his central premise that from the deck of a Bermuda sloop, the world, particularly the Atlantic world, looked very different from the view traditionally presented by US-centric historians for whom Colonial America traditionally meant the 13 original colonies, perhaps Newfoundland and occasionally the Caribbean.

Jarvis challenges the reader to look at British America, and Bermudians' role in its development, from an entirely different perspective. He rotates the traditional Mercator projection, with its North-South orientation, 90 degrees so that instead of being on the fringes of the New World, he argues "Bermuda lay at the centre of this vast American crescent".

His narrative places Bermuda squarely in this context – a history not of Bermuda, but of Bermuda's place in a wider Atlantic world. The work is accessible on several different levels, depending on the depth to which the reader wishes to delve into a topic: primary level overview, high school reference book, comprehensive history for the general reader or valuable research tool for further academic study. It is illustrated throughout with numerous black and white illustrations, photographs, maps and tables. The scope of Jarvis' topic is outlined in the introductory section entitled 'Charting the course', which gives an overview – useful perhaps for a primary school teachers.

Each chapter then begins with a summation of the scope of the chapter before the reader is invited to delve into the fascinating world of the maritime connections and activities of Bermudians until the American Revolution "shattered the inter-colonial networks that Bermudians had built up over a century" and which, because of Britain's loss of her mainland colonies rendered Bermuda "too important to Great Britain to be left to mere Bermudians".

There are extensive notes (176 pages) carefully citing sources and adding further detail to the narrative. Though the general story of Bermuda's history has been already been told through meticulous research, Jarvis colours in the detail, particularly those whose story isn't immediately evident from official documents: ordinary seamen, slave sailors and the women left behind to manage their fathers', brothers' and husbands' affairs on their own.

Jarvis describes the emergence of Bermuda's maritime economy and the wide range of activities Bermudian men, slave and free, engaged in throughout the Atlantic world, from logging in the Honduras to raking salt on the Turks Islands to acting as the18th century equivalent of long-haul truckers along the Atlantic seaboard. He examines in similar detail the peculiar situation in which seafaring left Bermudian women – alone for significant periods of the year throughout the 18th century. "Although Bermudian men rarely trusted their wives to look after their cedars," Jarvis notes, "they relied on them to manage most everything else." He shows just how significant was women's involvement in local business and circumatlantic shipping.

Some commonly held perceptions are shown to be mistaken. Mary Prince's vivid narrative has led to the belief that salt raking was solely slave work. In fact, Jarvis points out, that "Because the Turks Islands were so vulnerable to invasion, white Bermudians made up the vast majority of salt rakers in the century before 1765" and "over the course of their working lives, virtually every Bermudian seafarer engaged in raking to some extent".

One surprising insight obtained from Jarvis' research is how astonishingly long-sighted our ancestors were. They were very early on concerned with husbanding natural resources like the cedar and palmetto and took steps to avoid over-fishing local waters. When tobacco was no longer profitable, they nurtured their cedars as a crop, albeit one with a particularly long maturation period. It was also interesting to note just how significant a role Bermudians played in the development of British America, particularly in the Caribbean, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.

Another rather surprising insight was his conclusion that "In the final analysis Bermuda's maritime society was strikingly bourgeiois in character, made up of petty capitalists with genteel amibitions who valued family life and remained committed to their island home ... And given the entrepreneurial activities and private possessions of many slaves, it would seem that black Bermudians shared their owners' bourgeois values and commitments".

His chapter on 'Navigating the American Revolution' clearly outlines the issues and consequences the War of Independence had for Bermuda and Bermudians fighting for survival as Americans fought for independence from Britain.

Through Jarvis' engaging, well-written analysis, the reader is convinced of the soundness of his conclusion that "The history of this unusual and unusually successful colony ... is intrinsically interesting and important." His observation that "Bermuda's history was one of continuous adaptation to change and challenges," offers some hope that the characteristics of flexibility, improvisation and persistence that served our ancestors well have been passed down and will carry us through the challenges of the 21st century.