URBAN MANUFACTURING IN ROME: Roman Artisans and the Urban Economy. Pp. xii + 307, figs, ills. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016. Cased, £64.99, US$99.99. ISBN: 978-1-107-11544-6

Navigating between similarity and difference is a hard act. [...]many of his early modern examples are in fact from the period immediately before the Industrial Revolution. [...]he argues, the not infrequent hiring out of slaves, either by their masters or by the slaves themselves working semi-independently while paying their masters a periodic sum. [...]that also shows the work's weakness: for this reviewer's taste there is too much ‘must have been’ argument from historical comparison. [...]the archaeology of craft production receives some attention, but not nearly enough.