In this book, Peralta Ruiz analyzes the network of personal and institutional relations that in the eighteenth century connected the secretaries of state and of the navy and the Indies (secretarios de Estado and secretarios del Despacho de Marina e Indias) with individuals in the New World. Arguing that these networks were established by appealing to family ties and common origin, he posits that equally important to their constitution and maintenance was the ability of those on the American side to provide their friends, perhaps protectors, with useful information, mainly in the form of manuscripts or publications that appealed to these powerful secretaries because they were useful to them personally, or could be helpful in the administration of the monarchy. Among such works were apologetic essays, political and economic projects, and historical narratives. These were important to the secretaries because, working in Madrid, they needed constant input regarding...
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