Desertion in the early modern world : a comparative history

Cover page -- Halftitle page -- Title page -- Copyright page -- CONTENTS -- FIGURES AND ILLUSTRATIONS -- TABLES -- NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS -- Desertion in Global History -- Introduction: Leaving Work Across the World -- Notes -- 1 Runaways: A Global History -- When labour market met military markets: Fugitive seamen and colonial expansion -- Runaways in colonial production: From white indentured to black slaves to 'coloured' indentured immigrants -- Runaways in Western Europe -- Concluding remarks -- Notes -- 2 Mass Exits: Who, Why, How? -- Who? -- Why? -- How? -- Avoiding the stings -- Notes -- Europe -- Map -- 3 Between Agency and Force: The Dynamics of Desertion in a Military Labour Market, Frankfurtam Main 1650-1800 -- Historiography -- Holding on to 'free will': The recruitment of soldiers -- Regulating the recruitment market -- Quantifying desertion -- Motives for desertion -- Mechanisms of control -- Conclusion -- Notes -- 4 'The Privilege of UsingTheir Legs': Leaving the Dutch Army in the Eighteenth Century -- Introduction -- Freedom, contract and service in the Dutch world -- 'Punished with his life' -- Boomhouer's Miles Desertor and eighteenth- century legal debates -- Leaving the army in the late eighteenth century: Some quantitative indicators -- Conclusions -- Notes -- Atlantic and Maritime Asia -- 5 Desertion by Sailors, Slaves and Soldiers in the Dutch Atlantic, c. 1600-1800 -- Introduction -- Scale of desertion -- Individual and collective desertion -- Opportunities and obstacles -- Prevention and control -- Conclusion -- Appendix -- Notes -- 6 'Working for the Devil': Desertion in the Eurasian Empire of the VOC -- Runaway crews -- Forgotten histories -- The Devil's Empire: Company labour around the globe -- Defining desertion: A view from Batavia -- Remaining absent in the Dutch Republic -- Jumping ship in Europe and the Atlantic.