Known as an enlightened despot, Charles III (1716-1788) was king of Spain from 1759 to 1788. His reign was marked by economic progress and political stability and is usually considered one of the greatest in Spanish history. The son of Philip V of...

Apogee of Empire: Spain and New Spain in the Age of Charles III, 1759-1789. By Stanley J. Stein and Barbara H. Stein. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. Pp. xiv, 464. Tables. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $52.00 paper. In their most recent study, Stanley...

Apogee of Empire: Spain and the New Spain in the Age of Charles III, 1759-1789, by Stanley J. Stein and Barbara H. Stein. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2003. ix, 464 pp. $52.00 US (cloth). At the middle of the eighteenth century,...