Robert Lee was the Chaddock Professor of Economic and Social History at the University of Liverpool where he is now an emeritus and research professor. He has written widely on European demographic, economic, and social history, particularly on the nineteenth century and specifically on nineteenth-century Germany.

1. Networks of influence and power: the forging of Liverpool's merchant community. 2. The Mercantile Liverpool Project Database: Sources and Findings. 3. The business environment. 4. Ethics, trust and reputation. 5. 'THE VISIBLE EMBODIMENT OF MODERN COMMERCE': The development of Liverpool's commercial centre. 6. Kinship, Friendship and Partnership: The social networks of the Liverpool merchant community. 7. Intersecting worlds: women, the family, and merchant culture. 8. 'THE MARK OF OPULENCE, TASTE AND SKILL': Liverpool merchants' houses, c.1750-c.1900. 9. 'To Purer Air and Brighter Skies': Escaping from the City. 10. Suburbanisation, Community Building and the Fragmentation of Business Culture: the impact on Liverpool of residential development on the Wirral. 11. Deconstructing Liverpool's Merchant Networks: transience, religion, politics and business interests. 12. Associational Culture, Social Influence and the Cultural Embeddedness of Merchant Networks: a reassessment. 13. Postscript.