This volume, based on H.-S.'s Ph.D. thesis, is a real treasure for the study of the Roman provinces. The book is a detailed examination of the impact of Roman conquest on three provinces: Hispania Tarraconensis, Africa Proconsularis and Syria.

H.-S. uses the same analysis for each of the provinces. In the case of Hispania, she analyses three specific regions: the regio Cessetania, the regio Contestania and the regio Asturia augustana. For Africa Proconsularis she examines two regions: the regio Pertica Carthaginensis and the regio Byzacium. For Syria three regions are studied: the regio Tetrapolis, the regio Phoenicia and the regio Palmyrena.

The analysis is based on detailed explanations of aspects such as economic activities, the organisation of work and the resources of each region aside from the organisation of the territory for these activities. It is a remarkable study of the protohistoric precedents, analysed by H.-S. for each province in a synthetic but effective way.

H.-S. continues with a comparison of the impact of conquest on these three provinces, where she notes the resources and the environment in order to offer suggestions about the crafts and commerce developed in them. She also discusses the urbanisation and the economic role of the town and its elites in the regions.

H.-S. uses archaeological (terra sigillata, amphorae, glass, archaeobotanics, etc.), epigraphical (monumental, funerary) and literary sources. With regard to structure, there are summaries of each chapter and subsections, which are a useful complement. The bibliography is accurate and widely documented. There is an index of people, matters and places, which aids an overview or search of the work. Nevertheless, it could be said that the maps are few and too simple. They do not give an idea of territorial integration of central points for these provinces. It is the only methodological defect in the volume.

In the introduction H.-S. discusses the historical development of research on the economy and provinces, reviving the debate between primitivists and modernists. She contextualises the moment of the conquest of the territories that later would become provinces.

H.-S. tries to identify common mechanisms of conquest that made it possible to establish a homogeneity between Rome and the conquered territories and their peoples. She sums up these mechanisms in three stages: first, the urbanisation and integration of the local elites, and the normalisation of the administrative and social bases. Second, she notes an increase in agricultural production, which in turn resulted in changes to other economic activities. Finally, she says that there was a specialisation of economic areas and the organisation of work.

This book is an important contribution to the subject for both its methodology, which leads to specific conclusions, and its learning, and will be useful to students and specialists alike. It is a key work of reference for any scholar of the Roman provinces.