Pearce's monograph forms part of a resurgence of interest in the Spanish Atlantic in the eighteenth century, particularly in the first half of the century. It is unfortunate in some ways that this book was published at nearly the same time as Allan Kuethe and Kenneth Andrien's magnum opus The Spanish Atlantic World in the Eighteenth Century: War and the Bourbon Reforms, 1713–1796 (Cambridge University Press, 2014). That work covers much of the same intellectual terrain as Pearce's book, though with a much broader geographical sweep, encompassing Mexico and the Caribbean and the emerging Rio de la Plata. Nevertheless, there is still much to be gained from reading The Origins of Bourbon Reform.

At the core of Pearce's book are two claims regarding what he derides as scholarly “preconceptions.” First, Pearce claims the Seven Years War was not a major catalyst for reform and that pre-1763 reform activity deserves greater scholarly attention. Second, Pearce claims the reform that was undertaken was not “ad hoc” or “piecemeal,” but rather was infused with a clearly identifiable “ethos.” Furthermore, post-1763 policies, Pearce suggests, had their origins in policies of the first half of the century. For him, there were “more [reform] measures of real substance” prior to 1763 than after that date.

In the course of the book, Pearce makes some valuable observations that contribute to the debates concerning the chronology, underlying ideologies, and impact of the Bourbon reforms. He focuses attention on the enormous (and understudied) impact of early eighteenth-century trade measures, such as the shift from fleets to register ships. Using an array of Peruvian archives, he sheds light on trade policies introduced before 1763: the tobacco monopoly, return of taxation to direct royal administration, overhaul of mints and currency, the transformation of mercury and silver mining, the abolition of sales of colonial posts, and the reinforcement of viceregal authority in the fiscal sphere. In addressing these less commonly studied aspects, Pearce raises valuable questions. Have historians overprivileged “active or conscious” reforms and reformers, like the proyectistas or enlightened reformers (Campomanes, Floridablanca, Jovellanos, et al.) over the incremental shifts and cumulative results of multiple decisions (the “passive measures implemented under immediate stimuli”) by innumerable lower-tier officials that he has unearthed from the archives? He adds a second, if related, question: "Where does the line between ‘reform’ and ‘innovation’ or ‘change’ leading to structural improvement truly lie?” These are good questions and Pearce provides some indirect answers to them in his case studies of the various reform undertaken in the viceroyalty of Peru, thereby demonstrating the need to consider more carefully the “passive measures” and other shifts not explicitly presented as reforms by the Spanish crown.

To some degree, Pearce has resurrected the banner of earlier generations of scholars who viewed the post-1763 Caroline reforms as a largely propagandistic, almost self-adulatory, enterprise undertaken by the crown, which sought to portray itself as breaking resolutely with the past following the geopolitical debacle of the Seven Years War. In stressing the continuity of the later reforms with those of the pre-1763 period, and painstakingly reconstructing some of those policies, Pearce has made an important contribution.

There are places in the book, unfortunately, when Pearce appears to tilt at windmills. Scholars during the past decade have widely recognized the continuities across the Bourbon century, so Pearce's polemical tone appears off-key, if not dissonant. Similarly, there are several places in the text in which Pearce undercuts his own argument. He flatly concedes that the post-1763 reforms were greater in number, more radical in nature, more ambitious in scope, and wider-ranging (p. 11) than those undertaken previously, but at the same time he maintains that the “essential character and direction” of reform was consistent across the century (p. 175). The evidence Pearce presents boasts scant engagement with intellectual history or peninsular political history; thus, this claim is difficult to sustain.

Similarly, Pearce's case against the prevailing conception of the spasmodic rhythm of the early Bourbon reforms is unpersuasive. He himself concedes that the reform impetus was weak until 1715 and that there was a serious hiatus, a slackening of momentum, between 1736 and 1745. If reform was so dependent on the actions of single ministers (such as Patiño before 1736 and Ensenada after 1745), Pearce's claim that a single “ethos” animated the entire period prior to 1763 is on shaky ground. These objections aside, the appearance of Peace's book is good news for Latin Americanists and Iberianists of the eighteenth century, who must grapple with the insights and evidence proffered in this important monograph.