Pemberton uses original archival research and historically informed secondary scholarship to produce an insightful study of the relationship between Locke’s philosophically grounded writings on the origins of government and his role as adviser for imperial policy as a member of the Board of Trade. By examining the issues of piracy, penal slavery, and forced military service (especially naval impressment), she notes the tensions in Locke’s commitment to representative government and liberty and his strong advocacy of colonial settlement in the Americas that required the accoutrements of imperial power. Intersecting this tension was the felt need to turn the unemployed poor into productive citizens, using inducements and coercion to people the colonies with the labor of indentured servants. Locke’s agriculturalist theory of property, combined with his natural law theory of the commons, led to his defense of open seas and advocacy of international treaties to address issues of natural and domestic law jurisdictional conflicts. Locke’s writings on the oceans echo today in discussions of piracy, the extension of national sovereignty far into the ocean beds, and the defense of open international waters. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty.