Black Ivory: a History of British Slavery - Softcover

Walvin, James

4.19

62 ratings by Goodreads

9780882581828: Black Ivory: a History of British Slavery

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0882581821 ISBN 13: 9780882581828

Publisher: Howard University Press, 1994

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Looks at slavery in Britain, America, and the Caribbean during the colonial period, and describes the experiences of slaves and their captors

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From the Back Cover:

In the space of three centuries, more than 11 million Africans were transported as slaves to the Americas – with millions more dying en route. By the time slavery was abolished in the Caribbean in 1838 and America in 1865, slaves had transformed the tastes of the Western world – for tobacco, coffee, rum, and sugar – as surely as slavery had changed forever the face of the Americas and Africa.

James Walvin shows how British maritime trade and power were transformed by the Atlantic slave trade, and describes the enslavement of Africans; the brutal conditions on the slave-ships; the slave colonies and slave owners; the revolts and runaways; the abolition campaign; the problems of freedom; and the legacy of racism.

"Everyone should read this book because it recounts, with clarity and compassion, the story of the greatest obscenity ever perpetrated by this nation: the slave trade and the plantation system that it served."
ROY PORTER, 'New Statesman and Society'

"An invaluable contribution to the understanding of slavery, bringing together recent specialist research with an imaginative use of primary material...an almost novelistic feel for narrative and sense of detail. It is also written in an exceptionally clear, vivid and readable style...'Black Ivory' takes its place alongside Roy Foster's 'Modern Ireland' and Simon Schama's 'Citizens' as representing the best in recent narrative history writing."
ADAM LIVELY, 'Times Educational Supplement'

"Strong meat, not recommended for the squeamish. Walvin writes with an evangelical zeal refreshing to find in an academic."
THOMAS PAKENHAM, 'Sunday Times'

About the Author:

James Walvin is Professor of History at the University of York. He has written widely on slave history and British social history and his recent publications include Questioning Slavery (1996), Making the Black Atlantic (2000), The Slave Trade (1999) and Britains′s Slave Empire (2000).

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