Synopses & Reviews
After many years of research, award-winning historian Hugh Thomas portrays, in a balanced account, the complete history of the slave trade.andlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;Beginning with the first Portuguese slaving expeditions, he describes and analyzes the rise of one of the largest and most elaborate maritime and commercial ventures in all of history. Between 1492 and 1870, approximately eleven million black slaves were carried from Africa to the Americas to work on plantations, in mines, or as servants in houses. andlt;iandgt;The Slave Tradeandlt;/iandgt; is alive with villains and heroes and illuminated by eyewitness accounts. Hugh Thomas's achievement is not only to present a compelling history of the time but to answer as well such controversial questions as who the traders were, the extent of the profits, and why so many African rulers and peoples willingly collaborated. Thomas also movingly describes such accounts as are available from the slaves themselves.
Review
Robert B. Edgerton andlt;Iandgt;National Reviewandlt;/Iandgt; Hugh Thomas has given us the most comprehensive account of the Atlantic Slave Trade ever written.
Review
Hardy Green andlt;Iandgt;Business Weekandlt;/Iandgt; Masterly....With its uncompromising show of erudition drawn from a wealth of original and secondary sources, andlt;Iandgt;The Slave Tradeandlt;/Iandgt; is an indispensable account of a repugnant institution.
Review
John Thornton andlt;Iandgt;The New York Times Book Reviewandlt;/Iandgt; Well researched...engaging...a fine narrative history.
Review
Barbara Stanton andlt;Iandgt;Detroit Free Pressandlt;/Iandgt; Thomas has taken a sprawling subject and turned it into a disciplined, compelling narrative.
Review
Gregory Kane Baltimore andlt;Iandgt;Sunandlt;/Iandgt; andlt;Iandgt;The Slave Tradeandlt;/Iandgt; is more than just a history of the transatlantic peddling of human flesh. It is the story, in microcosm, of four continents: Europe, Africa, North America, and South America. Thomas weaves a tale of merchants and slaves; of diplomats and clergymen; of philosophers, statesmen, abolitionists, and rulers that readers will find surprisingly engaging.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [812]-862) and index.
About the Author
Hugh Thomasandlt;/Bandgt; is the author of andlt;Iandgt;The Spanish Civil War, Conquest,andlt;/Iandgt; and many other books. A former Chairman of the Centre for Policy Studies (U.K.), he was made Lord Thomas of Swinnerton in 1981. He is currently a University Professor at Boston University. He lives in London.
Table of Contents
andlt;Bandgt;CONTENTSandlt;/Bandgt;andlt;BRandgt;List of Mapsandlt;BRandgt;Introductionandlt;BRandgt;andlt;Iandgt;Book One:andlt;/Iandgt; GREEN SEA OF DARKNESSandlt;BRandgt;1 What Heart Could Be So Hard?andlt;BRandgt;2 Humanity Is Divided into Twoandlt;BRandgt;3 The Slaves Who Find the Gold Are All Blackandlt;BRandgt;4 The Portuguese Served for Setting Dogs to Spring the Gameandlt;BRandgt;5 I Herded Them As If They Had Been Cattleandlt;BRandgt;6 The Best and Strongest Slaves Availableandlt;BRandgt;7 For the Love of God, Give Us a Pair of Slave Womenandlt;BRandgt;8 The White Men Arrived in Ships with Wingsandlt;BRandgt;andlt;Iandgt;Book Two:andlt;/Iandgt; THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF THE TRADEandlt;BRandgt;9 A Good Correspondence with the Blacksandlt;BRandgt;10 The Black Slave Is the Basis of the Haciendaandlt;BRandgt;11 Lawful to Set to Seaandlt;BRandgt;12 He Who Knows How to Supply the Slaves Will Share This Wealthandlt;BRandgt;andlt;Iandgt;Book Three:andlt;/Iandgt; APOGEEandlt;BRandgt;13 No Nation Has Plunged So Deeply into This Guilt As Great Britainandlt;BRandgt;14 By the Grace of Godandlt;BRandgt;andlt;Iandgt;Book Four:andlt;/Iandgt; THE CROSSINGandlt;BRandgt;15 A Filthy Voyageandlt;BRandgt;16 Great Pleasure from Our Wineandlt;BRandgt;17 Slave Harbors Iandlt;BRandgt;18 Slave Harbors IIandlt;BRandgt;19 A Great Strait for Slavesandlt;BRandgt;20 The Blackest Sort with Short Curled Hairandlt;BRandgt;21 If You Want to Learn How to Pray, Go to Seaandlt;BRandgt;22 God Knows What We Shall Do with Those That Remainandlt;BRandgt;andlt;Iandgt;Book Five:andlt;/Iandgt; ABOLITIONandlt;BRandgt;23 Above All a Good Soulandlt;BRandgt;24 The Loudest Yelps for Libertyandlt;BRandgt;25 The Gauntlet Had Been Thrown Downandlt;BRandgt;26 Men in Africa of As Fine Feeling As Ourselvesandlt;BRandgt;27 Why Should We See Great Britain Getting All the Slave Trade?andlt;BRandgt;andlt;Iandgt;Book Six:andlt;/Iandgt; THE ILLEGAL ERAandlt;BRandgt;28 I See We Have Not Yet Begun the Golden Ageandlt;BRandgt;29 The Slaver Is More Criminal Than the Assassinandlt;BRandgt;30 Only the Poor Speak Ill of the Slave Tradeandlt;BRandgt;31 Active Exertionsandlt;BRandgt;32 Slave Harbors of the Nineteenth Centuryandlt;BRandgt;33 Sharks Are the Invariable Outriders of All Slave Shipsandlt;BRandgt;34 Can We Resist the Torrent? I Think Notandlt;BRandgt;35 They All Eagerly Desire It, Protect It and Almost Sanctify Itandlt;BRandgt;36 Cuba, the Forward Sentinelandlt;BRandgt;Epilogueandlt;BRandgt;The Slave Trade: A Reflectionandlt;BRandgt;Appendix 1. Some Who Lived to Tell the Taleandlt;BRandgt;Appendix 2. The Trial of Pedro Jose de Zulueta in London for Trading in Slavesandlt;BRandgt;Appendix 3. Estimated Statisticsandlt;BRandgt;Appendix 4. Selected Prices of Slaves 1440-1870andlt;BRandgt;Appendix 5. The Voyage of the Enterprizeandlt;BRandgt;Sources and Notesandlt;BRandgt;Indexandlt;BRandgt;Illustration Creditsandlt;BRandgt;andlt;BRandgt;andlt;Bandgt;LIST OF MAPSandlt;/Bandgt;andlt;BRandgt;The Atlantic Slave Tradeandlt;BRandgt;Medieval Trans-Saharan Caravan Routesandlt;BRandgt;Portuguese Discoveries in the Late 15th Centuryandlt;BRandgt;The Caribbean in the 18th Centuryandlt;BRandgt;The Kingdom of Congo in the 16th Centuryandlt;BRandgt;Slave Harbors of North America in the 18th Centuryandlt;BRandgt;Brazil in the 18th Centuryandlt;BRandgt;Slave Harbors of the 18th Centuryandlt;BRandgt;The Naval Patrolandlt;BRandgt;Slave Harbors of the 19th Century