The Slave Ship

By: Marcus Rediker

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Paperback | 18 September 2008 | Edition Number 1

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Paperback
464 Pages

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3 x 12.9 x 19.8

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The slave ship was the instrument of history's greatest forced migration and a key to the origins and growth of global capitalism, yet much of its history remains unknown. Marcus Rediker uncovers the extraordinary human drama that played out on this world-changing vessel. Drawing on thirty years of maritime research, he demonstrates the truth of W.E.B DuBoiss observation: the slave trade was the most magnificent drama in the last thousand years of human history.

The Slave Ship focuses on the so-called golden age of the slave trade, the period of 1700-1808, when more than six million people were transported out of Africa, most of them on British and American ships, across the Atlantic, to slave on New World plantations. Marcus Rediker tells poignant tales of life, death and terror as he captures the shipboard drama of brutal discipline and fierce resistance. He reconstructs the lives of individuals, such as John Newton, James Field Stanfield and Olaudah Equiano, and the collective experience of captains, sailors and slaves.

Mindful of the haunting legacies of race, class and slavery, Marcus Rediker offers a vivid and unforgettable portrait of the ghost ship of our modern consciousness.

Industry Reviews

A shockingly vivid work . . . from a gifted chronicler of history's lower decks, at home in the unruly Atlantic world of pirates, slavers, sailors, runaways and rebels - Boyd Tonkin, Independent

Enlightening and moving . . . Rediker comes closer than anyone so far to recreating the horrifying social reality of the Atlantic slave ship . . . If anyone doubts the reality of that human story, they only need to read Rediker's book - James Walvin, BBC History Magazine

'Meticulously researched . . . a terrible tale told here with great skill, clarity and compassion' Siobhan Murphy, Metro - Siobhan Murphy, Metro

The slave ship is a powerful focus for a profound drama - Iain Finlayson, The Times

A brilliantly organised and compelling study of the Atlantic slave trade . . . A truly magnificent book - Sunday Telegraph

The Slave Ship provides eloquent testimony to the high human drama of Atlantic 'trafficking'; the greed of the few and the manifold misery of the many that was endured in the trivial cause of sweetness - Ian Thomson, Spectator

Rediker has made magnificent use of archival data; his probing, compassionate eye turns up numerous finds that other people who've written on the subject, myself included, have missed - Adam Hochschild, International Herald Tribune

Rediker has produced a gripping study of one aspect of a great evil - Sunday Herald

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