The Slave Ship: A Human HistoryThe missing link in the chain of American slavery For three centuries slave ships carted millions of people from the coasts of Africa across the Atlantic to the Americas. Much is known of the slave trade and the American plantation system, but little of the ships that made it all possible. In The Slave Ship, award-winning historian Marcus Rediker draws on thirty years of research in maritime archives to create an unprecedented history of these vessels and the human drama acted out on their rolling decks. He reconstructs in chilling detail the lives, deaths, and terrors of captains, sailors, and the enslaved aboard a “floating dungeon” trailed by sharks. From the young African kidnapped from his village and sold into slavery by a neighboring tribe to the would-be priest who takes a job as a sailor on a slave ship only to be horrified at the evil he sees to the captain who relishes having “a hell of my own,” Rediker illuminates the lives of people who were thought to have left no trace. This is a tale of tragedy and terror, but also an epic of resilience, survival, and the creation of something entirely new. Marcus Rediker restores the slave ship to its rightful place alongside the plantation as a formative institution of slavery, a place where a profound and still haunting history of race, class, and modern economy was made. |
What people are saying - Write a review
User ratings
| 5 stars |
| ||
| 4 stars |
| ||
| 3 stars |
| ||
| 2 stars |
| ||
| 1 star |
|
LibraryThing Review
User Review - vivycakes - LibraryThingWell-researched and detailed description of the Atlantic slave trade & human relationships in the slave ship. Perhaps it could have been organized a little differently, because it gets very repetitive ... Read full review
THE SLAVE SHIP: A Human History
User Review - Kirkus"Making the slave ship real, "historian Rediker (History/Univ. of Pittsburgh) revivifies the horror of this world-changing machine.By 1807, more than nine-million Africans in shackles, manacles, neck ... Read full review
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
aboard Abolition abolitionist Account African American appeared Atlantic began bodies Bristol British Brooks brought called Cambridge captain captives cargo carried cause Clarkson Coast common Country crew cultural death deck died early eighteenth century enslaved Equiano especially European experience explained followed forced four Gold Guinea hands HCSP helped History human Igbo important included insurrection Island James John Journal killed knew labor later Letters lived Liverpool London lower deck March mate means merchants Middle Passage named Negroes never Newton noted Observations officers once perhaps person port Press region resistance River Robert sail sailors seamen sharks sick slave ship slave trade Slavery Society sold soon Stanfield suffered terror Testimony Thomas thought tion took TSTD turned University Press vessel voyage wages West woman women World wrote
Bibliographic information
| Title | The Slave Ship: A Human History |
| Author | Marcus Rediker |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Penguin, 2007 |
| ISBN | 0670018236, 9780670018239 |
| Length | 434 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Africa / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |