Product Description

As we approach the bicentenary of the abolition of the Atlantic trade, Walvin has selected the historical texts that recreate the mindset that made such a savage institution possible - morally acceptable even. Setting these historical documents against Walvin's own incisive historical narrative, the two layers of this extraordinary, definitive account of the Atlantic slave trade enable us to understand the rise and fall of one of the most shameful chapters in British history, the repercussions of which the modern world is still living with.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #131610 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 272 pages

About the Author
James Walvin taught for many years at the University of York where he is now Professor of History Emeritus. He also held visiting positions in the Caribbean, the U.S.A. and Australia. He won the Martin Luther King Memorial Prize for his book Black and White, and has published widely on the history of slavery and the slave trade, including more recently Black Ivory. A History of British Slavery. His book The People’s Game was a pioneering study of the history of football and remains in print thirty years after its first publication.

Customer Reviews

The perfect introduction to the subject
Around 12 million people were taken from their African homes and transported to the Americas. Around 1.5 million didn't survive the journey. The rest were subjected to the dehumanisation of slavery. As James Walvin points out: "From first to last, slavery was a system characterised by brutality". It also brought about the political and economic ascendency of "the West" and the corollary subjugation of Africa. This little book is "a short history" - an introduction or overview if you like - but it's an excellent one. It's clear, it's accessible, and it's comprehensive. And a list of "further reading" is helpfully included for those who wish to explore the subject in more depth.
It's a chronological history, with each chapter containing relevant excerpts from texts (some more interesting than others but including some written by slaves) which illustrate the realities explored. It starts by looking at slavery in Greece, Rome, the Medieval world and in Islamic societies before moving on to Atlantic slavery. Walvin covers the hellish conditions on slave ships, documents the modus operandi of oppression and refers to slave resistance while also giving glimpses into the diverse possibilities of slave "community life". The driving force of slavery - profit - is everywhere apparent together with its precondition of the dehumanisation of the African. There is an excellent chapter on the abolition of the slave trade, and the roles of Clarkson, Wilberforce and the Quakers. The book concludes with a further fascinating chapter on the abolition of the institution of slavery itself. In these final two chapters, the role of mobilised public opinion in bringing about social change is interestingly portrayed and provides much food for thought.
Obviously such a slim volume will have its limitations. It is very Anglocentric: there is little focus on the activities of the Spanish, Portuguese, French and Dutch. And no mention of the Swedes or Danes, the latter being the first Europeans to abolish the African slave trade. Nor do we hear anything of countries who didn't abolish slavery until the twentieth century, such as Sierra Leone (1927) or Saudi Arabia (1962). The book also might seem to give the impression that slavery is only a historical phenomenon, as there is no mention of the widespread contemporary slavery and trafficking. Nonetheless, it is difficult to imagine a more effective or comprehensive introduction to this subject.

Excellent for Original Sources
It has taken me a long time to read Walvin's Short History of Slavery. I really had no idea of the magnitude of slavery. I knew that there had been a slave trade but I didn't know how, or where, or why. Walvin is stronger on the first two. The book contains a very large selection of original documents which he quotes in full. Sometimes they reveal the minds at the time... sometimes they are just rather obscure. The bare fact completely re-frame my understanding of the Western world. All African families that have lived for generations in the US would originally have arrived, barely alive, from below deck on a slave ship. Walvin is a superb scholar. On the other hand, from my point of view there is not enough discussion of why it all took place. Why did so many Africans betray their own people and bring them to the African coast to sell to the Europeans? Just as many Jews are known to have betrayed their own people to the Nazis?

On the positive side - the book also details the strength and perseverence of the abolitionists. Clarkson and Wilberforce worked tirelessly for a generation travelling around the country aided, most notably by the Quakers who printed abolutionist tracts by the million and then later by working class women.

I am very glad to have read this book as it has utterly reframed my understanding of history but I wouldn't recommend it as a starting book on the subject. Read something simpler to start and then progress to this for the next level. And - in case you had no idea of the numbers - it is thought that between 6 and 10 million died in the Nazi concentration camps. 12 million Africans were shipped across the Atlantic to become slaves in the fields of the Americas and the West Indies.